The late 60’s and early 70’s ushered in an era that will never be forgotten, especially in the automotive world. It was a time when gas was cheap, steel was plenty, and the era of the V8 was in full force. The “big three” produced a variety of muscle cars all touting big horsepower, burning rubber, and drive-in movies.

Today, we marvel at these creations. We collect, modify, and cherish vehicles that were once bought as day to day creature comforts. It’s an obsession that drives an industry solely dedicated to keeping an era once past, alive and thriving in the 21st century. So, as an enthusiast, it only makes sense to own a piece of this era and give it a rightful place once again on the road, track, or showroom floor.

This article will discuss the experience of owning a 40 year old car; a project that to restore it back to life, in honor of a great era.

'71 Dodge Dart Swinger 318... Lots of potential!

Project Poison Dart: ’71 Dodge Dart Swinger

It took nearly four months of searching in Southern California to find a decent Dodge Dart. We had $5,000 total to spend and wanted to find something in good shape, running and drivable. It’s easy to get over your head when choosing a project car, not to mention hard on the wallet. We chose the Dodge Dart for a couple of reasons.

Number one, we’ve developed into a die hard Mopar fan, owning a ’07 Dodge Magnum R/T and a new ’11 Dodge Durango. Number two, it’s a car that has some real potential without the big collector car price. And it fit in our small third car garage very nicely!

In 1971, the Dodge Dart Swinger 2-door hardtop was released with a 318, 340, and slant six engine and a factory 4-speed automatic transmission. In our case, this particular Swinger had the popular 318 V8.

The Dodge 318 V8 engine was produced in Flint, Michigan from ’67 to ’02. The 318 was not just limited to Dodges, but also powered Plymouth and Chrysler cars as well. The engine is remarkably efficient, durable, and proved to be Chrysler’s mainstay for many of its vehicles over the decades, including the Dart.

This ’71 Dart Swinger lived out in Pomona, Ca and belonged to a young man who often drove it back and forth to the beach with his surfboard. The overall mechanical condition of the car was questionable and it appeared it was maintained enough just to keep it running. It’s original B3 paint is covered up by a secondary dark blue paint job that looked as if it was done in someones garage. The interior is complete, the floorboards are solid, and the car is running. It’s the ideal car for someone looking for a restoration project without having to start from the ground up.

When Buying Your First Project Car, Make Sure To:

1. Determine your budget beforehand: How much money can you afford to spend?
2. Decide your build theme. Want a full-time racer or just a street/strip car? A restoration or autocross car? It’s up to you.
3. Write a list of cars that interest you. Don’t buy just anything. Do you like Mustangs? Pontiacs? Mopars?
4. Open your mouth. Talk to those who have cars that you like. Chances are, they’ll know where other cars are for sale.
5. Don’t fall in love with paint. Paint can cover a lot of ugliness.
6. The more stock, the better. Look for the factory radio, gauges, etc. If the owner has tampered with the wiring, chances are they’ve messed with a lot more.
7. Running or near-to-running condition is preferred but not mandatory. If it doesn’t run doesn’t mean it can’t ever. Don’t be discouraged.
8. Make sure you have the space to store and work on your car. Wrenching in your apartment parking lot is no fun.
9. Tools. You can never have enough of them and they never depreciate in usefulness.
10. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. You’ll be happier that you did it yourself.

Mandatory Maintenance

The Dart up on the powerTV Bendpak lift.

With 2012 marking the Dart’s 41st birthday, there are some elements of the vehicle that could use some careful inspection and possible replacement. With the objective in mind, we chose a select amount of maintenance and repair goals to kick off the project.

All of the work we performed on the ’71 Dart Swinger can be done within a day and is fairly simple. It requires a basic set of wrenches, a lift or jack stands, a used oil container, and a good set of gloves.

While it may be maintenance, we still get to play with some pretty fun parts that mingle the old with the new. Synthetic lubricants were not readily available back in the day and neither were the advancements in air filter technology that we have today, so it’s going to be some what of a performance upgrade as well.

Since we’re obviously making this the first of many stops to the shop for this project car, we also made sure to get a baseline on the dyno. With a 128 horsepower and 192 ft. lbs of torque, we were pleasantly surprised that the car, over 40 years, only lost about 15 horsepower. Not bad!

The '71 Dart on the dyno at the powerTV garage spat out a decent 128hp and 192 ft. lbs. of torque.

Royal Purple lubricants ready to replace the original OEM oils used in the Dart.

Replace The Lubricants

This was a no brainer. It’s commonly a best practice to replace the fluids in any vehicle you purchase, especially a older one simply because you can never count on the previous owner to adhere to regular scheduled maintenance. We opted for Royal Purple for the Dart’s engine, transmission, and gear lubricants.

Check out the nasty gear and transmission oil from a 40 year old car!

Replacing the lubricants in a '71 Dodge Dart Swinger with Royal Purple lubricants.

For the engine oil, Royal Purple recommended their Royal Purple HPS Series Synthetic Motor Oil. Royal Purple HPS Series motor oil is specifically formulated to maximize performance and meet the demands of high performance and modified engines. It’s fortified with a high level of zinc/phosphorus anti-wear additive and Royal Purple’s proprietary Synerlec additive technology. We used a 10W-30 viscosity oil.

Royal Purple ATF transmission oil.

We got a hold of Royal Purple’s Max Gear synthetic gear oil (75W-90 weight). Max Gear is an ultra-tough automotive gear oil. It’s designed to maximize power and provide unsurpassed protection to heavily loaded gears.

It makes gears run smoother, quieter, cooler and longer without overhauls. We’ll get to the details and steps we took for replacing the gear oil later in the story.

The last lubricant is set aside for the Dart’s 904 Automatic transmission, Royal Purple’s Max ATF Transmission Oil. Max ATF is a synthetic, high-performance, automatic transmission fluid. It’s low co-efficient of friction and high film strength help to dramatically reduce heat and wear.

Additionally, Royal Purple claims that their Max ATF is more oxidation stable than other transmission fluids for longer fluid life. Automatic transmissions generate a great deal of heat. It’s a must to replace the transmission oil on the Dart to ensure an extended life for the 904. More than 90 percent of all automatic transmission failures are caused by overheating; a 20°F reduction in fluid temperature can double the life of the transmission.

The engine mount was completely split in half causing some serious vibrations.

Engine And Transmission Mounts

The ’71 Dart has nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the mounts for the engine and transmission crossmember. However, after 40 years, the mounts on this Dart are shot. The passenger side engine mount is completely torn apart and the driver side is not in much better shape. The transmission mount is cracked and crumbling away. Definitely a good move to replace these.

The engine and transmission mounts are readily available at most auto-parts stores. Since the Dart uses fairly generic style mounts, it was easy to find and they were even in stock at NAPA for under $8 a piece. Not only are these very easy parts to hunt down, but replace. Using simple hand tools and a floor jack, you can swap out your engine mounts and cross-member mount within a couple of hours.

Replacing the engine and transmission mounts is a must for a 40 year old car. The easiest way of accomplishing this is with a floor jack and a wood block to prop up the transmission while changing the cross-member mount or each side of the engine swapping the motor mounts...or you could use a two-post lift like we did.

K&N Xtreme Air Flow Top Filter specially designed to breath from all angles.

Air Filter

The previous owner of the ’71 Dart Swinger had completed some small modifications and improvements under the hood. The air filter assembly, valve covers, and ignition had all been replaced some time ago and dressed up the engine a bit more than stock. However, the air filter assembly seemed like it had seen better days. Rust and chipped paint plagued what was once a nice looking assembly from Mopar.

We turned to K&N for a new filter and assembly. Since the car only has a two-barrel carburetor, the more air flow we could give the engine, the better. K&N’s 14 inch diameter X-Stream Air Flow Top (which includes both the filter and assembly) fit the bill. All we had to do was simply drop it on the top of the carburetor.

The K&N Xtreme Top Air Filter fits nicely on the Dart's 318.

The K&N XStream Air Flow Tops replace the top of your existing round filter and add a new dimension to engine breathing by feeding your engine all the air it can use. Not only does the K&N XStream add filter area, it actually redirects airflow inside the filter to pull in more air through the side pleats for even greater performance efficiency.

They are washable and reusable just like other K&N Air Filters. Cleanable and reusable, the XStream Air Flow Top filter delivers outstanding engine protection and comes in a wide range of applications. Sizes include 9, 11, 14 and 16-inch diameters. The 14-inch tops are available in anodized black, red, blue or chrome trim ring. I chose the chrome trim.

A compression test will tell you the pressure and the consistency of the pressure inside each chamber.

Compression Testing

To make sure the 318 V8 Wedge engine is in good working order, it’s a good idea to check the internals, specifically compression.

A compression test will tell you if your engine has good compression or not.

An engine is essentially a self-powered air pump, so it needs good compression to run efficiently, cleanly and to start easily.

As a rule, most engines should have 140 to 160 lbs. of cranking compression with no more than 10% difference between any of the cylinders.

Low compression in one cylinder usually indicates a bad exhaust valve. Low compression in two adjacent cylinders typically means you have a bad head gasket.

Low compression in all cylinders would tell you the rings and cylinders are worn and the engine needs to be overhauled.

With a good average all within range of being normal, we could rest assure that the Dart’s 318 engine had some life left in it and will survive long enough to get us to and from the shop until we decide the direction we go with in terms of a new powertrain.

Other Filters, Gaskets, and Cleaning

The final maintenance is pretty standard and should be done for all vehicles you own in your lifetime.

Cleaning the carb is going to help solve our starting problem allowing fuel to flow freely into the intake.

Replacing filters, gaskets, and regular cleaning will keep the wear and tear of the vehicle to a minimum and extend the life of the car dramatically. For the Dart, the valve cover gaskets, transmission filter, and carburetor needed some attention specifically.

The valve cover gaskets were worn and cracking, so a simple replacement was needed. These are also something easily attained at a local auto parts store. With new transmission oil, it’s also a good idea to replace the transmission filter.

We purchased a Hastings transmission filter online and it should last the transmissions remaining lifetime. The carburetor on the Dart is a two-barrel that seems to be in decent shape, however, it looks like it had never been cleaned. So we added it to the list of items to be cleaned.

Replacement gaskets are a inexpensive yet important step to take to keep your car running smooth.

The carburetor was at the top of the priority list for some cleaning. The Dart’s 318 was having some trouble starting up cold and we suspected the injectors could use a good run through. With carburetor unmounted from the intake manifold, carb cleaner and a steal brush were used to clean large build ups of dirt, dry fuel, and excess engine grime.

Ready To Run: Driver’s Perspective

Typically, when we would go to start the Dart, it would take at least five to six turns on the key along with pumping the gas to get the car to start. With everything checked off the list for the maintenance project on our ’71 Dart, it was time to reap the benefits. Once the car was lowered down off the lift, she fired right up! We can now drive it with piece of mind knowing that the car has some durability left.

We’re still working on the plans for the car. There are so many directions to take it, so luckily all we have to do is pick out the ones we don’t like and then go from there. Here are some different options we’re considering in terms of the overall look of the car and it’s purpose. Maybe you as the reader can provide some insight!

The Experts

We listened to two highly respected authorities in the field, Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich, Research and Development Manager of King Engine Bearings and Bill McKnight, Team Leader of Training at MAHLE Clevite, as they educated us on bearing technology. Between Kopeliovich and McKnight, there is over a half century of experience in engine bearing technology. Needless to say, these guys have seen it all.

Engine Bearings Have A Story To Tell.

Rebuilding a blown motor may end up being a habit unless you take the time to diagnose the problem. According to Clevite’s Bill McKnight, “If a mechanic merely replaces a damaged bearing in an engine without determining the cause of it’s failure, over 99% of the time he will be subjecting the replacement bearing to the same cause that was responsible for the original failure or distress.”

Abrasive wear occurs when a harder material is rubbing against a softer material and can take place with or without foreign bodies present.

We take McKnight’s statement to mean that if you are doing the same thing without changing anything other than the consumable parts, don’t expect a different result. If anything, you should always be looking to improve your engine’s performance, so reading the wear on your engine bearing is a necessity in order to make your engine program better.

When a bearing is replaced, it’s important to take a close look at the old bearing and diagnose any problems. Understanding what type of wear the bearing is experiencing cam help a technician solve any future problems before they ever exist to a point where engine damage can occur.

King Engine Bearing’s Dr. Dmitri Kopelivoich explained the most common types of wear associated with engine bearings:

Abrasive wear. This is surface on surface wear. It can also be three body wear when a particle is involved, like when a camshaft lobe is being ground flat and the particles make their way through the oil system.

If there are only two rubbing parts involved in the friction process the wear is called two body wear. In this case the wear of the softer material is caused by the asperities on the harder surface.

If the wear is caused by a hard particle (grit) trapped between the rubbing surfaces it is called three body wear. The particle may be either free or partially embedded into one of the mating materials.

Adhesion wear is a result of micro-junctions caused by welding between the opposing rough surfaces rubbing on the counterbodies. The load applied to the contacting surfaces is so high that they deform and adhere to each other forming micro-joints. The motion of the rubbing counterbodies result in rupture of the micro-joints where some of the material is transferred by its counterbody. This effect is called scuffing or galling. Eventually this will cause the seizure of one of the bodies by the counterbody.

Adhesive wear. This is when the two surfaces begin to fuse together or bond and pieces are torn off of one of the surfaces and bonded to the other.

Fatigue wear. Can be caused by cycle loading, gasous bubbles forming in the oil or particles which attack the bearing material and low oil pressure.

Corrosive wear. Wear that is accelerated by corrosion or oxidation.

Erosive wear. Wear caused by impingement of particles which remove fragments of material from the bearing surface.

McKnight breaks down the wear factors even further by saying that MAHLE Clevite’s analysis have shown “45.4 percent of bearing distress is caused by dirt. 12.8 percent is caused by misassembling the components, 12.6 percent is due to misalignment, 11.4 percent of bearing problems from insufficient lubrication with only 8.1 percent from overloading.”

Bearing Installation issues

Using the data collected over the years from King Engine Bearings and MAHLE Clevite, several issues have been identified relating to installation of the bearings. Knowing these problems exist are valuable in eliminating future problems in your next engine build.

Dirt on either side of the bearing can cause problems.

Dirt. Dirt is an engine’s worse enemy! When it comes to bearings, take every effort to remove any presence of foreign material from the bearing back and the housing. Wipe down the bearing surface after installation.

Reversed position of the upper and lower main bearings. There is a common mistake that should not be made, even by the most rookie of engine builders. According to Dr. Kopelivoich, it happens more than you would think.

When a bearing has failed due to oil starvation, its surface is usually very shiny. In addition, there may be excessive wear of the bearing surface due to the wiping action of the journal. In the most severe cases the bearing surface will be smeared or scratched and torn. The bearing will begin to turn dark blue to black in color. Probable causes for this condition are misassembling main bearings and lubrication system not primed before start up (Dry start)..

Dry start. Using assembly lube and priming the oil system before attempting the first start on a fresh engine solves this problem.

Misalignment and distortion. Remember when the machinist asked if you wanted the main bearings housing line honed and you saved a couple extra bucks by skipping that procedure? One word: DON’T. Have the bearing housings checked and also have the individual components checked to make sure the connecting rods are not twisted, the crankshaft is not distorted and all components are within specifications.

Misalignment and distortion problems can come from bearing cap shift, bent crankshaft, bent connecting rods or bearing housing distortion.

Presence of abrasive particles on shaft surface or in oil passages. If you are replacing your engine bearings, it’s likely that you have taken the extra time to have the block steam cleaned. It pays to have the machinist do a good jet wash and pay attention to the oil passages. When the crankshaft comes back from being ground or balanced, make sure the machinist runs that through the cleaner too.

Crankshaft journals ground out of shape will cause serious problems with bearing failure.

Out of shape grinding of crankshaft. Oy Vey! Use only trusted machinists with a good reputation. Nothing is worse than letting a new machinist try their freshly learned skills out on your crankshaft only to have a hourglass, tapered or barrel shaped journal. If it is not too bad it can be ground undersized but many times the only solution is a new crankshaft.

Installing New Engine Bearings

One of the most frequently asked questions that bearing manufacturers get is: “How much clearance do I need for my connecting rod bearings or main crankshaft bearings?” A very good question but not an easy one to answer. The importance of bearing clearance is almost self evident. Because the rotating shaft rides on a film of lubrication, the greater clearance between the rotating shaft and the bearing means that there will be less oil surface contact. Less clearance means almost certain engine death without the proper amount of lubrication to support the rotating shaft.

Torres starts by measuring all the journals on the crankshaft and recording the measurements.

Engine application, lubricant selection and operating conditions all play a crucial role in clearance. There is no “one size fits all” rule. Checking with the crankshaft, rod or camshaft manufacturer or working with your engine builder is the best practice for determining what your bearing clearance should be.

We checked with our local machine shop, Torres Performance and Machining, and talked with shop owner Joe Torres about measuring bearing clearance. Torres had some handy tech tips that help get accurate and repeatable results when measuring bearing clearances.

Using the measurements from the crankshaft journal, Torres zeros out the bore gauge to measure the bearing in the housing.

According to Torres, climate control is important. “In the inland empire region of Southern California we have large temperature swings from morning to mid day and again from mid day to evening. Different metals expand and contract at different rates in relationship to the temperature, so it’s important to have a climate controlled clean room to perform the assembly and measure clearances,” said Torres.

“It’s also important to have a set procedure. Doing the same thing, the same way, for each cylinder will ensure precise and accurate measurements. This goes for using the same assembly lube on the entire bearing set all the way to using the same torque wrench to tighten the bearing caps,” he added.

Main bearings are installed in the bearing housing and the caps are torqued down. Torres says that the bearings, caps and housing must all be clean of debris and oil free.

Torque wrenches and bore gauges are precession measuring devices that can lose their ability to accurately measure things like torque and distance, especially if they are dropped or abused. Making sure that the equipment that is used for the assembly is in current calibration can go a long way to achieving perfect results.

Torres explained the procedure his crew uses for engine bearing replacement: “We began by tearing down the engine and taking a close look at the parts that we removed. Engine bearings specifically can tell us a lot about the engine. When the block is cleaned and machined, we measure each bearing housing and document the measurements so that we know what we are working with. We don’t even order a set of bearings until we get the crankshaft so that we can measure the journals and order the right set of bearings the first time.”

Torres uses the bore gauge to measure the installed bearing's inside diameter.

When the bearings arrive, Torres says that the crew does a complete dry assembly using plasti-gauge to verify the bearing clearances. According to Torres, “we usually use the bearing manufacturer’s tolerances on bearing clearance because each crankshaft manufacturer has their own way of grinding journals. The bearing manufacturers have a pretty solid set of specs when it comes to clearances for each application.”

Torres rechecks the clearance using plastigage. After laying a piece of the plastigage across the journal, Torres installs the bearing cap and torques it to appropriate torque specs. Removing the cap shows that the plastigage has been smashed to the height of the oil film clearance. Torres uses the gauge supplied with the plastigage to check the dimension for proper clearance.

Problems and Coatings. Can you just “cover it up”?

There has been a lot of information floating around for several years about coatings. The more we find out about coatings, the more we like them. Here’s what our expert’s had to say about the subject:

McKnight: “We find our customers have strong feelings about coatings. They either love coated bearings, or wouldn’t use one if it was given to them free!

Almost all bearing coatings provide an anti-friction layer to the bearing and are intended to increase the bearing life in very marginal oil film conditions by preventing the transfer of the bearing face material (babbitt or aluminum) to the crankshaft. These marginal oil conditions can exist under heavy operation loads seen in racing and performance engines, but also may be present when an engine in a street rod is started for the first time after sitting all winter. Since damage to the face material of a bearing is permanent, this protection is deemed a good thing by coated bearing advocates.

Detractors of coated bearings point out that the coating layer, some .0003″-.0004″ thick, wears away, increasing the bearing to crankshaft clearance. Increased bearing clearance on performance engines concentrates the firing load on a smaller area of the bearing, increasing both the pressure on the oil film and the likelihood of bearing failure.

Both sides are dug in pretty deep, hence our offering of both coated and uncoated performance bearings.”

An uncoated H series bearing on the left and a coated H series bearing on the right.

Dr. Dmitri Kopelivoich: Coatings can help to eliminate or reduce metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and the journal surfaces during start-up and the initial period of bearing operation. Coating promotes conforming of the bearing surface resulting in lower wear of the bearing material.

