We figured 600 naturally-aspirated horsepower from a big-block Chevy would probably do the job, and to build an engine that could run the number, yet still be happy on the street, we turned to Dart Machinery. This is the story of how they put together a 509ci rat that’s just what Grandpa needs.
Engine
Formula 509 – Dart Builds a BBC for Project Grandpa
by
Paul Huizenga
on
September 3, 2010
Comments (0)
Carb Tuning Tips: Improving Mileage, Performance, And Drivability
by
Steve Hulett
on
August 31, 2010
Who says you have to drown the engine in fuel at part throttle, in order to satisfy the engine’s needs at full throttle? Whether you’re at idle, cruise, or wide open throttle, efficiency is what you want. We’ll dig into carburetor and ignition adjustments that will help you achieve that.
Picking the right Carburetor size for your car & engine combination is paramount in being successful – whether you’re a professional racer or just want the right carburetor for you’re Saturday night special. There are 3 main parameters that correctly determine your baseline selection. John Dickey of AED Carburetors shares with us some of his secrets.
Steve Heye of Heatshield Products Shares his Insight on Insulation Products
by
Andrew Wolf
on
July 9, 2010
Steve Heye, Vice President of Heatshield Products, shares with us some great technical information about exhaust wraps and aluminum reflective products and provides his insight into the advantages of outfitting your vehicle with them.
Setting and adjusting the valve lash is often overlooked as a simplistic and unsophisticated task for proper engine maintenance, yet much can be gained by paying attention to valve lash. Good initial set up and keeping a close eye on the valve lash can alert you to a problem before it leads to a pernicious death of your powerplant. We checked with some of the industry’s top engine builders to find out what everyone should know about setting and adjusting valve lash.
Engine Building Tips Part 1: Oiling System, Valvetrain Stabilizers, and Geometry
by
Paul Huizenga
on
June 24, 2010
You might not be building a Pro Stock motor in your own garage, but the lessons Maskin and his crew have learned from hard experience in NHRA and on the dyno can make your project more successful. In this first series of tech videos and how-tos, we had a chance to pick Dart’s brain to come up with engine-building advice that anyone can use.
The camshaft is used to control the timing of valve events – it’s like the part of the human brain that controls heartbeat and respiration. Understanding the basics of camshaft terminology is the first step to selecting the right cam for your application.
When RHS says that there’s 1,000 horsepower potential from their Pro Elite heads for the BBC, we believe them – our best result was an amazing 883 horsepower and 758 foot-pounds of torque, on pump gas no less, and with no need for exotic valvetrain components to let the engine spin to the moon.
Thinking Outside the Box With Dart’s SHP Short Blocks and Top End Kits
by
Mark Gearhart
on
March 31, 2010
While crate motors have certainly gotten a lot of otherwise-idle project cars back on the street, many enthusiasts want to be more involved than just ordering straight off the shelf. By providing an array of short blocks and top end kits, Dart gives you the keys to a great street/strip engine combination.
The T&D Engine Blueprinting Kit puts all the measuring tools and fixtures engine builders typically gather over the course of years together in one convenient 8”x18” impact resistant and foam lined carrying case.
With more and more swap kits and performance parts being developed for the LS family, replacing that tired, worn-out old small- or big-block doesn’t mean spending months making it fit or sacrificing horsepower.
The energy released during combustion and transformed into rotary motion requires a damper to minimize the vibrations that can lead to automotive ruin. The traditional solution for this is the harmonic balancer. We recently hooked up with Mississippi-based TCI Automotive to learn more about balancers and why they see their new Rattler torsional vibration absorber as an option for people building engines for both street and strip applications. powerTV is currently building two engines for different applications — read on to see how each one was built and how they both benefited from TCI Automotive’s technology.
In the world of drag racing, LS engines have been making a big splash sense they first showed up in the burnout boxes in 1997. They offer a great platform to build engines whether you are running 8s, or 12s. We decided to come up with the basics on what it takes to swap an LS engine into an older vehicle not originally designed to accept it. Most of these have to be done for those running higher end classes, but we wanted to make sure we covered it all.
From a practical perspective, going to a machine shop is like going to a marriage counselor. Seriously, and we’re not trying to be funny here, but there is a relationship between what your goals are and what your pocketbook and equipment can produce. Like any good counselor, the machinist should help you navigate through the tough problematic areas between wants, needs and capabilities. There is a most definitely a chance to save the marriage between man and machine, and that road leads through a good engine machinist.
Scorpion Racing Products’ Lifters Are Rockin’ the Valve Train World
by
Bobby Kimbrough
on
March 16, 2010
Scorpion Racing Products has produced the ultimate piece of engine candy, the seemingly everlasting Racing Lifter. We were invited behind the walls of the Scorpion Performance Factory which looks and operates more like a watch factory than an engine components manufacturer. Given the precision of the manufacturing equipment and products, Scorpion has integrated high-end manufacturing into the United States and into their high performance engine components. Our goal was to see the Scorpion Racing Lifters and find out what makes them one of the coveted prize pieces in the Scorpion Racing Products Line.
Santa Claus comes to SoCal with a Big Inch Beast of a gift for Grandma. Our Edelbrock/Pat Musi five-fifty-five crate engine arrived today from Musi’s New Jersey assembly plant.
Since Edelbrock and Pat Musi have joined forces to build this 555ci crate, which makes 675+ hp on pump gas and is just itching for a dose of Edelbrock Nitrous, we decided to work together with these two industry legends on this multi-part project.
In part one of this three article series, we looked at our bad ass Edelbrock/Musi five-fifty-five big block crate engine destined for our project car that we lovingly call “Grandma.”
In the final segment of our Edelbrock/Musi crate engine build series, we’re putting the Edelbrock/Musi 555 crate motor on the engine dyno and spray it down with nitrous to see if the power we expected is actually there.
Engineering dollars are critical to part design, and the companies that spend them in the right places are oftentimes rewarded with a ‘must-have’ part for a particular competition level. That’s what Comp Cams is betting on with their new Elite Race Solid Roller Lifters, as they have come up with a clean-sheet design after quite a bit of time spent on research, development and tons of testing. The lifters are designed to hold up to just about anything, and a high-RPM race engine is where they are happiest.