Components of coating have excellent anti-friction properties (very high seizure resistance, low coefficient of friction, embedability, conformability). However, coatings are a sacrificial layer. They can wear fast under high load (metal-to-metal contact). When the coating is removed by friction, the bearing clearance is increased by the value of the coating thickness. Therefore, coatings should not be too thick (not more than 0.0004”/0.01mm). Coatings have no effect on bearing load capacity.

The Final Word.

Like we explained in the opening, there’s more to engine bearings than meets the eye, and we’ve just scratched the surface of engine bearings. When it comes to checking, buying or installing these half shell bearings, details can mean the difference between a high performance engine that lasts or one that eats itself up in 20 minutes. The bottom line is; a little extra effort, knowledge and attention to detail pays big dividends once the engine is under the hood.

For a significant number of Corvette owners, the car as delivered from the factory is as good as it can possibly be – they go to great lengths to preserve originality and maintain their Vette exactly as it was when it sat in the dealer’s showroom. Others take pleasure in customizing their Corvette, extracting more performance wherever possible.

You might guess what category we fall into.

So, as soon as we got Project Y2k in the shop, we rolled it on the dyno to get some baseline numbers, then before the drum on our DynoJet had stopped turning, we had our friends at Corvette Central on the phone. You see, they’ve launched a new performance division, sensibly named Corvette Central Performance, and they’ve got staged upgrade packages lined up for the C5 – a perfect fit!

The idea behind their packages is to take the guesswork out of beefing up your 1997-2004 Corvette with upgrades that have been dyno-proven and build upon the previous step. All the stages use top quality parts from suppliers like Corsa, COMP Cams, and MSD.

Per Corvette Central’s Matt Gessler, creating the new performance brand was the next logical step. “As our website demonstrates, there is an impressive array of performance products available for Corvettes,” he explains. “But depending on the combination of parts ultimately selected, performance can either be improved or hampered.  With this in mind, we want to eliminate the guesswork for late model Corvette owners who are searching for increased performance.  The C5 performance packages are a great example of this.  We’ve spent a lot of time researching and developing the product mix on Corvette Central Performance.  As with every other product we sell, we source our performance products with the question ‘Would I install this on my own car?’ in mind.”

In this two-part series, we’ll show you where we started, do stages 1 and 2 with trips back to the dyno between each stage, then head to the dragstrip to get some real-world performance numbers. Follow along as we turn our decade-old project Corvette into a snarling hot rod that will outrun a stock LS3 C6!

The PCM Acid Test

While we were taking care of business with Project Y2k, we decided to do a little bit of preventative maintenance with the battery. C5 and C6 Corvettes have a peculiar design flaw – the battery is perched directly above the PCM, and any spill or leak drips acid directly on the engine’s brain and main control harness. Couple that with the side terminal battery design which can develop cracks and the clock is ticking; it’s not a matter of “if” you’ll damage the PCM, it’s a matter of “when.”

Who thought putting the PCM directly under the battery was a good idea?

To save ourselves future headaches, we sourced ourselves an OPTIMA Red Top AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) battery, which won’t leak or spill, and is far more durable than a conventional battery. It’s a direct replacement for the stock piece, and as an added bonus, OPTIMA batteries are also far more tolerant to storage, so that when we park our Corvette for a while, it will go “vroom” instead of “click” when we go to start it up again.

Our PCM is intact, and the OPTIMA Red Top will prevent damage from acid leaks or spills.

 

 

Baseline Testing: A Factory Freak?

The 2000 Corvette was rated at 345 horsepower “at the brochure,” and based on the generally accepted 15% loss through a manual transmission, with a certain amount of hand-waving we arrived at an expected rear wheel horsepower number of something around 293. That’s consistent with the numbers you’ll find online for a stock C5 M6 – something between 290-315 horsepower at the tires.

So, imagine our surprise when our Dynojet (which has proven to be both accurate and repeatable with the scores of cars we’ve tested here at powerTV) reported 317.79 horsepower and 334 pound feet of torque – very, very healthy for an 11 year old bone stock LS1 with 50,000 miles on the clock.

Click on the graph to view full-sized version...

To confirm our findings, we also took Y2k to the dragstrip and made a few laps – while the engine was healthy, our rusty manual transmission launch technique left much to be desired, and the best we could do with an abused stock clutch was 13.480 at 105.43 – even with street tires and a slow 60 foot, a result that put us at the upper end of what an internet search would say is possible from a stock LS1-powered C5.

With the “before” part handled, it was back to the shop to begin our upgrade process with Stage 1, which consists of breathing upgrades on the front end, and Stage 2, which does the same for the outgoing gasses.

Stage 1: Breathe In…

Corvette Central Performance offers their C5 Stage 1 upgrade in two different versions: Part number 305341, for 2001-2004 LS1 Corvettes, and the version we used, part number 305322, for early 1997-2000 Corvettes. The primary difference is that 2001-up Corvettes came from the factory with an LS6-style intake manifold, so that’s not necessary in the kit for the later cars.

Stage 1 Contents:

• GM Factory LS6 Intake Manifold
• Callaway Honker Cold Air Intake
• Throttle Body Coolant Bypass Kit
• FAST Flash Programmer

Our upgrades began with the removal of the stock LS1 intake manifold. Thankfully, the design of the LS engine makes intake swaps very simple, compared to doing the same thing on a traditional small block Chevy. No water in the intake, and no gaskets to scrape!

While the LS1 and LS6 intake manifolds are pretty much indistinguishable from the top, flip them over and the LS6 is easy to identify by its flat underside, compared to the recessed floor on the LS1. The stock cooling lines won't clear an unmodified LS6 manifold, so Corvette Central provides a rerouting kit to go with the new manifold.

The new manifold is definitely a "stealth" mod for early LS1's, and adds a decent performance increase all by itself.

This is the inside of the stock airbox lid, which draws air from behind an enclosed part of the bumper, through those channels molded into the lid.

Callaway's Honker air intake uses a high-flow reusable oiled cotton gauze filter element, and draws air from the high-pressure area also used to feed the radiator from underneath the nose of the car. It also replaces the stock "air bridge" that connects the intake to the mass airflow sensor.

Installing the Callaway intake does require cutting a hole in the radiator shroud, but the provided template and comprehensive instructions make it an easy task. The base of the air cleaner assembly then gets pop-riveted to the shroud.

The final piece of hardware in Stage 1 is the throttle body coolant bypass, which is a simple barbed fitting that connects the feed and return coolant hoses together to help prevent the throttle body from warming up - Since we're in SoCal, a frozen-shut throttle blade isn't a real possibility. With all the pieces in place, there's just one thing left before we head back to the dyno...

A major part of the Corvette Central Performance Stage 1 kit is the included FAST flash tuner, which we used to reprogram the PCM to take full advantage of the new, less restrictive intake tract. This component will also be important later on down the line as we progress through stages 2-4 and need to tune accordingly.

The Burden of Proof

The installation of Stage 1 was a process well within the capabilities of any moderately handy Corvette owner; not exactly “change the oil” simple, but a good project for someone who might be nervous about modifying their Corvette. Whether you do it yourself or have a shop turn the wrenches, Corvette Central Performance has you covered. Per Gessler, “We have product assistance reps in house for our DIY customers, but we also deal with shops around the world that help Corvette owners who may have more ambition than technical skill.”

With the parts installed, it was time to go back to the Dynojet and see what progress we had made. A few dyno pulls later and we had our result: an average of 337 horsepower and 345 pound feet of torque – an increase of almost exactly 20 HP and 21 torque just from freeing up the intake.

With our Stage 1 mods complete, we had gained 20 horsepower and 21 foot-pounds to the tires.

Stage 2: Breathe Out…

Pleased with what we had accomplished so far, we moved on to Stage 2 – a new axle-back exhaust, plus performance spark plugs and plug wires. Corvette Central Performance offers four different kit options for exhaust – a Borla Stinger system with either round or oval tips, or one of two different Corsa Indy Pace Car systems. We went for the gusto and selected the package with the Corsa system featuring quad 3.5-inch Pro Series stainless steel tips – part number 305418

Stage 2 Contents:

• Borla or Corsa Axle-Back Exhaust
• MSD 8.5mm Conductor Spark Plug Wires
• NGK TR5 Spark Plugs

We're not going to make any outrageous claims about how much horsepower some magic spark plug and plug wire combination will make, but after more than a decade of service, the stock components are plain worn out even if they look OK on the outside. A switch to top quality ignition components will ensure we're getting all the spark we need.

NGK's V-Power plugs have a 45 degree center electrode, which offers improved anti-fouling characteristics. MSD's 8.5mm Super Conductor plug wires are designed for high heat environments, which will be a plus once we get to Stage 3 and install headers.

Corsa's Indy Pace Car exhaust is part of their "sport" series featuring a straight-through muffler design for maximum performance. Their patented RSC technology makes for a free-flowing muffler that doesn't have the interior drone you get with some other designs. If you're looking for a quieter sound, their "touring" designs offer greater sound reduction through a slightly more restrictive layout.

The wrenching on Stage 2 is about as easy as it gets, though removing and replacing those big mufflers is definitely a bit more convenient on a 4-post lift than jackstands...

The new Corsa exhaust goes right back on - it features all-stainless 304 construction, right down to the clamps and hangers, and the mandrel-bent tubing allows a claimed airflow increase of up to 47% better than stock.

With the Stage 2 installation complete, we were back on the Dynojet to quantify our results...

Hooking Up
To maximize the potential we’re extracting from our upgrades to Project Y2k, we turned to Mickey Thompson Tires for a set of sticky Drag Radials. Specifically, we mounted up a pair of P265/40R18 ET Street Radials, which are specifically designed for our Corvette application. M/T has gone to a lot of trouble to make sure they have a drag radial sized appropriately for just about every popular modern performance car, and if your ride will see only limited street use, the ET Street Radial’s DOT rating means you won’t have to buy an extra set of wheels just for the dragstrip.With our new Drag Radials, we won’t have any trouble applying our new-found horsepower to the pavement, and the fact that we’re able to drive them on the street means we won’t be outgunned at the Stoplight Grand Prix either (not that we would do that sort of thing, of course…) 

Before we dyno-tested Stage 2, we honestly didn’t know what to expect. Corsa says their exhaust system is good for “up to 10 horsepower,” but the Conventional Internet Wisdom is that until you get to somewhere around 500 rear wheel horsepower, the stock Corvette mufflers aren’t the bottleneck. As far as the spark plug and wire swap went, we had no reason to suspect that we were getting any misfires or power loss with the stock pieces, so we didn’t think any improvement attributable to the ignition would be measurable by the dyno.

With those thoughts in mind, we were definitely pleased when our Stage 2 dyno pulls revealed an average of 340.59 horsepower and 343.00 pound feet of torque. While picking up three horsepower and dropping a couple of pound feet doesn’t sound like anything worth celebrating, it showed that there was a definite benefit to doing the first (and often last) mod most Corvette owners will perform – an axle-back exhaust swap.

Click on the graph to view full-sized version...

There’s no point in making more power if you don’t intend to use it, though, and we did – Just two days after finishing Stage 1 and 2, we were off to our local 1/8th mile dragstrip to see what we’d gained. For reference, our best stock pass (the 13.48 we mentioned earlier) netted us half-track numbers of 8.751 seconds and 80.67 MPH.

With an additional 23 or so horsepower and another nine pound-feet, we knew that Y2k would be quicker, but how much? With the same 2,500 RPM, clutch-saving no-wheelspin launch, our best effort with Stage 1 and 2 complete was an 8.616 at 81.97.

With Stage 1 and 2 installed, we went from 8.751 at 80.67 MPH in the eighth mile stock to a new best of 8.616 at 81.97.

Doing the math, that 8.616 translates to a 13.27 in the quarter mile – a very healthy gain of two tenths of a second. Now, you may be saying (and rightly so) that running the 1320 isn’t the primary mission for a Corvette, but it is a good yardstick for real world performance. Also, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, but that’s beside the point.

Most importantly, since Project Y2k is intended to be a blue collar supercar, competent at just about anything you ask it to do, by installing Corvette Central Performance’s Stage 1 and 2 C5 kits we made a good car even better. The additional power is evident on the street, and uncorking the intake and exhaust had the added side benefit of making the car sound much better too, from idle to redline. It’s a painless performance improvement from a comfort standpoint as well; this car is still a totally comfortable long distance cruiser, with no drone from the exhaust while hammering down the interstate at 70 MPH (where permitted by local laws, of course…)

What’s Next?

As you might logically infer, now that we have the first two stages of our four-part upgrade complete, the next time around we’ll be bringing you Stage 3 and 4, where we add long-tube headers and a mid-pipe, an underdrive crank pulley, then go for the gusto with a new camshaft to really wake up our trusty LS1. Keep an eye out for the next update, where we’ll once again be turning wrenches and spinning rollers with the help of Corvette Central Performance.

Our ’65 Mustang Project: “Biting the Bullitt” has been under the knife in the powerTV shop for the last few months getting a brand new suspension along with fitting the engine and transmission, as we get closer to firing it up for the first time.

In our previous installation articles we installed a TCI Custom IFS front suspension, along with a complete rear suspension from Strange and Calvert, plus capped off with a set of Wilwood brakes, Weld RT wheels, and Mickey Thompson tires.

We started with the TCI Custom IFS because we simply did not want to deal with working on a supercharged Windsor in a first gen Mustang’s overly tight engine bay.  Also, it updates the front suspension to a more conventional upper/lower control arm combination.

For the rear suspension, we knew the stock 7.5-inch rear end and according suspension pieces weren’t going to keep up with the 1000hp+ we were going to be throwing down.  A Strange 9-inch fit nicely in place, harnessing all the power we can throw at it.  Keeping the power transmitted properly to the pavement, we turned to Calvert Racing and their complete line of rear suspension pieces.  Lastly, wanting to fit a 15×9 and 275/60 drag radial comfortably in the wheel wells, we mini tubbed the Mustang with Autoworks’ Mustang-specific mini tub kit.

Overdrive and Durability In One with TCI’s 4L80E

With the suspension completed we moved to test fitting the engine and transmission.  For the transmission, we wanted something that would be easy to drive on the freeway and be able to handle the power.  Unfortunately, a C4 is hard to build properly and we needed more gears than a Poweglide can offer.  We decided to go with TCI’s Super Streetfighter 4L80E 4-speed transmission.  Yes we know, it’s a GM transmission in a Ford, but this transmission setup is really sweet.

TCI makes a modular 4L80E transmission that fits a wide range of applications, with the SFI approved bell housing on ours designed for a Ford engine. The EZ-TCU allows us to program shift points for full automatic shifting, or a manual mode can be triggered and the two buttons on the Outlaw shifter act as up and downshifts.

It all starts with TCI’s modular case that allows a Ford SFI approved bell housing to be adapted straight to it.  That means no screwing around with spacer plates, everything bolts on and goes.

It is backed by a EZ-TCU and Outlaw shifter, which makes shifting a breeze because we simply don’t have to do anything! The EZ-TCU gives the Outlaw shifter the ability to be used in manual or automatic mode via the ratcheting shifter or the two push buttons on the shifter for up or down shifting.  While in drive mode, the EZ-TCU can be programmed to shift at any RPM you want, increasing consistency and keeping us in the power band between shifts.  There is even a switch that can be installed to regulate between soft (street) and firm (race) line pressures.

The 4L80E does depend on throttle position to work properly, so we opted for a TCI TPS sensor that drives straight from the carburetor’s throttle linkage and plugs directly into the EZ-TCU’s harness.

We knew it wasn’t going to be a direct fit for this much larger transmission, and rather then screw around with patch panels, we scalped the Mustang’s tunnel and installed a fresh sheet metal version that we formed in house that allows for complete functionality of the transmission linkage and cooler lines.

Since the TCI cross member already comes with engine mounts, there was no guesswork involved to get the small block in the car.  For the transmission mount, we turned to Chris Alston Chassisworks’ universal transmission mount kit. While they do offer the kit in different radiused bends, we opted for the straight tube and bent our own.  The kit also includes two clevis ends with tabs and a transmission mount bracket. It was really easy to install, especially since we had our Chris Alston subframe brace in place to mount the tabs to.

The 4L80E is a big boy. We didn't mess around with hammering the tunnel to try to make it work, rather we scalped the tunnel and installed a fresh sheet metal piece that even offers a little wiggle room. Chris Alston's universal transmission mount worked perfectly and we secured it to their subframe brace. With the tunnel finished, we cleaned the entire bottom of the Mustang and undercoated it with canned 3M undercoating spray. This really helps the appearance and also reduces further rusting.

Cooling and Fueling with Snow Performance, Aeroquip, Fuelab, Derale and AFCO

With the motor in place we moved to plumbing the fuel system with help from our friends from Fuelab and Aeroquip.  Instead of going with a fuel cell, we were lucky enough to buy Tim Grillot’s sumped stock tank he had built for his fastback.  Fuelab then supplied us with their 1800 hp capable variable speed EFI fuel pump, 1:1 regulator, pre and post filters.

It is important to run a EFI fuel pump on blow-through carbureted applications, since we will see nearly 25 PSI of fuel pressure under full boost. The other great benefit of Fuelab’s fuel pump technology is that it can be run in low speed for street duty and switch to high speed when you need it.  The pump can be wired for either a trigger or ground switch to activate. We will wire the pump to activate on the pump switch from the Snow Performance water/meth kit mounted in the trunk, so when the Snow pump activates around 4 psi of boost, the Fuelab pump will run in high speed instantly.

We needed to fit the largest possible radiator we could in our '65, so we turned to AFCO to build us a custom piece. The radiator secures into the frame rails at the bottom with dowels and threaded bungs on the front side that attach to the core support. The factory core support recess was cut out to gain much-needed clearance.

To feed the pump and motor we went with Aeroquip’s Starlite hoses and fittings. The Starlite racing hose is Aeroquip’s light weight racing hose, up to 45% lighter than steel braided.  But don’t think this hose isn’t strong; it is covered with flame resistant Nomex and ultra durable Kevlar. For line sizes, we went with -12 AN from the pump to the pre-filter with a -10 AN outlet and return line. We also used the Starlite hoses and fittings to connect our custom Canton oil separator to the valve cover’s welded bungs.

Since we knew we wanted to drive the Mustang around town without running into overheating issues, we turned to AFCO to build us a custom radiator to fill every bit of available space we had in the front of the Mustang. Fitting from frame rail to frame rail, this all-aluminum cross flow radiator locates into the frame rail with dowels and features threaded bungs on the front of the radiator so we can attach it directly to the core support. Before we could do that, we had to cut out the factory radiator’s mounting point and recess, gaining much-needed clearance to the motor.

A sumped stock tank was a simple solution for our fuel system. Since the fuel pump is mounted above the sump, Fuelab recommends adding a check valve right after the pump's outlet. The post fuel filter is mounted about two feet forward of the outlet onto the Chassisworks' subframe connectors. The rest of our fuel system consists of a Snow Performance Stage 3 water/meth injection kit, which we mounted the 2.5 gallon tank and pump opposite of our battery box.

With the supercharger and radiator in place, it is a tight fit, with as little as 2-1/4 inches of clearance in some spots.  We turned to Derale to build us a custom shroud that would place dual fans offset from each other in spots that would clear the supercharger drive system.  To aid with the building, we made a template of our front drive, complete with spacing to all the bolts and belts.

The Odds and Ends

With the fueling wrapped up and the cooling system nearly complete, we moved onto buttoning up other projects and prepping for wiring.

We made an electronics panel that mounts in place of the factory heater blower, allowing us to easily service any of the engine’s electronics.  Everything will be controlled by Racepak’s new SmartWire that is a fully programmable, automated relay board that contains no fuses.

The Racepak UDX display fit perfectly into the blank Mustang dash insert we purchased. The UDX will display all our critical sensor inputs as well as displaying our basic car functions like turn signals and lights.

Speaking of Racepak, we also went with their UDX series gauge cluster.  Outside of displaying all of our critical sensor outputs, it also serves duty like a traditional cluster with turn signal, fuel level, and high beam switch notification. We mounted the UDX into an ABS plastic panel that fits directly into our factory gauge cluster location.

Canton supplied us with this trick baffled oil catch can that vents to both valve covers.  Canton has the ability to build custom catch tanks with any options you desire.

The trunk was a suitable place to mount our Snow Performance 2.5 gallon reservoir, along with a simple bracket to hold the pump in place.  Opposite the tank is a Taylor battery box with an Optima Red Top Battery and emergency shut off switch mounted to the box.

We really didn’t want to install a cowl hood on the Mustang and opted for a classic teardrop hood from Maier Racing.  We did run into an issue with clearance to the intake pipe and opted to leave the pipe exposed from the outside…after a weekend polishing project, that is.

Biting the Bullitt is getting really close to running with a week’s worth of random tasks and a few days of wiring left before it is ready to run.  With a mere 300 hours into the project we are getting excited about making that first trip to the track for some solid nine-second passes.  Stay tuned to future updates and tech articles on our ’65 ‘Stang!

The trade off with air filters in racing, however, has long been the perceived losses in horsepower and torque; which as we all know, performance is everything in this game, even if one is simply bracket racing. So we sat down with a pair of leaders in the racing filtration industry to take a look at the past and current state of air filters in racing. K&N Filters’ Bob Harris and Airaid’s Chris Thomson both shared their viewpoints on the technological advancement of high performance air filters, discussed some of their latest racing-minded products, and helped to answer the question: “Should you run an air filter on your race car?”

Advancements In Racing Filtration

The use of a physical, air inhibiting filter between the atmosphere and carburetor or throttle body blades has long been a source of inner debate for drag racers, and for good reason. Racers spend all of their hard earned money to go fast, and anything that’s going to slow them down is considered unnecessary. And earlier filter technology, in many applications, did rob them of horsepower, torque, and ultimate performance. But protecting their investment was key, as well. But thanks to leading companies like K&N and Airaid and their pushing of the technological boundaries, performance losses are virtually non-existent today. And in many cases, air filters actually deliver added horsepower.

AIRAID offers their U-Build-It air intake kits, utilizing Synthamax and Synthaflow filters, that are a great fit for centrifugally supercharged and turbocharged race cars.

“Performing dyno testing on my own race motor, I was blown away to see the engine from from running a completely open carburetor to putting one of our filters on it and actually picking up horsepower and torque,” Harris said.

In the case of K&N’s line of racing-minded air filters, while there’s a perceived barrier, if you will, between the air and the engine, it’s actually the design of the filter that improves airflow rather than restricting it. The filters actually act to straighten out the air flow going into the engine, as Harris explains it, helping to atomize the air/fuel mixture in a more efficient manner. K&N’s newer scoop filters have also produced some great advantages for drag racers.

“The scoop filters have taken away what is usually a turbulent area,” said Harris. “The scoop pulls in the air and as it goes through the filter, it’s straightening out the airflow to make it more efficient as it goes down into the carburetor and intake runners.”

Today’s racing filters utilize a cotton gauze material that’s high-flowing, washable, reusable, and built to last, and according to Harris, is a vast improvement over the paper materials used in earlier air filtration systems in terms of airflow restrictions. K&N’s racing filters are non-oiled and two-ply cotton to improve said airflow while maintaining filtration functionality to keep out some of the larger particles one might encounter at the racetrack.

K&N Filters offers their own lightweight doorslammer hood scoops and dragster scoops, for which a high-flowing, two-ply air filter has been designed to be installed within, making fitment of an air filter easier and more universal than ever before.

“The introduction of synthetic materials has really gone a long way to delivering today’s filters that don’t take away horsepower and torque,” says Thomson.

Thanks to the free-flowing ability of today’s modern air filter materials, Harris proclaims, “These racing filters actually flow so well that they could use oil and a four-ply and still perform admirably.”

K&N Filters

K&N’s Drag Racing Scoop Filters Offerings include those for Harwood, Quarter-Max, and Don Davis dragster and doorslammer scoops, along with K&N’s own composite scoops. 

“The Quartermax/Rick Jones scoop was the first one that we did, and that one was just a matter of taking a scoop in the market that’s popular on doorslammers and building and designing a filter on the flow bench and on the car,” says Harris. “It worked out well, and from there we tackled other products, along with developing our own scoops.”

K&N offers scoops for five of Harwood’s popular doorslammer and dragster hood scoops, two for Don Davis scoop designs (both 10-inch and 6-inch depth), and two for the Quartermax RFJ1 scoops that are commonly seen on bracket cars, Top Sportsman, Pro Stockers, and similar cars. K&N also produces their own carbon fiber scoops – one for dragsters and one for door cars – that can be outfitted with a specially-fitted air filter.

Airaid Filters

AIRAID’s Synthamax TechnologyConsists of inner and outer layer wire mesh, housing filter composed of two distinct layers of non-oiled, synthetic materials designed to deliver outstanding air flow and high air filtration. 

 

Airaid’s U-Build-It air intake systems include angled and straight air intake tubes, an air filter anywhere from 9-inches to 12-inches, and all the necessary hardware to create an air intake setup specifically catered to the confines of your engine compartment. These kits have inlets as large as 6-inches, which according to Thomson, can flow as much as 3,600 cfm.

Says Thomson, “for some of these newer street car classes where racers are running turbocharged and supercharged applications, this is absolutely the product that we would recommend.”

Airaid also has a new line of filters in their catalog, known as the Synthamax, which, like many filters intended for racing applications, is non-oiled with all of the flow characteristics of their gauze-type filters, minus the need for oiling.  The Synthaflow, meanwhile, is oiled but features a fifth dry layer that catches much of the dirt and dust before reaching the four primary layers of gauze.

Among Airaid’s air filter lineup are a host of Synthaflow and Synthamax kit replacement, pre-filters, and universal filters of both the cone and round design for varying engine combinations. These round filters and similar oval-shaped filters are quite common on Super Comp, Super Gas, and bracket-type applications.

Filter Restrictions

As we’ve already discussed, restrictions in terms of power losses in this day and age are minimal, if not completely nonexistent. But there are steps one can take to insure that this fact rings true for their race car.

“One of the biggest problems is running an undersized filter,” Thomson explains. “I don’t know that there is a true restriction if you choose a filter that exceeds the volumetric requirements of your engine. The performance differential is minimal if the correct filter is used.”

Restrictions, of course, aren’t limited just to operational restrictions, but fitment within the confines of the vehicle, as well. In street applications, filters and air intake systems are commonly designed specifically for the tight confines of the engine compartment, and in drag racing vehicles, many of the same confined areas can make fitment of the correct sized filter troublesome.

AIRAID offers a complete line of air filters for varying applications and in a host of shapes and sizes, built around both their Synthaflow and Synthamax filter technology.

“For drag racing applications, it would have to do with each individual vehicle and engine,” explains Harris. “We have some guys that may run a different scoop, and because of the configuration, they’re unable to stick an air filter on it. For many, the scoops that they use on a door car, depending on the configuration and the amount of room they have between the carburetor and the top of the scoop, may inhibit the size of the filter and therefore the flow. You can’t take a 565-inch motor with 2 -inches of clearance between the carburetor and hood scoop, stick a filter on it, and expect the filter to flow at an efficient level.”

This reason is largely to do with K&N’s creation of their in-house hood scoops with filters designed to fit within the air inlet.

According to Harris, what K&N engineers have seen through the design of their racing filters is actually an increase in horsepower and torque, thanks to the efficiency of the air flow. “We’ve seen cars pick up the mile per hour in the quarter mile, and that’s something we’ve gotten several positive results from through racers here at K&N and those we work and test with.”

Retuning for Filters?

Bolting an air filter onto an engine that previously didn’t have one would, on the surface, seem like a situation where the air/fuel ratio would be altered, necessitating the need to re tune your combination. However, as Thomson explains, a lot of that comes down to selecting the proper filter for your engine and induction setup.

Shown here are K&N Filters for the Quarter-Max RFJ1 (left) and Don Davis drag racing hood scoops.

“It’s possible that it won’t affect the tune, but it really has a lot to do with choosing the right filter. You want one large enough that the air can flow through undisturbed and without chaos into the engine.”

The materials that the filters are made from can also affect the tune-up. The use of more restrictive materials or filters with extra layers of cotton gauze that restrict airflow can necessitate the need to re-jet the carburetor. In a fuel-injected setup, the difference is considered to be minimal enough not to require any adjustments, as the ECM will conform to the airflow.

Should You Run An Air Filter?

NHRA sportsman racing standout Mike Ferderer, who is a multi-time world champion and the winningest racer in Super Gas history, runs K&N's composite Pro Stock hood scoop on his Pontiac Grand Am, complete with a filter inside the air inlet.

The question of whether you should run an air filter is an age-old debate, but one that has become far more irrelevant over the years as filter technology has moved the trade-offs between doing and not doing much closer to one another. And much of the decision comes down to the intent of your race car and how deep your pocketbook is.

As you’ve probably seen, Top Fuel and Funny Car, NHRA Pro Stock, Pro Modified, outlaw doorslammer, and other heads-up racers rarely can be found using air filters, and as Harris explains, these racers are concerned only with making the most horsepower possible, and not with filtration. Performance is paramount, and their engines routinely come apart within a matter of races, if not a matter of runs. But for bracket racers, who park in the back 40, face all sorts of elements at different tracks, and need their engines to live for months – if not years – filtration is a big deal. So what do the experts have to say on the matter?

“I wouldn’t suggest that air filters are a good idea for everyone, but for the general sportsman drag racer, I would absolutely recommend that they run an air filter on their car for consistency and longevity,” says Thomson. “The basics of filtering is that it keeps dirt out, and bracket racers that get the slightest bit of dirt in the carburetor or air intake, you can have consistency problems. So the filter not only increases longevity, but the performance is there back-to-back. What you’ve done by adding a filter is remove the variable of contaminants in the air out of the equation, thereby putting consistent air flow into the engine each and every pass.”

Like Thomson, Harris is adamant that filters are a no-brainer for weekend warrior bracket and index racers, who don’t have the deep pockets and focus more on consistency and longevity than pure elapsed time and mile per hour.

“Absolutely,” Harris responds emphatically. “There’s just no reason not to run an air filter on your race car. When you can run a filter and keep contaminants, dirt, and debris out of your motor and have the plus of not losing horsepower and gaining efficiency, you’d be kind of crazy not to. If you can make it fit and it works for you, you should use it.”

I’ve got racers in Top Dragster and Top Sportsman running big-inch motors that are well into the sixes running filters in their scoops, and it didn’t slow them down at all.”

According to AIRAID's Chris Thomson, the most important aspect of making an air filter work for you is selecting a properly sized filter to allow for optimum and efficient airflow into the engine.

Conclusion

As we’ve learned here in our discussions with Harris and Thomson, the “should I” or “shouldn’t I” debate regarding air filters has really become more a question of what your primary intent for your engine is rather than one of whether you should run the filter or not in general. Modern advancements in materials have made the age-old argument of horsepower losses negligible at best, and the easy fitment of filters such as K&N’s scoop filters have made their use simpler and more universal than ever. So if you’re a bracket/index racer and you’re not running a filter, what are you waiting on?

It has taken some time to get to part 2 of our LSX engine buildup for the Pacific Street Car Association’s Limited Street class, but it’s finally coming together. Part 1 covered the intricate machine work that Virginia Speed did to the GM Performance Parts LSX cast-iron block, and in this part, we stuff it with killer rotating and reciprocating parts from Lunati, GRP, JE, and Total Seal, following along with VA Speed’s Shawn Miller and picking his brain on the details.

Once again, Virginia Speed's Shawn Miller will be our guide.

There are a lot of different ways to build an engine, but each specific application has only a few right ways. For our engine, we broke out the PSCA rulebook and flipped to the Limited Street section, the class we intend to compete in. PSCA considers this more of an entry-level class, but with elapsed times in the mid- to low-8s, c’mon, you need a full-race motor to be competitive.

Removing a lot of the compromises required for street use and building it for the drag strip dictated the parts that Miller and VA Speed chose for the short-block, and also how they all went together. If you were to build a more street-oriented engine, or one for a road race or endurance application (like a Bonneville car), some things would be different than those used on our 388 CI drag-only engine, but Miller was able to point out many of the points where these paths diverge as he assembled our short block.

Crankshaft Considerations

Regardless of application, the block and crankshaft are the basic building blocks of the whole shebang, and are pretty universal across the board — get the strongest stuff you can. Our last installment told you everything you need to know about the GMPP LSX cast-iron block and how VA Speed prepped and machined it, so we’ll start this one with the crankshaft.

Lunati’s Pro Series 4340 cranks are their top-of-the-line units. They’re forged and machined in the United Damn States of America with roundness of each journal held to a tolerance of .0001-inch (one-ten-thousandth of an inch) and each rod journal is drilled with a lightening hole to reduce the inertia weight of the crank.

VA Speed chose a Lunati Pro Series 4340 forged-steel crank with a 3.622-inch stroke. Miller said, “That crank is as good as it gets when it comes to a forged steel crankshaft. It’s the best non-billet crank you can buy and is extremely good right out of the box.” Because we will be running a ProCharger supercharger, which is obviously driven off of the crank, VA Speed added an extra keyway (for two total) in the crank snout for the damper, which mounts the lower blower pulley, to better hold it all together under the extreme loads that the blower puts on the crank at peak boost. Other than the extra keyway and a touch of balancing with the rods and pistons, the crank was blown clean and installed in the block with Clevite bearings.

ATI provided the balancer, which is unique to our setup. Per Miller, “It’s a totally custom piece – the hub was made as short as possible to keep the supercharger pulley as close to the block as possible.” ATI catalogs an astonishing number of different variations in diameter and construction for their Super Damper line, but when something off the shelf isn’t quite right, they can easily step up and provide a custom solution. “I just asked them to get me the pulley as close to the block as possible and they did the rest,” Miller explains.

A second keyway machined into the crank snout helps distribute the load from the blower drive.

Connecting Rods

The rods are another of VS’s favorite choices: GRP aluminum pieces from their Pro Severe Duty line. A drag race engine likes aluminum rods for several reasons. For one, they’re lighter than comparable steel rods and significantly more affordable than titanium rods. And two, since a drag race motor never sees extreme operating temperatures (between fire-up, burnout, and a pass, it’s running for maybe one minute; not long enough to get hot) the rods don’t get a lot of time to expand under the heat, which aluminum has a tendency to do.

Aluminum rods can be used in street applications, and we’ve seen it done, but don’t expect 50,000-mile durability out of them. The GRP rods in our engine measure 6.200 inches from the centerlines of the pin and crank journals and use standard small-block Chevy .927-inch wristpins and 2.100-inch big ends. Aluminum rods require a dowel pin to hold the bearings in place, which these have, for the Clevite coated bearings.

Miller told us, “This is GRP’s best rod for forced induction small-block applications. We’ve used them 10 other times in 2,000 horsepower applications and never had a problem.”

Pistons and Rings

For the pistons, VA Speed turned to JE and spec’d out a special set of slugs for our engine. These are, of course, high-quality forgings fit to a 4.125-inch bore, but instead of the traditional “full-round” design, these parts have reduced area around the pin bosses and essentially no skirts. They’re a forged side relief design, the strongest that JE makes. With less material, it’s a lot lighter piston than normal but the design doesn’t sacrifice a bit of strength, and in fact adds a bit by narrowing the pin which reduces flex.

Choosing the piston’s top shape (flattop, dished, or domed) required studying the supercharger and how much boost we could get out of it, then figuring out how much compression ratio we can get away with. In this application, a very slight dome was designed into the pistons to arrive at a final compression ratio of 11.5:1. “With the ProCharger F1, by our calculations we’re limited to 18 pounds of boost. When we only have that much boost and we can use race gas, we can get a little carried away with compression and make up for it. And we can also tailor camshaft timing to bleed off some cylinder pressure if we need to,” Miller said.

Miller said, “These pistons have reduced material around the pin bosses but they’re every bit as strong as the old-school full-round pistons.” The slugs are coated by Calico in North Carolina with an anti-friction coating on the skirts and a ceramic thermal barrier on the crowns. “That barrier coating really helps with detonation,” Miller told us. Calico also gave its Diamond Like Coating to the pins and pin bores in the pistons and rods to protect against galling.

Ring end gaps are very important and depend on several different factors. Miller explained, 'With gapless rings, on the top rings you have to run a lot of end gap on a forced induction application. We ran them (in this engine) at .035-inch. It sounds like a lot but with a gapless ring it’s not that big a deal. We can live with a little bit of blow-by as long as we’re sure that the ring’s not going to butt and rip the top off the piston.' The second rings were set at .025-inch, while the oil rings were set at .015. The oil ring is not as critical, 'but check it just to be sure.' Another thing to consider is the bore size—the bigger the bore the more ring gap you should run, and the smaller the bore, the less gap.

The piston rings in this engine were a new area for VA Speed. Miller’s connection at Total Seal convinced him to use their new gapless design rings, with 1.5mm top and second rings and a traditional 3/16-inch oil ring package. The gapless rings use a conventional style ring, but with an extra, thin ring in the same groove, set with the gaps 180-degrees apart. The top rings are stainless steel, and the second rings are a conventional Napier design.

Bearing Clearance

At this point, we need to discuss bearing clearances, which Miller feels is a very misunderstood area in engine building. He said, “Everybody thinks you just pick up a book or go online and say, ‘Oh, I need this much clearance,’ but it doesn’t exactly work like that. Main bearing clearance is the most important clearance to maintain in the engine. You have to look at what the application of the engine is, what the block material is, how much power you’re gonna make, and what type of crankshaft you have. There are a lot of variables and they all affect where your main bearing clearances should be. There is no hard and fast rule on where to run them.”

“The biggest thing is, what’s the usage? Is it a street car, is it a drag car, is it a road race or oval track car? All have different clearances,” Miller explains. “With street/road race engines, you’ll run clearances a lot tighter since the block gets hotter and the main bore expands and gets more and more bearing clearance as you go. When you set the clearances cold, you want them to be where it’s going to be at normal operating conditions and temperature. If you’re running 250 to 260 degree oil temps, you have to account for that when measuring cold bearing clearances. A drag race motor never sees those kind of temps so you run a much looser clearance in a drag race engine. They’re also usually making more horsepower, so you have to compensate for more crankshaft flex. You’re not going to hold that thing in place with the main bearing. You have to make room for that so they don’t beat the bearings out.”

On this cast-iron block, drag race engine, Miller set the main bearing clearances at .0027-.0029. When using an aluminum block, you can tighten them up because the aluminum expands much more than cast iron — Miller says to make those half-a-thousandth tighter. The crank’s thrust clearance, which is the fore-aft movement of the crank, was set at .005-inch. Miller said, “Any tighter and they’ll have a tendency to try and burn up the thrust bearing, especially in a car with a torque converter where you’re sitting on the trans brake for awhile and it gets hot and really pushes on the thrust bearing.”

Rod bearing clearance, according to Miller, is not nearly as critical as main bearing clearance. “They’re at the end of the oiling system, the last things to get oil, so they’re just not as important. You can screw up on rod bearings and get away with it.”

When it comes to the connecting rod bearing clearance, you should obviously still check it very closely, but it’s not quite as important as the mains. And surprisingly to us, Miller said they don’t vary the rod bearing clearance much between steel and aluminum rods on a drag race application. “The rods never really get hot enough to expand. We run them between .0027- and .003-inch on the rods. We’ve experimented with more clearance, but it just loses oil pressure. If you mess up rod bearings you’re really doing something wrong.”

Fasteners: Not A Place To Cut Corners

ARP bolts (and studs on the mains) were used throughout for their superior quality and also the consistency that they provide. “ARP studs give you a better torque, and a more uniform torque fastener-to-fastener,” Miller said. “Each one is exactly the same, with no difference in grain structure between bolts.”

Never scrimp on fasteners when building a race engine. ARP makes the best stuff money can buy, and their bolts and studs are cheap insurance when it comes to making a motor live.

GRP recommends using standard 30-weight motor oil to install the rod bolts, since it lubricates them and allows them to thread together equally bolt-to-bolt. ARP has its own specific lube as well.

Ideally, all the bolts in the engine should be stretched to length, not torqued with a traditional torque wrench. This is possible on the rod bolts, but impossible on the mains since they’re installed into blind holes and you need access to both ends of the fastener (obviously) to measure stretch. The reason measuring stretch instead of a torque value is described as follows by ARP:

It is important to note that in order for a fastener to function properly it must be ‘stretched’ a specific amount. The material’s ability to ‘rebound’ like a spring is what provides the clamping force. If you were to simply finger-tighten a bolt there would be no preload. However, when you apply torque or rotate a fastener a specific amount and stretch it, you will be applying clamping force.

The amount of force or preload you can achieve from any bolt or stud depends on the material being used and its ductility, the heat treat, and the diameter of the fastener. Of course, every fastener has a yield point. The yield point or yield strength of a fastener is the point at which the fastener has been over-tightened and stretched too much, and will not return to its original manufactured length. As a rule of thumb, if you measure a fastener and it is .0005-inch (or more) longer than its original length it has been compromised and must be replaced.

Ideally, rod bolts should not be tightened with a torque wrench, but rather stretched using a proper stretch gauge. “The bolts can torque differently every time you do them, and it’s very inaccurate so you should always use a stretch gauge on them. It’s very critical on rod bolts,” Miller said. It’s more time-consuming than using a conventional torque wrench, but not when you compare it to how much time it would take to fix an engine that’s kicked a few rods out the side of the block.

Virginia Speed likes to use ATI Super Dampers on their engines, and employed one on our Limited Street-bound bullet. It's a custom-made piece that integrates the drive pulley for the supercharger cog belt and is designed to tuck in as close as possible to the block to minimize crank flex. Miller was quick to point out that you should always use a proper damper installer. Don’t use a bolt threaded into the crank snout to pull the damper on. Plus, we’ve personally been guilty of beating a damper onto the crank with a 2x4 and a hammer, and that’s so the wrong way to do it. The thrust bearing will hate you for that.

And that’s the bulk of the short-block parts and assembly. Miller said this was the easiest part of building this engine. “It was pretty straightforward. We didn’t have a big stroke to we didn’t have to worry about the crank hitting the block, or cam-to-rod clearance. It all just fit in there nice.” Check back next time as we go in-depth on the cylinder heads and valvetrain, the most crucial areas when it comes to making power.

When it comes to making as much power from an engine as possible, it can become somewhat of a guessing game as to what’s the best recipe. There are literally millions of combinations to choose from, which can become pretty overwhelming. Of all the choices of pistons, crankshafts, cylinder heads, valvetrain and modes of induction, perhaps nothing is more important than the camshaft. While the camshaft can’t be wholly regarded as the brain of the engine, it definitely can be considered the frontal lobe as it determines much of your engine’s personality, behavior and attitude, dictating much of your engine’s ability make power.

When an off-the-shelf camshaft won't work, COMP Cams' CamQuest digital software and helpful technicians will help take the mystery out of ordering a custom-grind cam.

To help take the guesswork out of building the perfect engine for your needs, COMP Cams – known worldwide for offering nearly every off-the-shelf grind available, as they’ve been at it for over 30 years – has the experience and know-how to help guide you in your way towards street and/or strip supremacy.

It all starts in engineering, were COMP designers use CAD programming to design a new or custom grind. They have programs in place that can estimate how the slightest changes in lobe and duration will effect valvetrain at varying RPMs.

That being said, sometimes one of COMP’s existing off-the-shelf grinds doesn’t fit the bill for maximum engine efficiency – particularly in the case of unique or unusual applications. Rather than just sending you on your way, COMP is still by your side to help you along.

COMP Cams handles custom-grind cams on a daily basis and can tell you everything that you need to know to do it! Just like painting a car, the real benefit of a custom grind camshaft is in the prep work. Specifically, having as much information as possible on the engine that you’ll be building will be the key to success versus an experience that leads to head-banging frustration.

What Are You Building?

First and foremost, before giving COMP a call to order your custom grind you’ll need to have some basic information on the engine you have. Is it a small block Chevrolet? If so, what size? It may sound like a basic question to ask, but COMP assures us that sometimes people call without having this basic question figured out.

Also, they stress that you give them the information based on the engine that you’d LIKE to build, so if you’re planning to punch it out to a larger displacement or make it a stroker motor, this is the time to say so. According to COMP’s Director of Special Projects/Operations, Derrick Hubbard, “This is an area that people really need to consider upfront. It may sound basic, but start with the end game in mind for your motor. It’s not a good idea to start your build with a custom grind before thinking about the rest of the motor because you may bore it out, change the stroke, or do other things before your build is done.”

With a new profile programmed into the COMP machines, a piece of stock is ran through a series of programs to create a new unique bumpstick.

Also, knowing the usage of the engine is key to getting the desired outcome, and of all of the information that COMP needs from you this may be the most important. Will this be a daily driver setup, needing a smooth power band? Will this spend most of it’s life on the dragstrip and need it’s power to come on after a specific RPM? You’ll need to get these areas addressed upfront in order to enjoy the cam that you order to the fullest.

What Are You Using?

Stages of high speed polishing wheels bring a fine luster to the finished camshaft.

Next, having as much information as possible on your cylinder heads is incredibly beneficial. Ideally COMP would like to know the flow numbers on the heads that you’ll be running, and if you’re using after market heads they can get the flow numbers based on the manufacturer and model that you’ll be using.

If you’re using factory heads, try to give as many details as possible here as well. Is it a double-hump head? Have you had it ported? Did you put bigger valves in it? These are all areas that you’ll need to be well versed in. COMP also tells us that if you have a cylinder head that’s mandated for a specific class of racing to mention that upfront as well as sometimes there can be some confusion. Again, it all comes down to the specific usage of the engine.

According to Hubbard, once you’ve got the displacement and heads figured out well, if you have any other areas of the valve-train picked out, let them know. Hubbard stated, “at times we’ve had to give people the bad news that the stamped-steel rocker arms they’ve purchased already can’t be used with the cam that they’d like to order.”

In fact, Hubbard mentioned that COMP is happy to help people address each and every area of the valve-train while deciding on the custom grind of the cam as each and every component is a part of the equation.

Other areas that need to be determined upfront are determining whether the cam might require a small base circle. In our conversation with Hubbard, he explained, “Confusion over this area is the number one reason that custom grind camshafts are returned. As a rule of thumb, a smaller base circle cam could come into play with stroker engines as it’s actually possible for certain connecting rods to hit lobes on the cam if the cam lobes are too large. The actual profile of the cam lobes can be matched with a smaller base circle, so getting the same lift is easily achieved either way.”

What Will It Be Working With?

A set of finished cams, waiting for packaging.

Again, this is another area of information to give COMP up front when placing your order as they’ll be able to help you determine as to whether a small base circle cam is needed for your setup. Continuing on, COMP will need to know the compression ratio you’ll want, the kind of transmission you have, and if it’s an automatic transmission the type of stall-speed converter that you’ll be running. In addition, the cam journal size (standard or over-sized) is another important and often overlooked factor, so have information on this as well.

Finally, the last area of importance is to determine the firing order that you’ll plan to be using. For many people the standard SBC firing order will be the choice, but Hubbard explained that as of late the popular route to go is either a 4/7 swap or in using the firing order from the LS1.

The 4/7 swap literally changes the small block firing order from 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 to 1-8-7-3-6-5-4-2. Some have claimed that the 4/7 swap can add up to 15 horsepower to an engine in the upper RPM range, and this is a trick that has been used by circle track racers since the 1960′s. The LS1 firing order is different yet and sets it to 1-8-7-2-6-5-4-3. According to COMP, the LS1 firing truly smooths out engine harmonics and makes life for the valve-train much better!

Things The Customer Should Know:

• What kind of engine is it?
• What will the engine’s purpose be?
• What size engine is going to be AFTER the build?
• Does it need to be a small base circle cam?
• What compression ratio will it be running?
• What kind of transmission is it running?
• What stall converter will it be running?
• What size journals will he be using? Standard or oversized?
• What firing order?
• What cam rotation? Is it reverse?

Tools At Your Disposal

If the process of obtaining all of this information seems overwhelming, simply head to COMP Cams website and do a little reading. We have found that they’ve got one of the best websites in the industry when it comes to needing information and specifics. If you find yourself struggling to understand all of the areas of the engine specifics be sure to check out their online tech forums and tech articles.

You can e-mail COMP questions directly from their website as well. In fact, we spoke to Aaron Mick at COMP about this and he stated, “You can pretty much determine almost all of the information you’ll need to prepare for a custom grind order by simply using the online Cam Help Tool. That’s where I’d recommend people start.”

Before the cam is boxed and readied for shipment, the final touch on the cam is a polish done by hand.

The Quick List

Once you  are armed with more engine information than you ever thought was possible, the ordering process itself is really fairly simple:

1. Call a COMP Cams sales/tech rep. They can be reached at (800) 999-0853. Please take the tech’s name for future reference regarding this cam.
2. Listen to what your tech has to say. It’s their job to help you get the best setup possible. Use them as a resource!
3. After walking through all of the information requirements on the engine you have they will choose a cam profile for you and make a cam confirmation sheet.
4. The confirmation sheet will then be e-mailed to you for approval.
5. Once you have approved the order it will be placed immediately.
6. It will take roughly 3-5 days to get your cam grind completed. Once it’s done it will be sent to you and will be fully ready to run!

Believe it or not, ordering a custom grind camshaft may not be more expensive than purchasing an off-the-shelf one. COMP tells us that most custom grind camshafts use a standard style core, and if that’s the case the cost of the custom grind is identical to the off-the-shelf choice!

Long story short, it’s best to have a battle plan in place before ordering a custom grind cam. Mick joked, that as good as COMP is in the performance world, they simply do not have the power of being “mind reader.” Giving them as much information as you possible can upfront is the key to getting the engine performance that you’re looking for.

Finally, in she goes!

That being said, COMP tech experts would love nothing more than to walk customers through the process to help them achieve their desired results, so don’t be afraid to call even if you don’t feel you’re completely prepared to answer every question to the nth degree. They have years of experience in putting together the ideal valve train based on the purpose you have in mind for the engine and will likely have some recommendations that you may not have thought to ask.

All too often, in the game of project cars, room for improvement is always available; it’s practically inevitable. This hobby allows for the slightest opportunity for wrenching to snowball into a day of all-out upgrades. Besides, who likes sticking with average? When it comes to upgrading, consumers have got a ton of products to choose from. For some, upgrades happen purely out of necessity, others for fun, or when the budget allows for it. The privileged just can’t wait to get the latest and greatest offerings in the aftermarket, and who can blame them?

Unlike the aspects of the past, though, there are a myriad of companies that provide solutions to the guessing games of the past. One such company is Concept One. If you aren't familiar with Concept ONE, they offer some of the industries finest accessory mounting kits for small- and big-block Chevy’s in a modern serpentine system. What’s more, Concept’s line of components provides a custom look and feel with off-the-shelf availability; a complete package not matched by many.

For us though, our install consisted of a well-liked but somewhat mysterious upgrade—the serpentine drive belt system. If you’ve ever fussed with a multi-belt design in the past, then hanging the alternator, power-steering pump, and other drive accessories to your GM small-block could prove a bit challenging.

Prior to aftermarket performance powerhouses like Summit and Jegs and availability of serpentine kits, that meant scouring the wrecking yards for OEM brackets and guessing at the alignment of the V-belts and the clearance of each accessory.

This turned the weekend project into a small treasure hunt to turn up the correct items for a complete build. We can safely say, though, that most of those days are long gone.

A modern serpentine system completely eliminates the need for multiple belts and squashes any concern for fitment. First introduced in GM vehicles during the mid-‘80s, the serpentine system is more efficient than the older multiple belt systems. It’s become an industry standard on all modern cars and trucks.

The beauty of Concept ONE's serpentine kit lies in its flawless design. The Victory Series keeps the A/C compressor, alternator and power steering pump cleverly tucked within the boundary of the engine block. No matter if you’re into street rods, late-model trucks, or in our case, a mid-‘80s Camaro, Concept ONE’s kits will fit a variety of applications. What’s more, their all-inclusive kits come complete. This means less down time and more fun on the road.

Each Concept ONE Victory Series kit includes:

• Ultra small polished Sanden SD-7 compressor with billet manifold
• A new Delphi aluminum power steering pump
• An Edelbrock waterpump
• A heavy-duty 105 amp polished Powermaster one-wire alternator
• A crank pulley, waterpump pulley, alternator pulley, and power steering pulley
• A complete alternator, power steering and A/C compressor bracket set

The Single-Belt Advantage

Serpentines use a single, wide belt to drive all the accessories instead of thinner V-belts. Additionally, they require less space to operate and produce higher tension, which also reduces slip. Consequently, less slip means longer belt life, extending your initial investment.

For fit and finish, Concept One made sure to take their Serpentine kit one step further. They've made sure to add in beauty caps to their belt-driven accessories. They're easy to install, too. Simply snap them into place and you're done.

What’s more, serpentine systems are also much easier to maintain and replace. Their tight, clean, and simplistic design makes it the perfect addition to free up engine bay real estate and power, and the perfect opportunity to turn our bland engine into a modern-day runner.

With a completed, ready-to-fire Dart 440ci small-block awaiting installation into our project car, we were after a more modern approach.

Sure, the standard V-belt design would have sufficed but we were after something that could take the punishment of high horsepower and the occasional abuse from open track days and test & tune nights.

After calling Concept ONE, owner Kevin Redd dialed us in. Redd turned us onto their Victory Series pulley system that contains everything needed to mount the three most common accessories like the power steering pump, A/C compressor, and the alternator. Of course, it’s all spun by one belt in one seamless kit. Redd explained, “We really focus on how the systems fit and have worked really  hard to make sure our kits fit without having to make modifications and assure each kit is clean and neat.”

Each Concept ONE Victory Series kit includes an Ultra small polished Sanden SD-7 compressor with billet manifold, and new Delphi aluminum power steering pump. An Edelbrock waterpump is also included as well as a heavy-duty 105 amp polished Powermaster one-wire alternator. Of course, the kit wouldn't be complete without the crank pulley, waterpump pulley, alternator pulley, and power steering pulley. Not done yet, Concept One also includes a complete bracket set for the alternator A/C compressor, and power steering as well as the alternator pulley cover compressor nose cover. Goodyear Gatorback belts and tensioner with chrome hardware completes the kit.

Concept ONE even offers up two more finishing choices and include the option for a machined finish or the opportunity to have all of the hardware and brackets delivered in a black or clear anodized finish.

Although we began with the front of our small-black already bare, the removal process is easily completed with basic hand tools. At powerTV headquarters, under the technical hands of Sean Goude, we installed the entire Victory Series onto our Dart 440ci small-block before midday. Our final touch was adding the serpentine Gates belt to complete the package. Of course, you’ll have to stay tuned for when we drop the new powerplant into the car and test the system.

Installing The Concept One Kit

Our in house tech-guru, Sean Goude, took the reigns on our Concept ONE Conversion install and got right to work. Using the supplied studs, he applied a small dab of Loc-Tite (Blue) to the ends of each thread. This would prevent the threads from backing out of the water ports and ensure the studs stayed in place.

Following the supplied instructions, Goude installed three of the studs into the water ports, and installed the longest stud in the passenger side water port.

We made sure to add all the necessary highly-polished pulley's and installed the alternator fan to the accessories. Concept One has left no stone unturned.

From there, Goude went ahead by installing the main brackets for the serpentine kit. The “Y” shaped bracket hangs onto the passenger side studs with the rectangular-shaped bracket hanging off of the driver side studs. It’s also important to note that each bracket must have the O-rings installed on  both sides.

A small amount of white grease may help to keep the O-rings in place as you install the brackets. With the studs in place, and O-rings set into the brackets, we could install the waterpump onto the front of the block.

The brackets simply slide over the studs and are held in place with the supplied hardware. We used a 7/32-inch Allen socket to lock each bracket into place onto the block.

Up next were the four individual spacers, which thread onto the studs coming out of the block. The ends of each spacer have also been machined with threads, too, so additional brackets can be mounted. We’ll get to those later, for now, we went ahead and installed the lower crank pulley with the supplied hardware and locked it all down with a 1/4-inch socket.

Just add a couple of the included polished bolts and the entire bracket with alternator can be installed in no time flat.

Concept ONE has done all their homework on these ingenious serpentine setups. Each component works seamlessly with one another and attaches with all the supplied hardware.

The power steering pump installs on the lower side of the drivers side bracket. Using the supplied spacer (round-shaped) we lined up the holes and set it into place. To install the pump, we used a 1/2-inch socket and locked it down for final assembly.

Next item in the kit is the driver’s side bracket, which supports the alternator. It’s been cleverly designed to look great underneath the hood of your project car. Moreover, all the bolt holes have been clearanced and ready for install. This means all it takes to get this bracket onto your motor is adding the supplied hardware.

Goude went ahead and used a 5/16-inch Allen socket and locked the bracket into place. Then, Goude installed the supplied Powermaster Alternator with additional hardware.

The best part, once the accessories are installed, they don’t have to be adjusted for slack in the serpentine belt.

In all, this means the entire setup can be entirely bolted on, installed, and ready to run.

With the drivers side accessories mounted, Goude moved over the passenger side and went right ahead and installed the A/C Condenser accessory bracket. This bracket holds and supports the A/C condenser. It, too, installs with the supplied hardware.

Goude threaded in the necessary bolts and locked that bracket down with a 5/16-inch Allen socket. Once that was complete, he installed the required spacer, which is placed below the condenser and sent the bolt through for completion.

Utilizing the spacers we installed previously to secure the waterpump, Goude lined up the accessory A/C bracket and bolted it into place. On the right, Goude locks in the manifold.

These trick spacers from Concept ONE do more than just look cool. They properly space the A/C and Alternator brackets away from the water pump. They've also been machined to fit a 5/8-inch open-end wrench, which makes install a breeze.

Concept ONE has made sure to include all the necessary components with their Victory Series serpentine kit. Case in point, the Goodyear Gatorback belt. One of the benefits from running a serpentine kit is having the advantage of using just one belt.

Goodyear Gatorback belts provide a longer service life with less noise than the traditional Poly-V belt design.

By absorbing the shock and vibration transmitted from the crank pulley, the belts can help your harmonic damper to better reduce harmful vibrations. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to get the belt on to view the final product.

However, first Goude had to install the serpentine belt tensioner. With just one bolt, the tensioner is quickly added to the entire setup. Then, Goude wrapped the belt around the upper accessories and over the bottom crank pulley.

Then, using the 1/2-inch adapter end of a ratchet, torqued the tensioner (loading the internal spring) and slipped the new belt into place for final-that’s it! There’s no tinkering with the final adjustment with a system that uses a belt tensioner. The tension is automatically adjusted with the internal spring.

The included A/C manifold was a breeze to install. Simply remove the factory cap from the A/C condenser and bolt the highly-polished Concept One unit on using the supplied hardware.

With a quick flick of the wrist, Goude installed the tensioner bolt and then used the open end of a ratchet to swing the tensioner down and allowed the Gatorback to sit correctly on the pulley.

Although not sporting the belt at this point, it's easy to distinguish the quality in these components.

Once the belt was in place, its clear through the final product that Concept ONE make some seriously-nice serpentine components.

So far, we’ve had nothing but good things to hear from people walking by our install. We can’t wait to get this entire engine with its new serpentine kit planted into the car. Stay tuned, we’ll have a complete install of this engine soon enough.

For more information, be sure to click on Concept One for availability, options and pricing. Concept ONE has got a ton of kits to choose from!

A complete set of highly-engineered components has turned our bland Dart 440ci small-block into a real head-turner.

For as long as connecting rod manufacturers the world over have been using blends of aluminum to create lightweight, high performance rods, said pieces have lived under constant scrutiny regarding their long-term durability and usefulness. Even today, as technology has advanced light years beyond what the early aluminum rod manufacturers believed was possible, it continues. And while these concerns may have been warranted decades ago, those in the industry view them as nothing more than common myths these days. And they are myths they’d like to debunk, once and for all.

GRP Rods is among the industry leaders in connecting rod technology, and produces a complete line of aluminum rods, including those for Pro Stock, Pro Modified, and HEMI pieces for Top Alcohol and Top Fuel engines.

In order to zero in on the tall tales surrounding any discussion of aluminum rods and to help set the story straight, we placed a call to our good friend Brian Scollon at GRP Connecting Rods – one of the most respected and successful manufacturers of aluminum rods for the racing and high performance industry. Considering their experience in everything from Top Fuel Dragsters to muscle cars, suffice it to say, they know a thing or two about what an aluminum rod does and doesn’t do.

Over the years, only a couple of common myths regarding aluminum rods have stood the test of time, and while a “couple” may not seem like that big a deal of a deal, they strike right to the very core of the usefulness of aluminum for construction of such vital components.

Aluminum Rods Stretch, You Say?

From web forums to print magazine articles, virtually anywhere that aluminum rods are discussed, you’ll surely find the topic of rod stretch somewhere in the conversation. Or to be more specific, permanent stretching of the rods. It is the most commonly discussed “con” of choosing aluminum connecting rods for an engine, and according to GRP’s Brian Scollon, is also purely false in this day and age.

“Everyone out there is under the impression that aluminum rods permanently stretch, but this simply is not the case,” said Scollon. “If anything, we see that they actually compress. If there’s something going on, be it a hydraulic situation or just simply not enough rod for the power level, they can compress.” In his 17 years entrenched in the connecting rod business at GRP, Scollon adamantly states that not once has he seen an aluminum rods exhibit signs of permanent stretching.

As every engine builder out there is aware, all connecting rods, regardless of their material or construction, stretch under higher RPM use, and aluminum is certainly no different. Tolerances for such stretch are accounted for and combustion chamber measurements are planned out accordingly depending not only on the material, but the process (billet, forged, cast). As a general rule of thumb, aluminum rods tend to stretch less than .010″ more than a steel rod. Thus, if you’re setting the deck of a Big Block for .050″ total piston to head, you’ll want to provide clearance for .060″ when utilizing aluminum rods. GRP actually tests such occurrences in-house by dropping their rods in boiling oil and measuring the growth.

All connecting rods stretch under high RPM use, and aluminum rods will tend to stretch .010" more than steel with all other variables being the same.

This expansion that aluminum rods endure is attributed to the inherent thermal expansion of aluminum as a material more so than high RPM movement. “We’ve been hearing it for years, and have just never understood where that myth is coming from,” explains Scollon. “Some say that back in the early days with the old rods and some of the other original aluminum rods use to stretch, but they don’t do that anymore.”

Life Insurance

Another common topic that many folks commonly misstate or underestimate is the overall life of aluminum connecting rods. Sure, on average, aluminum rods tend to carry a slightly shorter life expectancy than steel and other materials, but many out there would have you believe that you’ll be chucking a set of rods in your bracket racing engine every few passes like a nitro car. Scollon insists that this too is simply a misconception.

While more extreme applications tend to deliver shorter lifespans on an aluminum rod, milder bracket racing applications can expect hundreds and hundreds of passes out of a set of such rods. This of course is another common and unsubstantiated myth.

“The amount of time that you can get out of a rod is completely application-dependent, and people tend to group them all into one,” says Scollon. “A guy will call us to order rods for a bracket car and someone has told him he can only run an aluminum rod 25 passes before it needs to be replaced. That may be the case in a nitro or blown alcohol car, but in something milder, you can get hundreds and hundreds of passes out of them.”

What it essentially comes down to (and such is the case with all sorts of components), is selecting a rod that’s built for the combination. Even steel rods, while certainly carrying a longer life expectancy than aluminum, won’t last long if a proper part for the horsepower isn’t chosen.

In nitro engines, the compressive load placed upon the rods on the top end of the track is extreme to say the least, limiting their use to 8-10 passes at best. Blown alcohol and Pro Stock engines meanwhile, put a different form of extreme stress on the rods thanks to rotations at or above 10,000 RPM. For these racers, however, the performance benefits outweigh the cost and maintenance.

Aluminum rods in nitro engines will typically last no more than 8-10 runs, thus the reason for teardowns for inspections or replacements between each pass.

But for the weekend warrior bracket racers out there who would be most concerned about connecting rod life, Scollon explains that it’s nothing for a customer to put several hundred to a thousand-plus passes on a set.

Flexing Their Muscles

Think steel rods are stronger than aluminum? Aluminum rod manufacturers would beg to differ. “The topic of overall strength is also very application-dependent, but can we build an aluminum rod stronger than a stock steel rod? Absolutely,” Scollon exclaims.

GRP's impressive manufacturing facility in Denver, Colorado.

Scollon continued, “If you take a look at the horsepower levels of Top Fuel, Pro Modified and anything of that nature that’s very high horsepower, it’s going to have aluminum rods in it. So it almost seems to be the other way around; that aluminum can take more than steel.” Calling aluminum stronger than steel, however, isn’t necessarily a fair assessment. As Scollon explains, aluminum isn’t stronger per se, but it endures the application better by acting as a shock absorber in powerful engines that need it. So you may be asking at this point how aluminum could be stronger in some cases, yet steel lasts considerably longer.

“If the power level of the application is actually taking the rod past it’s “fatigue life” or the power limit or RPM limit of the rod, it’s going to reduce it’s life, regardless of the material.”

Aluminum rods, while not stronger than steel rods per se, act as a shock absorber of sorts in high horsepower engines, thereby enduring the forces placed upon it better than steel.

If we step away from high horsepower combinations where aluminum is the de facto choice and focus on middle-of-the-road bracket racing engines, GRP and others in the industry believe aluminum has every bit the shelf life that steel does. But is aluminum a great choice for everything? “Absolutely not,” states Scollon.

It’s the aforementioned lighter rotating weight and shock absorbing tendency of aluminum that makes these rods a no-brainer for high horsepower, high RPM, boosted applications and the like. But in street engines, which are classified as low load applications where one might wish to get 100,000 miles or more from their engine, aluminum rods are considered an unnecessary risk of eventual failure over the course of time. Ever the salesman of their products, many aluminum rod manufacturers themselves will steer street car-inquiring customers in the direction of steel, even if it means losing a sale.

"Absolutely not," states Scollon when asked if aluminum rods are good for every application. The debate rages on in regards to their use in street cars, where some love them, and some wouldn't even try it with your engine.

And so the debate rages on concerning the use of aluminum rods in a street engine. Scour the ‘net and you’ll find plenty of examples of mild street engines containing aluminum connecting rods with thousands upon thousands of hard, stop-and-go miles on them without fault, only further fueling the never-ending debate amongst enthusiasts and engine builders.

But for the vast majority of combinations specifically intended for racing use, and despite all of the tall tales and myths that you’ve heard, aluminum rods get the job done, and it’s our hope that this piece will in some way help further educate those sitting on the fence in their selection of steel or aluminum connecting rods in their race engine to make the proper decision for their needs and pocketbook.

We have all heard the claims, “Gain 20-30 horsepower just by bolting on our doo-dad” or “Increase your fuel economy with the latest in nano-technology, it plugs into your cigarette lighter…” but how often have you seen real-world proof of these claims from an independent source? Well, here you go – we recently had a 2000 Ford F-250 in the shop getting a tune-up and had a brand-new AIRAID intake system too, which lead to us thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to put this on the dyno and see if this really works?”, so we put it to the test.

The key to this system is removing restrictions. In order for an engine to operate, it needs three things – fuel, air and a spark. Inhibiting or restricting any one of these parameters always ends up costing power and fuel economy. Increasing one or more of these parameters is how you gain horsepower.

The F-250's factory airbox and air tube are functional, but they could be better. The flex tube that connects the airbox to the throttle body has corrugations that cause turbulence in the air stream, which hurt air flow. This needs to go.

The factories engineer the stock intake system for maximum sound reduction and by doing so reduces airflow.

The factory air box and tube are less than optimum, the air filter is certainly capable of cleaning the incoming air, but the corrugated air tube creates unwanted turbulence in the airstream that reduces the incoming air velocity. The airbox itself is also part of the problem, limiting the potential volume for the engine right from the start. ”The factories engineer the stock intake system for maximum sound reduction and by doing so reduces airflow,” said Chris Thomson of AIRAID.  Opening up the airbox and converting to a more free-flowing air cleaner can do wonders for helping an engine breathe.

AIRAID Improves on the Stock Intake Design

AIRAID Ford F-250 7.3L Diesel Air Intake PN# 401-246

• Synthemax Dry High Performance Filter
• Comes complete with new Urethane Battery tray
• Increases performance and mileage
• Easy to install with simple hand tool

The AIRAID systems use computer modeling to test the air flow characteristics to maximize performance. When asked about the how they design a system, Thomson told us, “On mass air-controlled vehicles we put a lot of effort in finding the ‘Sweet Spot’ to locate the sensors at. This is critical for maximum, trouble free performance. On average it takes four to six weeks from the initial design to a system in the box.” Once designed, the R&D team builds and installs a system which is then dyno tested and tuned for efficiency. This yields a fit and finish that looks factory installed, but with all the performance benefits of the aftermarket. The kits also come with a lifetime warranty, which means they stand behind their products.

Straddling a better-flowing airbox and tube with a cheap filter is not a good idea. AIRAID includes a premium filter with each system to ensure your system performs as stated. These filters are quite nice, with a pliable urethane body and a special filter material combined with cotton gauze layers. The best part is that you only have to buy one, as the filters are washable, you just need a simple cleaning kit. Cleaning the filter is super easy, it only take a few minutes to renew its performance. “We offer both oiled (SynthaFlow) and non-oiled  (SynthaMax) filter media that is backed up with a lifetime warranty,” said Thomson.

The AIRAID website features customer testimonials that share stories of increased power and better fuel economy, some sound crazy. One customer that claims his fuel economy went from 17.5 to 25 MPGs, all from just installing a new air filter and inlet tube. AIRAID tests each system on their in-house Mustang Dynamometer to validate the actual performance of each system.

Installation and Dyno

First the top of the airbox and the air tube were removed. Don’t trash it. You might want to disconnect the battery cables too. Next, the battery cover comes off. That is a serious battery hold down. The battery tray is actually part of the airbox. The 4 bolts in the bottom of the airbox have to come out so that the battery tray/airbox assembly can come out.

Comparing the original assembly to the new one, you can see some big differences. Besides the janky plastic the factory piece is made of, the Ford assembly loses some potential air volume. The AIRAID assembly is made of light-gauge steel and is more open, taking advantage of the thinner (and stronger) material to make room for more volume. AIRAID calls this assembly the CAD (Cool Air Dam)

This is why you don’t junk the stock stuff. The original air temp sensor was transferred to the new assembly. We dropped the CAD into the truck and threaded in the bolts, leaving them loose for final adjustment. The engine bay is already looking better with the CAD in place. Note that the CAD still uses the factory inlet on the radiator core support. This means you still get fresh cool air into the engine, unlike some other kits that allow hot engine-bay air get into the filter.

Next, we installed the new throttle body air tube, with the factory filter minder swapped over, and set in place. The AIRAID filter mounts in the air box to the air tube.

We installed the battery using the more convenient hold down bar supplied in the kit. Other than the AIRAID decal, this looks like it could be factory. There is a rubber trim piece that seals the airbox against the hood. This keeps the hot engine-bay air out and the cool air in.

Enough about the system, the real story is: does it perform like they say? Is it easy to install? Does it really make more power with just a simple bolt-on air filter? We dyno’d the 2000 Ford F250 on a Dynojet chassis dyno to get a solid baseline. In stock form, the F-250 made 204 hp and 424 ft lbs of torque. Then we installed the kit and with no other changes, the truck made 17 more horsepower and 19 ft lbs of torque.

While that is a pretty good gain from a simple swap, what makes it more interesting is that the gains are not just at the top, they are across the entire RPM range, and the top end shifted up about 500 RPM. Both measurements not only increased, but also flattened out a little, so they continue to make power longer before dropping off. In fact, at the tail end of the power curve, there is almost a 50 horsepower difference between the before and after, and you will certainly notice that kind of change. Regardless if you needed the extra power to pull your race trailer or just to hot rod around town, AIRAID gives you an easy to install and affordable solution to the horsepower bug!

In 2008, JPC designed and released a billet aluminum intake manifold for the three-valve engines that produced some noticeable horsepower gains and in 2010, they set out to further develop the design, incorporating some improved features and design elements. The new intake would also sport cast aluminum construction rather than billet aluminum to bring the manufacturing cost (and therefore the purchase price) down. Like any successful company, JPC listened to their customers, and cost was one of the common criticisms that led to the newest iteration of the three-valve intake that we have here.

JPC's new cast 3-valve intake manifold showcases a host of design refinements over their billet aluminum model, not the least of which is a more affordable price point.

“We started the process for this intake back in 2005. We knew that the 2005 and later three-valve Mustangs were going to be the next Fox body, and we wanted to get a jumpstart on things,” said JPC Racing’s owner Justin Burcham. “We were boosting the cars from day one early in 2005 and had problems with the plastic intakes splitting or the power curve falling off. We like to turn a lot of RPM’s here at our shop, and so we wanted to design something that could stand up to the rigors of forced induction and give us a lot more top end power with differing combinations.”

The intake went through numerous design changes and rigorous testing to achieve just the right design and performance before JPC would take it to market. The finished product is a complete, ground-up design by Burcham and company at JPC Racing, with a one-piece construction that’s been CNC machine finished and is available in a standard “as cast,” black crinkle, or gray crinkle finish.

JPC Racing 3-Valve Cast Intake Manifold

• 20+ HP naturally aspirated, 40+ HP with power adder
• Main gains on 5,000+ RPM, doesn’t lose low end horsepower
• Fits under the stock hood
• Deletes CMRC plates
• Will work with factory fuel rails or any aftermarket
• GT and GT500 throttle body plate available

New Meets Newer

JPC has been able eliminate the factory Charge-Motion Runner Controls, or CMRC plates, with their design.

“The difference between the new intake and the older aluminum version primarily comes down to cost and cosmetics,” said Burcham. “The actual designs, as far as the interior and exterior dimensions, the runner lengths, and things like that are the same. We designed the new model to make certain it would fit under the factory hood. Some of our older intakes would fit under the hood, but every now and then we’d find a car with aftermarket mounts, a different K-member, or something like that and it would slightly rub. But the cast intake definitely fits under the factory hood.”

Justin Burcham and his group at JPC were determined to make their new intake fit under the factory hood without question, and the new lower profile has done just that.

JPC has been able eliminate the factory Charge-Motion Runner Controls, or CMRC plates. These plates come outfitted under the intake on the factory 4.6L three-valve engines and are intended to improve air velocity and flow characteristics to maximize light-throttle efficiency and reduce emissions. The CMRC plates, at a light throttle position, significantly reduce the space for incoming air to pass and reach the cylinders, thus inhibiting overall horsepower. Many enthusiasts have resorted to CMRC delete plates, which replace the factory pieces with plates with unrestricted airflow. Others simply remove the plates altogether and bolt the intake directly to the cylinder heads, as JPC and other manufacturers have done.

Delivering The Whole Package

JPC custom made the fittings on the side of the intake to attach to the Ford evap line and the valve cover hose on the passenger side, along with a fitting for the brake booster line on the back of the intake plenum.

Additional vacuum ports are available on the underside of the intake towards the rear.

While many intake manufacturers simply provide an intake and leave out the extra elements, JPC has gone the extra mile to provide a complete, ready-to-install setup out of the box, including all of the gaskets and fittings. “We tried our best to incorporate everything one would need with this intake,” Burcham explained.

JPC custom made the fittings on the side of the intake to attach to the Ford evap line and the valve cover hose on the passenger side, along with a fitting for the brake booster line on the back of the intake plenum. “We tried to think of everything our customers might need. We didn’t want to just say ‘well, here’s your intake and you guys figure out the rest of it.’

Fuel Rails: Aftermarket or Factory, It’s your Call

From the factory, the 4.6L three-valve engines have a fuel rail configuration that extends up over the top of the stock plastic intake, and with the larger design of the JPC piece, the factory fuel rails aren’t tall enough and, in all honesty, would just diminish the clean look of the aftermarket intake. The intake comes ready for plumbing right out of the box, sporting a set of two removable fuel rail brackets on each side.

Burcham points out that there is a workaround to make the factory fuel rails functional in conjunction with a supplied high pressure hose for those so inclined to reuse them. Doing so requires the cutting and removal of the hard plastic line that goes over the top of the intake and using the supplied line to run underneath the intake. “It works, but I think it looks kind of hideous. If you’re going to spend the money to put an intake on it, just go ahead and get a set of fuel rails,” stated Bucham with a laugh. The intake comes ready for plumbing right out of the box, with a set of two removable aluminum fuel rail brackets on each side.

Versatile Throttle Body Options

Up front, you can see the nice, polished billet aluminum throttle body flange, which provides some added flexibility with bolt patterns for both the factory GT throttle body or, with the addition of an adapter available through JPC, a GT500 throttle body. Peering through the flange to the plenum's innards, you'll notice the "bell mouth" air inlet design that may seem airflow-prohibitive to the naked eye, but in fact is a tested and proven design in many other applications.

A view of one of the intake runners from where the cylinder would be looking up toward the plenum.

The JPC cast intake manifold is designed with "bell mouth" air inlets inside the plenum. This proven design has been utilized on many other popular current and past intake manifolds on the market.

So, What’s It Worth?

Ah yes, the part of these articles that everyone is most interested in. JPC advertises the intake as capable of producing a 20-plus horsepower increase naturally aspirated and 40-plus on boost. And doing his part as an honest businessman, Justin is upstanding and makes no bones about the expected results from bolting on this new intake. Admittedly, on an otherwise stock Mustang, the improvement in aesthetics will outweigh the power gains, with little to no increase. It’s when you begin pushing the envelope that it truly shows its hand.

By bolting on the JPC 3V cast intake, 20 rear wheel horsepower was gained on a naturally aspirated 2007 GT with JPC Ported 3V heads, COMP Cams Stage 2 camshaft, a Steeda cold air intake, and Kooks long tube headers and exhaust system.

“In our testing, both with in-house and customer cars, we have seen some mid-range and low-end power increases. But in most of the tests that we’ve performed with centrifugally supercharged or naturally aspirated cars, we normally see about the same horsepower and torque through the lower RPM ranges; from 2,000 to around 5,000,” explains Burcham. “There are a couple peaks and valleys where there might be 400 RPM’s where it might lose 10 ft/lbs and 10 horsepower, and there’s also a couple peaks where it might gain 10 or more additional horsepower.” While operating under the 5,000 RPM mark the horsepower is virtually the same, once it hits 5,200, the power curve begins the journey to the north.

This 3V '07 GT, with a manual transmission and a stock long block and featuring a ProCharger, long tube headers, and exhaust, output jumped from 512 to 556 rear wheel horsepower with the addition of the JPC 3V cast intake.

“On a stock short block with heads, cam, a cold air intake and a set of headers – maybe your everyday driver – we typically see at least 20 horsepower at the wheels, although we have seen more,” said Burcham. “Our intake just carries the horsepower out further and peaks later in the RPM range. If you have the right cam and a good air intake and throttle body, it’ll make horsepower well past 7,000 RPM; it’ll keep climbing even at 7,500.”

The new cast intake manifold from JPC is a shining example of taking an already solid design and making improvements that add up to a great new product. The previous billet aluminum version of the three-valve intake will continue to occupy its own niche market, while the cast model serves to satisfy the suggestions from current and would-be consumers with great new features including CMRC removal, a definitive under-hood fit, flexible throttle body options, and maybe most importantly, a lesser price tag. If you’re in the market for a three-valve intake manifold, be sure to add JPC to your short list.

With new products being slung left and right, if you’ve got deep pockets, by all means, have at it. If you desire the industry’s latest and greatest, you better have the greenbacks to back it up. On the other hand, if you’ve only got a cheeseburger allowance (like us) to play with, then scoring a swap-meet carburetor for less then what the average tire alignment costs — you’ve scored.

We scored this original 1968 850cfm Holley mechanical double pumper at a local swap meet for a deal. There's thousands of these great carburetors sitting on guys' shelves and beneath their workbenches. You can score one of these too just by looking around.

For us, the tried and true method of fueling our mills is the traditional four-barrel carburetor. Holley, a name so synonymous with performance and heritage it’s no wonder most gearheads choose it to top off their builds over the competition.

Yeah, it may seem old-school in the age of laptop tuning, but some of us would rather swing a flat-blade screwdriver to adjust the idle mixtures rather than tote around a friggin’ computer.

The Holley carb was used so dependably over the last bazillion years, it’s no wonder they began showing up on many Detroit-built vehicles from the assembly lines. They work, are simple to operate, and if taken care of, showed years of trouble-free operation. What’s more, they’re still around! Visit any number of your local swap-meets or pick-a-part yards, and you’re bound to stumble across one; like we did!

Once the screws have been removed, we could go ahead and also remove the baseplate. This would give us better access to the fuel bowls and linkages. Note the old and worn baseplate gasket.

For the most part, bolting on a used Holley would suffice for any mild build.  Then again, with the availability of a complete rebuild kit, which hovers just over a paltry $40, its cheap insurance.

Most renew kits include all the necessary gaskets, O-rings, pump diaphragm, needle and seat, power valves, instructions and hardware for a complete rebuild. For us, this was a no-brainer. Through Holley’s website, we ordered up a complete rebuild kit (4150-style), metering block (PN 134-66), and four corner idle base plate (PN 112-119).

Don’t let the seemingly endless assembly of intricate linkages, springs, and hardware scare you off. We’ll show you exactly how to disassemble a Holley double-pumper and illustrate what it takes to upgrade to a 4-corner idle system with a new Holley base plate. Best part is most of the Holley lineup disassembly and upgrades are all relative. This means no matter which Holley you prefer, all Holley’s carburetors work the same way, just like our double-pumper.

Once the fuel bowls were removed, we could go ahead and peel away the old gasket. We made sure to remove all the gasket material. Any material left on the surface could compromise the new gaskets seal. Through years of use, separating the metering block from the main body may become a chore in itself. If need be, use a small scraper to pry the two apart.

Years of dust, carbon, and grime had built up on the insides of each venturi. We lightly sanded the inner venturi's with a small-piece of Scotch-Brite until each one looked new and fresh. A smooth inner venturi area will help clean up the air flow entering the carburetor. The cleaning solution will most likely leave a small amount of residue on the body. It's important to remove this film. We found a couple cans of Carb Cleaner at a local Napa Auto Parts store. Carb Cleaner also leaves no films or residue; drying completely.

The Teardown

We’ve got some heavy plans for our junkyard gem to go on a completely new engine build. First, we need to get our gem apart! We’ll assume you’ve already gone ahead and disposed of the fuel in the carb responsibly. Next, we turned the carburetor on its side and began to remove the eight Phillips head screws that attach the original baseplate to the main carb body.

Continuing with our disassembly, we moved onto the metering blocks. In order to remove them, we used a little elbow grease. In our case, though, since we’ll be replacing the gaskets, it didn’t concern us if they were damaged. Each Holley rebuild kit includes all new gaskets. The metering block also contains the power valve (primary only), and fuel jets. We’ll get to removing those later on. For now, we’ll focus on removing the years of grime.

Using a small piece of Scotch-Brite can help to loosen and remove any surface debris. In our case, we had some carbon build up in the venturi’s. The Scotch-Brite also helped to remove the baked on metering block gasket.

It’s also important to remember smoothing out any sharp edges that may be present on the main body (metering block area). Any edges could effect the new gaskets ability to seal correctly. We lightly sanded until the area was smooth.

Richter made sure to also mention to, “Inspect all parts for cracks, stripped threads, and any contamination.” Milling any of the components may be necessary, too. As Richter explained, “If the main body where the metering block is installed is warped more than 0.003-inch, it will need to be machined flat.”

Getting the carburetor completely clean is a small task. While not all of us have a cleaning solution to dip a carburetor body into, a couple cans of Carb Cleaner can do the trick, too. Though, we were lucky enough to have a full supply of Berryman’s Chem-Tool on hand. With the carburetor body completely dismantled, we dipped the entire body into the solution and let it sit.

Richter also expressed concern over replacing all gaskets, diaphragms, O-rings, and any rubber parts. Richter added, “Soak all metal parts in a good carb cleaner for up to 24 hours, then blow out all the passages with some compressed air.” The solution will slowly eat away at an excess carbon or grease build up. It’ll also allow the solution to soak into the circuits of the main body. After some time in the solution, we sprayed the entire body with Carb Cleaner. We also made sure to spray Carb Cleaner directly into each circuit to remove any debris.

The accelerator-pump installs fairly quickly. It's located in the bottom of the primary float bowl. Using a small Philips head screwdriver, we removed the pump housing (careful to not lose the spring). Then, we installed the new (supplied) diaphragm from Holley. Holley has a green and black diaphragm. For us, though, we chose the green version. It's safe to use with E85, and Methanol. On the other hand, the black diaphragm is solely used for gasoline only. Next, using the original hardware, we tightened the accelerator-pump housing back together. Note: The accelerator-pump lever arm must be positioned outward.

Access to the needle and seat are found on the ends of each fuel bowl. They're also simple to remove; only requiring a flat head screwdriver and wrench. Unsure of which needles do what? Viton needles are for all gasoline applications, steel needles are used with alcohol or exotic race fuels, and titanium needles are used for their responsiveness during changes in flow rates, as well as for their excellent sealing capabilities.

The Assembly

While most of the rebuild is spent disassembling the unit and thoroughly cleaning the main components, the assembly is much simpler. After each of the components were cleaned, most were left to drip-dry, while others were hand-dried with a shop-towel (keep lint to a minimum). Once the components were dry, we used some compressed air to remove any dust or extra lint. Now, we were ready to begin assembly our Holley double-pumper. We started off with installing the new accelerator pump along with a new diaphragm (green) from the Holley rebuild kit.

Holley’s Tech Tip:
If any cracks are found, replace that part completely. If you find any stripped threads, simply replace that part or Heli-Coil the stripped threads on that particular part.

Keep in mind, our process for assembly may differ than yours. However, all of these steps should be produced at some point during the installation of the new components. Holley’s rebuild kit also includes new needle and seat assemblies, too. Holley offers several needle and seat assemblies seperately for use as replacements or upgrades. They are available in different sizes and materials to suit a wide range of applications.

For the most part, much of the reassembly is replacing many of the smaller gaskets. For example, each adjustment screw for the fuel bowls retains a gasket. Holley provides all new gaskets in their kit. We made sure to swap out all the old ones for the new Holley units. This also included replacing the thin, metal gaskets for each fuel line fitting.

For the street, power valves are a necessity since most street-thumping is handled at part throttle. The importance comes when the throttle is opened up. Additional fuel is needed for a safe air/fuel ratio. In wide-open throttle situations, vacuum in the intake manifold drops to almost zero. At this point the power valve will open and allow more fuel (along with main fuel jets) to the carburetor. The gaskets inside the block can become weak and brittle with years of use. We made sure to play close attention to the power valve in the primary metering block by swapping out the gasket for a new one from Holley.

Each idle mixture screw has a very small cork gasket, which prevents fuel from spilling out onto your hot manifold. A failure here would be catastrophic. We made sure to replace each one with the new gaskets from Holley. To remove, we simply unscrewed them from the metering blocks.

Some of the gaskets in the Holley rebuild kit are small. It's good practice to complete your work in a well-lit area. Also, keep the parts in the same area or in a small dish to prevent losing and of the pieces.

Removal of the power valve is simple. We used a 1-inch box wrench to loosen and then remove the power valve from the block. Then, using a small flat head screw driver, separated the old gasket. Once out, we swapped in the new gasket. Included in the rebuild kit are Holley idle mixture screw gaskets. They are designed to replace your standard idle mixture screw gaskets and are made of cork. The cork will keep your carburetor leak-free when making adjustments to the idle mixture screw.

Another key step in reassembly is installing the new metering block and fuel bowl gaskets. Years of fuel-soak can wreak havoc on the original gaskets that came installed on the carburetors. The small gaskets on each fuel bowl bolt can become weak, too. Each Holley kit comes with a new set for each bowl. We made sure to clean the surface areas before installing the new gaskets.

With majority of the Holley carburetor rebuilt, we could move onto the beauty of our upgrade; Holley’s four-corner idle system base plate. Since our original double-pumper lacked this fucntion, we’ve gone ahead and upgraded to this unit (PN 112-119). What’s more, it comes completely assembled and ready to bolt on to your current main body.

Plus, each Holley rebuild kit comes with a new base plate gasket, too. At around, $110 it was an easy choice. They are manufactured from high-quality cast aluminum and bolt on easily with no modifications. The Holley replacement throttle base plates include a new throttle shaft assembly, throttle blades, and throttle linkage. If you’ve broken off an ear on your base plate, don’t worry—just pick up one of these Holley replacement throttle base plates to solve the problem.

With the assembly through, we were eager to test out our new double-pumper. However, that’ll have to wait. Although we haven’t had the chance to reap the benefits of our labors, we’ve got the perfect mill in mind. We’re slowly preparing for a 440ci Dart engine assembly. Once the motor is complete, we’ll be sure to throw our newly rebuilt Holley double-pumper up top for a full dyno test and tune session. Stay tuned!

The blue gaskets from Holley are constructed from a fiber, which allows them to be reusable. They also won't tear, stick or fall apart after numerous jet changes at the track.

First, we installed the supplied base plate gasket. Then, we set the new Holley four corner idle base plate down and locked it in with the original hardware. We also made sure to reposition the lever under the linkage arm and even added the vacuum caps to the ports we already knew weren't going to be used.

Not too shabby for a couple hours' worth of work, huh? While the stamped numbers don't reveal where this big boy 850cfm hailed from, be it a parts counter sale or it came from Detroit atop a big block-equipped muscle car; either way, we love how our quickie rebuild came out. Now to put it to the test!

]]> http://www.dragzine.com/tech-stories/engine/from-junk-to-champ-rebuilding-a-swap-meet-holley-850-for-cheap/feed/ 0 http://www.dragzine.com/tech-stories/engine/540-cubes-can-chevy%e2%80%99s-mark-v-big-block-make-really-big-power/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=540-cubes-can-chevy%25e2%2580%2599s-mark-v-big-block-make-really-big-power http://www.dragzine.com/tech-stories/engine/540-cubes-can-chevy%e2%80%99s-mark-v-big-block-make-really-big-power/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:47:02 +0000 Cam Benty http://www.dragzine.com/news/540-cubes-can-chevy%e2%80%99s-mark-v-big-block-make-really-big-power/

One horsepower per cubic inch. Back in the 1950’s, that was the target. Those new-fangled overhead pushrod engines that revolutionized how passenger car engines were created only served to heat up the power per cube race. When the new Chevrolet Big Block engine was introduced in 1965, it lit the fuse for bigger power and renewed the focus on the power per cubic inch wars.

A man of many engines, Jim Shewbert has been building and racing engines, including anything from alcohol Funny Cars to Pebble Beach Concour-winning multimillion-dollar classics for 35 years. The challenge this time - building a streetable 540cid Mark V Big Block Chevy that could run on pump gas and make over 600hp.

Today, making big horsepower is still the ultimate goal; the one horsepower per one cube of displacement target but a mere dot in the rear view mirror of old aspirations. But complications to the engine building process have surfaced recently.

For many engine builders, the engines they create must make excellent power and still be compatible with today’s low quality pump gas (91 octane). In addition, they must be able to generate adequate vacuum and excellent daily-use drivability.

Just as today’s performance cars are compatible with formerly anti-performance style options such as air conditioning and power steering, most current engines don’t need 114-octane race fuel to avoid detonation while hitting the big power figures.

The fact is no engine builder wants to tell his clients that their freshly built engines require such coddling. Why should they when proper component selection will help them avoid such behavior?

A Little Big Block History

The Big Block Chevy engines of today come in a variety of shapes and styles. While the Mark IV, as introduced in 1965, went through some initial changes, it was not until 1991 that the Mark V engine came to be. Today the Mark V and its brother the Mark VI, which debuted in 1996, are great platforms for engine builders, offering great versatility and availability over the seemingly harder to find Mark IV engines.

The Mark V big block requires oil system bypass valves to make it compatible with an engine mounted oil filter system. Forget these bypass valves, and you can kiss your engine goodbye, as oil will not circulate properly through the engine. And don’t forget that threaded plug which fits in the oil pan rail as shown here.

Toby Allison reworked the entire length of the ports and valve bowls. The RHS Pro Action cylinder heads work great from the factory and run well without such modifications. Valve spring cups were used – another COMP Cams component.

Shewbert likes to run the Manley stainless steel valves for all his engines. These measure 2.250-intake intake and 1.880-inch exhaust.

Featuring a strong internal webbing, integrated oil pan gasket and one-piece round rear main seal to avoid oil pan drips, the Mark V was perfect for our needs. Paired with the hot performing RHS Pro Action aluminum cylinder heads, we were excited about the potential for what we believed would be an excellent combination for our street-based project.

The Mark V engine was outfitted with a set of ported Racing Head Service Pro Action cylinder heads further enhanced by Toby Allison. All of the valve train products, including lash caps, rocker arms, valve springs and camshaft were from COMP Cams. This camshaft was a mechanical roller unit featuring 306 degrees of intake duration (319-degree exhaust) and 0.680-inch lift.

The selection of the Mark V platform was the work of engine builder Jim Shewbert, who was hired to create the potent big cube engine for Ted Yurek’s ’70 Chevelle.

The car, while outfitted with a number of advanced suspension upgrades, was a true dual-purpose machine – both track and cruise time planned for the beautiful blue and SS-stripe clad Heavy Chevy.

While the engine was assembled in southern California, the Chevelle was expected to run on pump gas once dropped between the inner fenderwells of the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Chevy. Owing to the huge amount of distance between L.A. and Idaho, it was imperative that the engine be powerful and reliable.

The Build Up

The building of the Mark V engine was not unique for the most part, a fairly straightforward assembly using Scat 6.385-inch 4340 H-beam connecting rods, Akerly & Childs extreme rings and 4.5-inch bore Keith Black Hypereutectic aluminum pistons. The pistons feature a 1/16-inch top moly piston ring and similar size cast iron second ring.

The RHS Pro Action heads use high quality guides. These were honed lightly to create an excellent valve to guide fitment. A light coating of white grease was applied to the threads of the COMP Cams rocker studs before they were torqued in place. The white grease ensures that they will come out if necessary without damaging the aluminum cylinder head. COMP Cams also makes the pushrod guide plates shown here as well.

This Fel-Pro head gasket features a special o-ring that ensures proper sealing. They work great with the RHS Pro Action heads. The RHS Pro Action aluminum cylinder heads were installed dry over the Fel-Pro gaskets, and ARP 12-point head bolts were used to apply the squeeze. For this application, Shewbert liked COMP Cams lash caps. White grease was used to fully lubricate the caps both on top and bottom. COMP Cams Pro Magnum Rockers were used with this high horsepower and torque engine. They work great on the street as well as the race track.

The Keith Black Hypereutectic pressure cast aluminum pistons were dressed with Akerly & Childs pistons rings and set at 10.25:1 compression. Gear Head’s 4.500-inch spring compressor was oiled up, and the Keith Black Pistons were tapped in place. The Scat 6.385-inch length connecting rods feature ARP bolts. Each rod cap nut was torque to 85 lb. ft. before installation. The crankshaft is an Eagle Forged unit with a 4.250-inch stroke.

540cid Engine Build Up:
-GM Mark V block, 4.5 bore, 9.800 deck
-Eagle forged crank 4.250in. stroke
-Scat 6.385-in. connecting rods
-KB 10.25:1 flat top pistons
-RHS Pro Action 360cc alum. heads, Mark IV style, 360cc runners
-Akerly & Childs rings
-COMP mech. roller cam (306AR-10)
-COMP timing chain
-COMP rocker studs, guide plates and lash caps
-COMP Pro Magnum Roller rockers
-COMP titanium retainers (731-16)
-COMP keepers
-COMP Valve springs (944-16)
-COMP Endure-X mech. roller lifters (866-16)
-COMP pushrods (7131-8 int, 7141-8 exh)
-Manley valves
-Fel-Pro gaskets
-Dart single-plane intake
-NGK spark plugs – 5/8-inch head
-Hooker headers 2/125-in. primaries
-ARP head bolts
-Competition Specialties front cover
-ATI front dampener
-MSD plug wires, billet distributor, 6AL ignition box
-Demon 850cfm carb
-Akerly & Childs bearings
-Milodon oil pan, (30951), pickup (18310) and pump

The pistons have a flat top, making for excellent flame propagation and when used with a 9.800-inch deck block, generate 10.25:1 compression. An Eagle forged steel crankshaft was used with a 4.250-inch stroke, making for 532ci total displacement (540ci for you government workers).

The cylinder heads were state of the art RHS Pro Action 360cc aluminum heads. The heads started plenty clean from the factory with excellent airflow and internal water-jacketing for consistent temperature control and were ported to the next level by Toby Allison.

Because of the high horsepower Jim wished to generate, he felt a Toby-porting job would help to eek out the engine’s top horsepower numbers.

In the valve train department, Shewbert clearly wanted a big camshaft to take advantage of the high flow cylinder heads and horsepower and torque handling attributes of the super strong Mark V short block.

To that end he selected a camshaft that featured large lift and duration numbers requiring a mechanical roller valve train which included COMP’s new Endure-X mechanical roller lifters.

In combination with the big camshaft, the COMP Cams tech line folks – (800) 999-0853 – helped him select appropriate valve springs, retainers, lifters, spring cups, lash caps and even the Pro Magnum roller rockers that were to be used with this combination.

Topping the engine was a Dart intake ported by Allison and a Demon reworked 850cfm carburetor. Big tube exhaust headers and low restriction Flowmaster tail pipes were slated for use, along with a five-speed manual transmission and high performance clutch.

The COMP Cams timing chain lower gear can be installed three different ways allowing for significant flexibility in engine timing. We put our gear on straight up. Don’t forget the camshaft button, which removes end play in the camshaft. As with any engine build up, it is important to know the exact timing of the engine’s camshaft. For our purposes, Shewbert set the camshaft at four degree advance. Shewbert loved the COMP Cams adjustable timing chain system. To get the four degrees advance he wanted, he simply used an Allen wrench to set the timing and locked it down with the camshaft timing gear bolts.

This camshaft installation tool from Gear Head Tools is handy for sliding in the camshaft without damaging the fragile camshaft bearings. Note that the camshaft was liberally lubricated with COMP Cams break-in lube prior to installation.

Shewbert selected the Dart single plane intake manifold for the 540ci engine for its great high horsepower capability. A staple with many engine builders today, this Demon 850cfm carburetor proved a worthy component for this dual-purpose application.

Gear Head Tools oil pump primer drops down the distributor hole and is turned with an electric drill to pre-prime the engine before firing. Shewbert prefers MSD ignition products for this engine, including the MSD billet distributor and MDS 6AL ignition box.

On To the Dyno

The folks at Westech Performance were hired to test the limits of our engine. Engine builder Jim Shewbert installed the camshaft with four degrees of advance, along with the Dart intake, Demon 850cfm carburetor and MSD ignition.

Using 91-octane fuel, Westech’s Steve Brule fired the engine and spent a considerable amount of time warming the engine, then resetting the valves and warming the engine again with some short low rpm pulls. After an hour of break-in time, they proceeded to make some test runs to see if we had done the proper homework.

The Mark V required a few jetting changes, and we adjusted the timing slightly during our four test pulls. In the end, our 540ci Mark V big block turned out an impressive 649.2 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 613 lb. ft. of torque at 4900 rpm. The most impressive part of the engine’s power and torque output was the consistent power delivery.

From 5700 through 6700 rpm, the engine maintained a minimum of 640 horsepower, less than 10 horsepower variance for over 1000rpm. In addition, the torque level reached 590lbs. ft. of torque starting at 4100 rpm and stayed above that level through 5700 rpm. This is usable street horsepower that would be more than up to any race challenge encountered by the classic Chevelle.

In the end, we were quite happy with the performance level of the 540ci engine. Making 650HP on pump gas is no small accomplishment and one that proved, street or race, Big Block Chevrolets have deservedly earned their reputation for relatable power. Even the often overlooked Mark V.

The oil filter fitting for the Mark V (left) differs from the standard Mark IV mount. They can’t be confused. The Milodon oil pump and pick-up are high volume units and are installed in this manner. Our initial installation of the Milodon pan was a learning experience. The pan rails interfered with the 4.250-inch stroked rods at the main rail - every one of them.

If you have been following along at all (we know if you have or have not, kinda like Santa Claus), then you would know that we recently went through the process of building the bottom end of our 440 cubic-inch behemoth small-block dyno mule. The 440 is based on a Dart SHP block with a 4” stroke and 4.185” bore. The Dart block is the foundation for what will become a serious piece of test equipment, one that will sure ingest copious amounts of fuel and nitrous. Before any of that debauchery can happen, however, we need to finish building the engine.

The 440 short block was buttoned up with an ATI Super Damper

Playing Catchup

We have the rotating assembly handled with goodies like the forged Lunati crank and I-beam rods, now we need the soul of any engine- the camshaft. The cam is where all of the magic happens inside an engine. Sure, the crank is big and strong, it takes the abuse from explosions of fuel, pressure from boost and nitrous, but it only does that one thing.

The cam on the other hand is delicate; it doesn’t take much to wipe out a cam lobe, even the wrong oil. The camshaft controls the beat of the engine, how it sounds, how much power it makes.

The beauty of it is that the cam profile is easily changed, unlike the rest of the internal parts. One thing is for certain, the 440 is going to see quite a few different cams. For the baseline, however, we have spec’d out a nice little number from Comp Cams. Because a traditional small-block is 400 cubes or smaller, off the shelf cams are specified for those engine sizes, not exactly optimum for a 440 cubic-inch engine. That required us to depart from the catalog and order a custom grind.

We opted for a custom Comp hydraulic roller bumpstick with .579” of gross valve lift on the intake and exhaust sides with .381 of lobe lift, with 254 degrees of intake duration and 266 degrees on the output side of things. Loads of lift and the long duration mean that this should be one grumbly little small-block in the dyno cell. Since the 440 will likely see numerous cam swaps, we installed a 2-piece timing cover from Comp Cams. Not only does this aluminum cover eliminate flex that can cause erratic timing, but also makes for easy cam swaps without having to deal with the oil pan seal, which is quite nice for a test mule.

No cheap gaskets here, only the best with Fel-Pro's silicone gaskets

Dampening Our Spirits

Hanging off the front of the timing cover is an ATI Super Damper (917411) to settle all those nasty little harmonics that ping off the internals as they spin wildly at 6500 RPM. As we discussed in Part 1, there are all kinds of brutal forces happening inside the engine on the rotating assembly. At any given moment, the crank is pushing a piston up, pulling a piston down all the while another piston is pushing the crank down on its power stroke. This creates crankshaft twist; it robs power and breaks stuff. The damper is there to help absorb the torsional twist.

A poorly built or worn out damper will not absorb any of the twist, but a properly designed damper can absorb virtually all of it. The stock damper is designed to handle just that, a stock engine; it simply cannot handle a modified rotating assembly. Another issue with stock-style dampers is that they can come apart. We opted for the ATI SFI-approved damper for the 440 because the last thing we want is a stock-style damper to explode in the dyno cell.

Each of our cylinder heads were fully machined in the CNC machine shop, including a multi-angle valve job for superior flow.

Before final assembly, the piston to valve clearance was checked with clay

Getting A Head

The next part of the equation is the cylinder heads. The goal here is to make 550hp or more without boost or nitrous, so we need flow to generate that kind of power. When you start with 440 cubes, the power comes in pretty quick without much effort, but you still need the ability to get the air/fuel in and out of the motor in a hurry. Where the camshaft determines the attitude of the engine, the power potential is in the cylinder heads. If we were to stick a set of 291 “double hump” heads on this thing it would run, but not well. We needed a set of lungs that will not only make the 550hp baseline, but also help us test the other parts with reliable results. To do this, we selected a pair of Dart Pro 1 series small-block heads.

There are several versions of these heads, determined by the size of the intake port volume. Since we have a mammoth 440, we went with the equally large 215cc model. Dart does make a larger port SBC head, so why not choose it over the smaller volume? The answer is less than simple, but without getting too technical, here it is—a large port volume will yield more air flow, but at the cost of port velocity. One of the key components of building power is not only pushing as much air/fuel into the engine as possible, but also doing so quickly. This is where many beginners go wrong, they choose a head that is simply too big for the engine and power range they are going for.

The Dart Pro 1 heads were secured to the block with ARP head studs

We mounted a set of Comp Cams Magnum roller rockers. These steel rockers actually weigh less than most aluminum rockers.

Port velocity is the speed at which the air flows through the head. The larger the port volume, the slower the air will move because it doesn’t have to; tighten up the volume and you can flow almost the same amount of air, but it will be moving faster. According to Dart’s website, a projected horsepower range from 500-550 will require between 200 and 220 CC of port volume. Less volume will choke the engine, more will bog it down. These do not necessarily apply to boosted engines, as the air is forced into the engine, not relying on vacuum and atmospheric pressure. The valves on the Dart Pro1 heads are 2.05” intake and 1.60” exhaust, featuring a multi-angle valve job in the intake seat to increase the flow.

Each head is CNC machined to exacting tolerances to ensure each head will match side by side. In as-cast trim, the Pro 1 215cc heads flow 276 cfm @ .600” lift @28” of water, which should provide enough air for our 440 to breathe. We stuck with the 72cc combustion chambers to keep the 440 pump-gas friendly with a 10.1:1 compression ratio, which is one of our main goals.

Dart's aluminum single plane intake is specifically designed to mesh with Dart heads without massaging the ports

The intake was mounted using ARP stainless steel fasteners. We also tried out a few phenolic carb spacers

Top End Reflections

The cylinder heads were mated to the 440 block with a set of Fel-Pro head gaskets between them. Securing the heads is a set of ARP head studs (234-4301). If you have never used head studs, we highly recommend them, they are so choice. Unless you have an 80s GM G-body with AC and need to the pull the heads with the motor in the car. Then you will be cursing yourself. Just sayin’.

Before we torqued the heads down for the final installation, we laid some clay out on the #1 piston, set up a pair of rockers on the #1 cylinder and slowly turned over the motor. Once we had gone a full rotation, we pulled the head to check for valve clearance. This is a crucial step.

We tried a couple of carbs, but ended up sticking with the ProForm 850

Even though we knew that all the specs were dialed in for the theoretical application, you should always check this because it is much easier to fix it now than it is after you hit the starter and frag it all because a valve nicked a piston.

At this point, the valve train could be completed. We went with a set of Comp Cams Magnum roller rockers and roller lifters (190-195-210 and 98891-16, respectively) to compliment that sweet custom camshaft we installed earlier. The valvetrain is an easy place to gain or lose power, so choosing the right parts is critical. The stock rocker arm is a stamped steel POS, so when you are talking about high horsepower numbers, those are automatically out. Reducing friction is the fastest way to gain power, because friction means heat and heat kills everything.

In the valvetrain, “roller” is the key. In this case, roller means roller bearings. Bearings reduce the friction between moving parts. Roller rockers come in two flavors: roller tip and full roller.

Roller tip rockers have a standard trunion (the part that rocks on the rocker stud) with a roller on the, you guessed it, tip, where the rocker meets the valve stem. This reduces one friction point as well as provides a more consistent footprint on the valve. Full roller rockers have needle-bearing trunions and roller tips. Then there is the whole steel vs. aluminum debate on rocker arms.

In the past, aluminum rocker arms got a bad rap because aluminum requires more meat around the bearings, which limits the size of the bearings. This leads to premature failure, where the rocker could literally split in half.

We capped off the 440 with a ProForm 850 cfm carb and a Mallory distributor

Comp Cams has developed aluminum rocker arms that use precision needle bearings that can withstand 350 ft lbs of spring pressure. They are so sure of their aluminum rockers (called Ultra Golds) that they provide a lifetime warranty on each set. Weight is important in a rocker arm because of the moment of inertia. This is the rocker arm’s resistance to rotation.

As the moment of inertia increases, more valve spring pressure is required to control the rocker arm (as opposed to the valve). This robs horsepower and RPM. Reducing the weight on the rocker, particularly away from the trunion, reduces the moment of inertia. In the end, we decided to go with a set of Comp’s Ultra Pro Magnum steel rockers.

These bad boys are made of 8650 chromemoly with strengthening ribs (to help cut the weight) and feature a sporty black oxide finish that resists corrosion. These steel rockers actually weigh a little less than the Ultra Gold aluminum rockers due to their unique webbed design. Because they are steel, there is also a little more room for valve spring and retainer clearance.

The 440 was plumbed and wired to the dyno cell, just about time for some power pulls.

To The Nth Degree

Once the rockers were installed, the Dart assembly team bolted on the degree wheel. Any performance engine camshaft should be degreed. There are numerous influencers on the accuracy of the cam timing; degreeing takes those factors out of the equation, ensuring the valve timing events occur when they are supposed to. Influencers include camshaft variance, timing chain stretch, crank keyway variance, and dowel hole alignment, and can serve to alter the cam timing.

To properly degree a camshaft, you need a degree kit that includes a degree wheel, dial indicator and base, piston stop, checking springs and the pointer. There are two main methods of degreeing a cam, the centerline method and the .050” lift method. Most builders agree that the .050” lift method is the most accurate, and because we are talking about checking accuracy in the first place, that is the method we used.

Topping off the heads is a Dart single-plane intake (42411000) which was designed to work specifically with the Dart heads. The intake runners are matched to the cylinder heads, so that you have optimum flow potential with as few bottlenecks as possible. The intake comes with bosses at all four corners for equalized coolant flow, which is a cool feature in a street/strip car. When used, this allows the coolant pressure to be equalized between the cylinder heads and helps to eliminate air pockets that can make cooling an engine impossible.

The bolts look great and have 12-point heads, so they don’t strip out and you don’t need a big socket that gets in the way, just a 3/8” on a wobble joint and you have no problems reaching the center bolts.

We filled the motor with a little break-in oil from Comp Cams and used a cordless drill to pre-lube the oiling system. Even though we are using a roller cam, it is still a good idea to use proper break-in oil with extra ZDDP to protect the internal parts on the initial start-up. Then the slick cast aluminum DART-emblazoned valve covers were installed, held in place by, yup, more ARP stainless steel fasteners. We also bolted on a water neck so the coolant doesn’t just spill out on the floor.

On The Dyno

On top of the intake we mounted a ProForm 850 CFM carburetor direct to the aluminum. During the dyno test and tune, we will be trying out some spacers, but for now, this carb is ridin’ commando. Another classic gearhead mistake is running too much carb. Even though the 440 is in big-block cubic inch territory, we don’t need a massive carburetor, at least not yet. This mule is naturally aspirated; it doesn’t need massive amounts of air to make plenty of power. Part of that is in the cylinder head design, and the camshaft profile, it just isn’t necessary for what we have planned.

There is always room for improvement. Using the dyno results, the team was able to make some timing and jet changes to extract the most power

There is a simple formula that makes it easy to choose the right carb size (cubic inches x RPM X volumetric efficiency)/3456 = CFM. Volumetric efficiency is the red herring here, but in general terms (VE is expressed in percentages, 100%=1, 90%=.90), a stock motor will be in the .8 range, a performance motor in the .9 range and a boosted engine will be above 1. We have seen naturally aspirated street/strip engines at the dyno push out 110% efficiency, so there is some room for error in the initial calculation without dyno numbers showing the actual efficiency.

The VE limit for a naturally aspirated engine is 137%. We are going to peg our 440 at 95%, which is a realistic number. If we punch in 440 x 6500 (that’s our redline) x .95 and divide that by the magic number (3456), then we see that 786 CFM will do the trick. If the engine turns out to be less efficient, 800 CFM be needed, but that is what tuning is for.

With that, we dropped in the Mallory Comp SS distributor (4248211) and hooked it all up to the Westtech dyno cell for the initial break-in and a few test pulls. After several test runs, we set the distributor to 36-degrees of total timing, no spacer, and the 850 carb. The 440 made good numbers, already hitting our desired spec and passing it by 20 ponies for a total of 570.3 @6200 RPM, while spitting out 545 tire-smoking ft lbs @ 5000 RPM.

So, What’s Next?

Is there more power lurking deep inside the Dart 440? What is it going to take to get 600 out of this plus-size small block? There is definitely more to come from our new dyno mule, we know that for sure. With everything this little monster has inside, we’re figuring on ramping up the numbers with a solid camshaft, lifters and maybe even some more carburetion.

Oh, who are we fooling? We went ahead and did a shootout between our current setup and a solid roller and race carb setup HERE. Trust us, you’ll like what you’ll see.

While so much of the automotive industry wants to make you think that the LS is taking the world by storm, we love that our old school small block Chevy can make some serious horsepower using some really unique and forward-thinking components from Dart, Lunati, Comp and ATI. We’ll be regularly flogging our little powder keg again and again, so make sure to key an eye out.

We’ve all seen engine bearings and probably have taken them for granted. These little half shell, simple pieces of metal look so common and inexpensive that they couldn’t possibly be that intricate and instrumental in engine operation. Actually, looks can be deceiving and the simplicity of engine bearings hides the sophistication of decades of research and development invested into these essential engine components.

We wanted to get our intellectual bearing on the technology behind engine bearings by talking with leading experts in the field. Along the way we discovered how to choose the bearings for different engine applications and considerations for sizing bearings for different engine combinations. If you think you know everything there is to know about engine bearings, we challenge you to read on. For a component that is inexpensive when compared to other engine components, the engineering technology behind bearing manufacturing is surprising.

Our Experts

MAHLE Clevite's Bill McKnight and King Engine Bearing's Dmitri Kopeliovich

We listened to two highly respected authorities in the field, Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich, Research and Development Manager of King Engine Bearings and Bill McKnight, Team Leader of Training at MAHLE Clevite, as they educated us on bearing technology. Between Kopeliovich and McKnight, there is over a half century of experience in engine bearing technology. Needless to say, these guys have seen it all.

The engine bearing supports a film of oil that supports the rotating shaft.

What does an engine bearing do?

According to our experts, engine bearings do more than take up space between the engine block housing and the rotating shaft that it supports. King Engine Bearing’s Dr. Kopeliovich explained the basic functions of the bearings include; “Protecting the housing and shaft from damage and wear with surface qualities that can withstand the harsh engine operating environment.”

McKnight added “The design of engine bearings allow for a layer of oil to form between the rotating shaft and the surface of the bearing so that the shaft does not actually ride on the bearing itself but on a formation of an oil wedge that supports the rotating shaft under normal operation.” By riding on a layer of oil instead of the bearing itself, “the bearing helps dissipate heat,” McKnight said.

Kopeliovich further explained that the bearing face is designed so that; “particles in the oil  are allowed to embed into the bearing to protect the rotating shaft from being damaged.”

Based on what our experts said, engine bearings protect rotating shafts like camshafts and crankshafts by supporting a layer of lubrication, dissipation of heat and keeping small particles from damaging the shaft’s polished journal surfaces.

The bearing's crush height sets up radial pressure on the bearing halves so that they are forced tightly into the housing bore.

How do engine bearings perform those tasks?

Simply looking at the bearing shell does not tell the whole engineering design story. For example McKnight detailed a couple of design features that are not easily detectable by casual observation;“The split bearing shells are not eccentric or uniform in wall thickness. Each half of a split bearing is made so that it is slightly greater than an exact half. These things are done by design to aid in the formation of the oil wedge and keep the bearing from spinning in the housing.”

McKnight went on to explain why the split bearing halves are slightly larger than an exact half; “ This extension is called crush height. When the split bearings are snapped into place in the housing, as the bolts are tightened the bearings compress like springs. The resulting force holds the bearings tight and prevents them from spinning in the housing bore.”

Through talking with our experts we discovered the crush height designed for each application is critical for the primary functions of the bearings. McKnight clarified by saying, “the crush height sets up radial pressure on the bearing halves so that they are forced tightly into the housing bore. By forcing the bearing into the housing bore the bearing back is snug against the housing bore surface area to support the bearings and help transfer heat away from the bearing.”

Types of Engine bearings

Dr. Kopeliovich outlined the different types of engine bearings, “bearings may be mono-metal, or solid type bearings, a bi-metal, tri-metal or multi-layered. Most engine bearings are either bi-metal or tri-metal.”  McKnight explained that “most of our everyday bearings, other than the late model stuff, is still tri-metal, which is steel-backed, with a cast copper lead intermediate layer and then a babbitt overlay.”

Many engine bearings are made up of two or more layers of different materials.

The type of metal used in construction also plays a critical role in aiding the design features mentioned above and still play a significant role in the other functions of engine bearings. The real challenge is making a bearing that is strong enough to support a crankshaft or camshaft spinning thousands of revolutions per minute, yet soft enough to allow particles to embed into the bearing to protect the shaft’s journal surface.

Dr. Kopeliovich agrees that it’s a tough challenge but using a composite of materials can achieve the goal of making a bearing that has soft metal and hard metal characteristics. According to Kopeliovich there are different types of composite manufacturing. Particulate structure, Lamellar structure and a combined Particulate-Lamellar structure.

• A particulate structure consists of a strong matrix with soft particulate distributed throughout to provide the strength and softness combination.
• A lamellar structure is composed of layers of different materials. In this case, engine bearings use a steel back layer with one or two layers of softer metal.
• The combined Particulate-Lamellar structure couples the two methods together.

Kopeliovich explained the popular Lamellar stucture as being two distinct types; “By using a steel back overlaid with different metals you can provide softness and hardness at the same time and they are broken down into two basic families of these types of bearings, bi-metal which has one layer over the steel and tri-metal which has two layers over the steel backing.”

Engine bearings are designed with an eccentric wall for greater oil flow to push particles and heat out.

So if you’ve been paying attention, there’s a lot more to an engine bearing than we originally thought. Let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far:

• Engine bearings are designed with an eccentric wall for greater oil flow to flush out particles and carry heat away.
• Each bearing half is made larger than an exact half for a crush zone that helps the bearing fit snugly against the housing.
• Most bearings are manufactured with layers to provide strength to support the crankshaft, connecting rod or camshaft, yet soft enough to allow embedding of particles.
• Most engine bearings are either a two or three layered lamellar structure.

Materials for every application and regulation

Almost every bearing manufacturer would agree that there is not one engine bearing that covers every type of automotive application. Remember, an engine bearing’s primary function is to support the load of the rotating shaft.

To give you an idea of the wide range of loading that crankshafts can be exposed to, McKnight expressed the load potential by cylinder pressure; ”A normal passenger car can have cylinder pressures around 1,200 psi range. An 800-900 horsepower race engine may have cylinder pressure in the 2,200 psi range. A 2,000-3,000 horsepower race engine will have pressures in the 6,000 psi range and a 7,000 horsepower top fuel engine will likely be in the 10,000 psi range.”

It’s clear that a bearing that would operate in a standard passenger car won’t fair as well in a 7,000 horsepower engine. In addition to being able to handle the load created by engine performance, bearings must also be manufactured to handle the increasing legislative demands of the global markets. The Europe Union (EU) has issued a directive to remove lead from automotive engine, transmission, and compressor bearings by July of 2011 (heavy duty applications are exempt) and Asia has started to move toward the lead free engine component trend.

Parts of a crankshaft main bearing.

With all the environmental regulations that are under revision world wide, material selection, along with research and development have taken on a wider role in the manufacturing of engine components. Not that any of this is unexpectedly new, both King Engine Bearings and MAHLE Clevite have a wide portfolio of lead free engine bearings for various applications.

“We have had a complete portfolio of lead free aluminum bi-metal materials for bearings, bushings, and washers in production for years. We also have lead free bronze bi-metal bushings and washers and tri-metal bearing offerings in the early stages of roll out and validation at OEM customers,” said McKnight.

Current Materials

Dr. Kopeliovich outlined some of the materials that have been used in different engine bearing applications, “Steel, copper, aluminum, silicon, lead, tin and nickel are used. These can include particles of ceramics and particles of solid lubricants in the composite materials. Along with selection of the materials, adhesion between the layers is not a simple process but is very important.”

Breaking down the material properties into five functions, Kopeliovich explained how different materials are selected based on application:

1. Load carrying capacity: A material that can withstand indefinite max cycle loading.
2. Wear resistance: A material that can retain it’s dimension. Both Load carrying capacity and wear resistance require a stronger material. The stronger the material, the better the characteristic will be.
3. Compatibility: The material must be compatible with the shaft to prevent adhesive wear or seizure.
4. Embedibility: The material must be able to absorb small particles. This requires a softer material.
5. Conformability: Requires a material that can accommodate minor misalignments and irregularities.

Embedibility is an important function of engine bearings. Embedding particles in the bearing can prevent damage to the shaft.

According to Kopeliovich, “Most of the time steel is chosen for the backing material for support and a strong contact with the bearing housing. This is overlaid with softer materials that gives makes a strong bearing with soft characteristics on the top layer.”

McKnight says, “most bearing manufacturers use a similar grade of steel for the backing of tri-metal engine bearings. SAE 1008 and SAE 1010 are the most common ones used.”

Years of history and analytical data have went into making these materials the industry standard. McKnight confirmed that MAHLE Clevite has an ongoing research and development program that continuously explores all current technology and materials looking for any advantages in engine bearing manufacturing.

Conventional Wisdom

Dr. Kopeliovich has explained that many of today’s engine bearings “are manufactured by either casting or sintering technology.” In either case, Kopeliovich says “adhesion between the layers is very important.”

According to McKnight, Clevite’s method of manufacturing bearings is “cast the intermediate layer onto the steel in a strip process where an alloy of molten copper and lead is poured onto the steel strip in an atmospheric controlled furnace. Copper in the alloy penetrates the steel forming an indestructible bond. As the strip leaves the furnace, it is quenched and the alloy solidifies.”

Bearing structure for different types of bearings.

King utilizes a process of manufacturing called sintering. Kopeliovich, a prolific writer on engine bearing technology told us, “Properly sintered material has no pores and voids. It is as strong as a properly cast alloy. Additionally, sintered material may be strengthened (if required) by cold rolling and/or varying its chemical composition.”

Engine bearings and oil. How they co-exist.

Regardless of what material the bearing is made of, the lifespan of a bearing in a street or race engine would be about as short as a Mayfly’s without lubrication. The process of reducing wear in moving surfaces in close proximity that allows a smooth continuous operation is a science all to itself.

How the layer of oil is formed by the rotating shaft.

Lubrication is one of the key factors that affects bearing operation. What makes bearing lubrication unique is that the motion of the contacting surfaces, and the design of the bearing, pumps the lubrication around the bearing creating a layer of lubricating film that  supports the rotating shaft. According to Dr. Kopelivoich, “This is called Hydrodynamic Lubrication and it works best for bearings when the oil film thickness is larger than the surface roughness.”

There are several factors that can cause lubrication changes and the hydrodynamic lubrication regime can turn into a boundary film lubrication regime where metal to metal contact can occur during load cycling. McKnight explains that, “oil starvation, high loads, low rpm speed, roughness of bearing or shaft surfaces can affect bearing lubrication. Because the bearing is designed to create an oil wedge by the shaft’s rotation, when the engine is not rotating, there is no substantial bearing lubrication. During start up, there will be a minor amount of solid to solid contact until the film is built up around the bearing.”

Kopeliovich says, “constant cycle loading is what causes fatigue in the bearing, which is the main cause of bearing failures. If he load was always constant, there would be no fatigue.”

Engine bearings can tell you a lot about how the engine is operating.

What Bearings Tell Us

By now we are getting the idea that there is much more to these consumable engine components. We’ve also detected that manufacturers of engine bearings do not like to use the term “bearing failure” going with a more acceptable “bearing distress” phrasing. Understanding that a bearing does not fail unless it experiences a distress for another reason is important to fixing an engine problem. Our research into bearings has explained the engineering that goes into the component, the materials that are selected in the making of these products and what purpose a bearing actually serves.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we find out how to diagnose bearing “distress”, probable causes of premature wear and how to properly install engine bearings, including checking for oil clearances. We also be addressing the different coatings that are available for engine bearings, and the controversy that surrounds whether to coat or not.

There has been a lot of knuckle-busting in the shop on Project 666 recently – some good and some bad.  We have been preparing the car to compete in a few PSCA races this season.  Getting our Fox ready has been a blast, but there has been a little cocktail of drama and headaches involved as well. This is our tear-jerking story of our hunt for the 9′s.

Our Mustang started out last year with a 408ci that made about 575 hp to the crank. With the Windsor in place of our tired 302, we were able to muster mid 10-second quarter mile times with stout 1.46 60-foot times. This is not nearly fast enough to be competitive in the PSCA, let alone get us an NHRA license for the season. Thus, we realized it was time to install our hidden-bullet: a Dart all-aluminum 427.

We started by pulling our Dart 427 out of the storage room where it has sat for nearly two years. Just in case you don’t remember this one, the block is Dart’s lightweight aluminum 9.500 deck small block Ford.  It utilizes a Lunati Pro Series crank, Lunati 4340 Superlight rods, and JE custom 4.125 bore dome pistons for a total compression ratio of 13:1.

The short block was capped off with a set of Trick Flow’s bad ass CNC heads that flowed 333 cfm intake and 255 cfm on the exhaust. The heads came with 58cc chambers, bronze valve guides, interlocking ductile iron seats, and huge 225cc intake runners. These heads are completely assembled with 2.080” and 1.600” stainless steel valves and 1.560” roller springs with 240lbs of seat pressure and 600lbs open pressure which is perfect for the custom Comp Cam sitting in the block. Speaking of valvetrain, we completed the assembly with Comp Cams’ Ultra Gold aluminum rocker arms in a 1.6 ratio that was supported by a 5/16″ one piece chrome moly push rod.

To learn more about the short block click here.
To learn more about the long block click here.

Before installing the engine and transmission in 666, we needed to change our TCI flexplate. The 408 was an externally balanced crankshaft and the new 427 was internal balance.TCI's #529615 flexplate is SFI 29.1 approved and built with extra-thick welds on both sides of the ring gear.

We had a fully race ported Wilson 9.500 deck Edelbrock Super Victor intake manifold from an older project. Though destined for use as a fuel injected application, we needed to make home made injector bung plugs. These consisted of machined down bolts with o-rings and flat bar stock to secure them

So this should be a direct swap from one Windsor to another, right?  Well, our 408ci motor utilized a post 1971 block, matching the 9.500 deck height of our Dart block, but due to the slightly raised runners featured on our TFS Street Heat heads, this made for more work than we anticipated. Project 666 was starting to live up to its name.

The first task was to finish assembling the motor, which went relatively smooth until we realized that our Edelbrock Super Victor intake manifold was built for fuel injection and has the injector ports. Now we could change intakes, but this intake has been meticulously CNC ported by induction gurus Wilson Manifolds. Though this was an easy fix with a couple of new bolts from the bin. Next, the header flanges had to be ported to match the shape of our Trick Flow heads to insure maximum exhaust flow on the hot-side of the motor.

The headers were hitting the transmission's bell housing. The exhaust ports on these awesome Trick Flow heads are a touch higher then on our previous heads. A little grinding later and we are all set to go.

One of the new pieces we put on our 427 is Canton’s 351W Fox Body Drag Power Pan.  Designed to be used in two or four bolt main configuration, it also accepts a 164 or 157 tooth flywheel.  It has a massive 9-inch deep sump that will accept seven quarts of oil.  The large recovery pouch requires that the right side mounting bolts to be accessed through plugs in the bottom of the pan.  We simply applied a little Teflon tape to each of these plugs to ensure a leak-free seal. This is one of the most popular Ford drag racing pans on the market.

Canton 13-672SV 351W Drag Pan

• Pro Style Oil Recovery Pouch
• Slosh Baffle
• Provision For Our Pan Mounted Dipstick
• Magnetic Drain Plug
• Seven Quart Capacity

In addition to the Canton oil pan, we turned to Optima for a fresh Red Top battery.  The Red Tops are some of the most well known performance batteries used for automobiles.  They can live up to twice as long as a typical battery and can pack up to 15x more vibration resistance as well.  Vibration resistance is critical in race cars that don’t feature the same soft bushings that typically dampen that vibration in a normal street car.  Another great aspect is that they are completely spill proof, so if your race car ends up on the roof, leaky battery acid will be the least of your concerns.

After fitting the headers on the motor to ensure their fitment, we were ready to install the engine. That is until we realized the new Canton drag race oil pan is too wide to fit in between our motor mount plates on our K-member. So we needed to move both the lower points of the motor mount plates an inch on each side.  Next, the headers were hitting the transmission’s bell housing. Our dreams (nightmares..?) came back to bite us as we started to realize we had to fabricate two new header tubes.  Welcome to race cars – right?

With the motor in, we fill it with fluids in preparation to fire it. Red Line recommends using their break in additive with conventional oil for a few hundred miles

A final check of the valve lash was among the last things to do on our check list. Also on top is Pro Systems 4150 carburetor.

666′s Milk Shake Brings Tears to the Dyno

Needless to say that a fair amount of the office was excited to see Project 666 on the dyno to see if it could get close to its power goals that marked its naming. But it wouldn’t even get through a run on the dyno before our AutoMeter oil pressure gauge dropped to zero.  Immediately we pulled out the dipstick to see what was going on and we were greeted with a beautiful shade of frothy brown – an unwanted interaction between oil and water. Yes, oil and water; this is never a good sign with a new setup, but it brings up the point that every possible aspect of failure must be examined before pulling out one’s hair in frustration.

At the sight of the Starbucks foo-foo coffee drink colored liquid the first thought that comes to mind is the head gaskets. Like any normal person the logical first step to methodically disassemble the engine and look for clues that led to the source of the problem.  Starting with the intake manifold, we saw what could be a problem with the gasket sealing between the water jackets, lifter valley, and intake ports.

With oil in the intake runners, we very well could have found our problem. This gasket problem could very easily be causing a sealing problem around the water jacket as well.

To save you a lot of reading and condense three days worth of work, we tried resealing the intake manifold two different times with no success.  There was even the thought that the manifold might have been milled for its previous designated engine combination, so we purchased a virgin Super Victor manifold and still the milk shake was there.

After removing the cylinder heads, further oil was observed in places where it should not be found.  With the visual evidence, the head gaskets seemed the likely culprit; but upon further investigation the head gaskets were not the source of the attempts at blending oil and water. As the tear down process continued, it became routine to question every possible component that could have been the cause of this issue.

Once the engine was disassembled the problem became apparent; like the Titanic the cylinders sleeves had sunk in the aluminum block. Not a dramatic James Cameron way, but just enough to wreak oily-watery havoc. Even the miniscule amount that the sleeves had sunk was enough to be problematic. This is nothing Dart did; but it was something that probably happened during engine block machining and prep. You are supposed to fully seat the sleeves prior to machining. Our 427′s sleeves just weren’t fully seated. Basically, the uneven surface was the cause of the mess and resulted in multiple head gasket changes.

If you look at the top edge of where the sleeve meets the block, you can easily see the block sits slightly higher.

With the mystery solved, the uneven surface had to be dealt with or proper sealing would never be achieved. When looking at the picture of the piston, it is hard not to notice the oil build up and the slight gap between the face of the block and the sleeves, which prevented the gasket to do its job in a proper fashion. It is virtually impossible for the gasket to perform corrected while it is being sucked into the combustion chamber, which explains how the water managed to sneak it’s way into the mix.

Being mentally exhausted from the 427 debacle and wanting a second opinion on the matter, we shipped our zero mile old 427 up to L&R Automotive for a rebuild.  There were a couple of parts we knew we were going to want changed out to elevate any potential problems – new gaskets from Fel-Pro, PermaTorque MLS Head Gaskets (PN #1134) which are .041-inch thick and have a stainless steel armor ring – perfect for our high compression 427. Also, we utilized a Fel Pro Front Cover Gasket and Rear Main Seal gasket. New rings from Total Seal got the call because we pulled the pistons as part of our rebuild.

We also needed a new Mellings Pump, but we needed a new pump not related to a direct failure, but in an unknown instance, the adjustable pressure screw had been tightened down so tight that it bottomed out on the relief, forcing the pump to relieve the pressure it was trying to produce. So it was time for a new Melling pump.

Additionally, we did not have a failure with the Comp Cams Endure-X lifters in the motor, however L&R discovered that simply the wrong height lifters were installed.  This was causing some of our oil pressure issues. You see, Dart’s blocks feature .300-inch taller lifter bosses that allow a wider range of camshaft lift applications and we simply had the standard height lifters in the motor and were bottoming out and not being properly oiled.

Rebuilding our Brand New Engine at L&R Automotive

We chose Total Seal "CML Premium Rings" which are part number CML-9010-5; which are 4.125-inch bore, .043-inch top and second ring, and 3mm oil rings. They are a ductile iron top ring which is great for our race application.

L&R installed new Comp Cams Endure-X Solid Roller Lifters (PN 838-16) because the lifters we had previously were too short for the Dart block's raised lifter bores. These have a custom link bar assembly that combines the benefits of a removable link bar with the safety of a captured link bar. They are .300-inch taller for Dart Ford blocks.

A final lash adjustment and the resealing of the Edelbrock Super Victor intake manifold completed our engine build. Now it was time to get the motor back into the Mustang and hit the dyno.

Reinstalling the 427ci into 666

With everything squared away in the engine bay from the previous installation attempt, 666′s 427 slid back onto the engine mounts with ease.  Fingers were crossed as Sean fired the car up for the first time.  We let the Mustang idle for about 15 minutes straight, and we were greeted with stable oil pressure.  A close inspection of the engine’s oil and all was well.  It was time to get 666 on the Dynojet rollers and tune up our Pro Systems 4150 carburetor.

With our new engine... freshly rebuilt... we were eager to get it reinstalled and onto the dyno.

While the engine was being over hauled, we also installed a new Crane ignition system. The gear we are using inside our devilish project car includes the Crane Cams #1000-1612 Race Billet distributor, Crane 8.5mm Sleeved Fire Wire spark plug cables part number 295-2426, Crane HI-6DSR Box part number 6000-6424, and the Crane FireBall LX-92 coil part number 730-0892.

The 408 lived just fine on a stock-style starter, but due to the 427's high compression setup, we needed to beef up our starting capacity. The Powermaster XS Torque features 200 lb/ft of torque of starting power. It weighs in at 8.5 pounds, clears our headers and oil pan, plus work with engines up to 18:1 compression!

After about a dozen hits on the dyno we were able to get the motor flat lined at a stable 12.7:1 air/fuel ratio. Even equipped with VP's C14 high octane leaded race fuel, we kept the ignition timing conservative at 34 degrees total, leaving plenty more horsepower to be had. Click on the graph for a larger version.

When we first dynoed 666 we didn’t have any proper wheels for it.  We had just upgraded our tire size from a 26×10 to a 28×10.5 and we had fender rubbing issues that we needed to deal with. Not wanting to what any longer to see what the new 427 was going to put out for power numbers, we found a spare set of our old dirt track car’s wheels and tires that fit perfectly onto the Mustang.  While it might have all fit properly, traction wasn’t all that great and we could watch the tires smoke on the dyno at the end of the run while only producing about 515hp.  With the rubbing fixed and the slicks in place for a few test pulls (it’s not a good idea to make a bunch of runs with slicks on a dyno) we managed to make 549 hp and 447 lb/ft of torque, which made us happy campers.

Even though Project 666 is old enough to drink, it still needs to have a diaper to capture any potential escaping (engine pieces) fluids...and so we don't angry fellow competitors by oiling down the track during a run. To be PSCA legal we needed an engine diaper.

DJ Safety manufacturers NHRA approved SFI 7.2 diapers for most Fox body block/oil pan configurations, including modular blocks. These high quality units offer superb fit and feature header bolt mounted straps with cam buckles for easy installation and removal. This particular unit utilizes Kevlar construction with an aluminized outer cover for improved heat resistance. Other upgrades include Kevlar straps for further improved heat resistance and rear strap to tighten the unit around pan that helps with tight clearances and provides a better fit.

Off the Dyno and to the Track

Our mission with taking Project 666 to the track was two-fold. First, just to get the darn Mustang to make some sub 10-seecond laps without the satanic 5-liter Fox exploding, catching fire, losing oil pressure, or shooting parts in the air. Second, we wanted to get driver James Lawrence his NHRA license that he had desired since he first starting drag racing 15 years ago. We traveled to the PSCA event at California Speedway in order to put all of this together! It was hot – scorching hot – to the tune of 100 degrees and high humidity. Since 666′s 427 makes about 675-700 horsepower when fully tuned up, unfortuntely we knew that we were barely going to make the 9-second range in those conditions. But that didn’t stop us.

We set up at Fontana with two goals: 9 second runs and an NHRA license.

When you are getting your NHRA license, the process includes making 6 runs.. 2 “moderate runs” – 2 “half runs” and 2 “full runs”. The full runs must be 9.99 or faster. We started out the day on Friday with the desire to make all 6 hits; get our NHRA license, and be merry. On our first few passes, we were golden. We set the 2-step at about 4,000 RPM; and made 2 60-foot runs and moderate passes; and then 1 half track pass. The half-track run was in the low 10s (10.20 to be exact). Then it was time for run 4. As we pulled up, we saw some fluid leaking from the bottom of 666. We were hoping… praying… (probably a bad idea with a car named 666).. that it was a simple fluid leak.

But that wasn’t to be. After our first 3 runs, we managed to damage the C4 transmission when a gasket failed in the transmission. Honestly – it was probably.. and likely.. our fault; we had an engine vibration issue and had run the car on the dyno about 10 times with that vibration. Most likely, the vibration in the engine caused the gasket failure. But it meant a trip back to the shop to take apart and R&R the transmission. We were tired, it was 7 PM, and it was brutally hot, but it was time to get busy. This is when your hard work pays off. We wanted the 9s, and we wanted our license.

We didn't exactly have the transmission stand we needed to replace the pump gasket. No problem. A bucket and wood, and a couple of straps will work just fine in the heat of the moment!

Changing the pump gasket on our C4. You can see how the gasket broke. According to C4 experts, this area of the C4 is pretty vulnerable. We probably broke ours when we had some engine vibration problems that we ignored for far too long. Not where we wanted to be, but the good news was that we found a small transmission shop with the C4 pump gasket we needed; and we had an awesome crew. Big props to Sean and Dean for thrashing the gasket and C4 in and out in miserable conditions.

Back to the Track, Saturday

We rolled back in California Speedway exhausted but energized. We were lacking of sleep, but high on enthusiasm. We were confident the C4 problem was resolved; and we knew what we needed to do to get that NHRA license and put the Project 666 Mustang into the record-books as a real 9-second player. There aren’t a lot of 9-second built project cars in magazine land, so we wanted to add that to our resume. On the first run, our plan was to take it easy, with a part throttle launch just to make sure the transmission gasket was going to work ok and not soil itself. A 1.59 60-foot and 10.45 were the result of the easy run, and the great news was everything was dry – no ATF on the ground and it seemed our problems were fixed.

Now we just had to take care of business – two 9-second runs – and magazine glory and an NHRA license would be our reward.

James before the first run on Saturday. That's what a lack of sleep looks like on a race driver. The first pass would prove to be an easy shake down in the 10.40s.

Before the final two runs, we needed a top off of VP C14. That's our fuel of choice for Project 666 and all of the powerTV project cars. We've had a ton of success with VP and run it exclusively on our dyno. Works great with our 13.5:1 compression 427

It was a little past noon when it became time to line up for our first “would-be” 9-second run. It was freakishly hot, about 101 degrees right before we pulled out on the track. To say there weren’t doubters – that would be a lie. Quite a few of the crew doubted 666 would lay down a 9-second run in these oppressive conditions, especially with a rookie driver. Working in our favor was the track seemed to be hooking quite well. After a very healthy burnout, James pulled to the line. We had raised the launch RPM to 5,200 RPM so we were expecting an improvement in 60-foot. James engaged the 2-step, put the throttle to the wood, and got his hand ready on the TCI shifter to slam second gear right past the 60-foot marks.

666 left the line wheels skying in the air – we’re talking it carried the wheels for a good 50 feet, and tripped the 60-foot beams with a stunning 1.38 60-foot. James shifted crisply through 3 gears, and the scoreboard showed the results. 9.94 at 134 mph. Boo-ya. One in the books, one to go.

The Run

We knew we had to run the number. At least 9.99. 15 years of waiting, and a 9-second magazine project car title lay in the wings. And something conspired against us. Somehow, the temperature kept creeping up. The trailer said 106 degrees. Our hearts fell. 9.94 was barely making it. Another 5 degrees of temperature, and a slightly more sloppy race track meant one thing. Tire spin, and bad, nasty muggy air for the Dart 427. We saw images of 10.01 dancing in our heads. The decision was made to raise the shift RPM to 7,200. The engine would go 7,500, but never had taken it past 7000 on the dyno. So 7,200 it was. Hopefully it was enough.

James pulled 666 to the line with our crew in tow. A crisp burnout followed. On the chip, the anticipation was priceless.

The scoreboard said it better than we ever could.

9.97. 136.

Mission accomplished.

Run #5 - a 9.94 at 134. Hanging the hoops high in the air, the Team Z-suspension equipped 666 ran a 1.38 60-foot. There's more to be had.

Click on the image for a larger version of the slips

Professional engine builders and performance enthusiasts have long been familiar with Racing Head Service (RHS) out of Memphis, Tennessee, and the word is getting out on the street more than ever. As the aftermarket broadens their reach to appeal to more enthusiasts, RHS wanted to be in front of the curve by providing the late-model GM lover with their new LS platform offerings that exemplify RHS’ fame for superior heads and valvetrain components.

RHS is no stranger to eking out the most performance from cylinder heads, dating back to their first year in 1967, when RHS began manufacturing its own racing cylinder heads. Since then, RHS has grown into a key member of the aftermarket industry, providing everything from complete turn-key engines to key components to building your own performance-bred powerplant.

Making their reputation with a successful line of cylinder head designs and porting techniques, RHS launched Competition Cams, which has grown to become one of the largest entities in the aftermarket industry.

Innovations in the new LS Race Block are readily apparent, particularly to the LS enthusiast who knows where to look. The Race Block comes already prepped for a dry sump oiling system, gussets for a variety of motor mounts, enlarged lifter bores, under-piston oil squirter provisions, and notches for added rod clearance.

Not a Chip Off The Old Block, But a Whole New Block

LS RACE BLOCK:

• Machined from A357-T6 aluminum alloy
• Standard (9.240”) or tall (9.750”) deck height, and clearance for 4.600” stroke
• Bore sizes 4.165” or 4.125” (501cid or 492cid)
• Thick decks: .500” standard; .750” tall
• Cylinder sleeves available in standard (5.87”) and tall (6.38”); matching liners available
• Better pushrod geometry (<2° maximum pushrod angularity using standard deck height) by raising camshaft centerline .388” (requires 2-link longer timing chain, available from RHS as P/N 3154); tunnel will accommodate stock; will accept oversized (e.g., 60mm diameter roller bearing camshafts) with machining: standard (.842”) lifters, with material available for 1.060” bushing for keyed lifters. (Already machined and microfinished for standard 55mm cam)
• Side oil galleys shifted outward for clearance; also reduces windage; provision cast-in for piston oil squirters
• Dry sump friendly; AN-12 front and rear side feeds
• Uses stock water pump; machined for Gen III and IV knock sensors
• Increased side window area, compared to LS7/LSX engines
• 6-bolt head design with full water jacket (as