Measuring engine specs is really just simple math, but just the thought of manipulating numbers can make some car guys cringe. Count your author among that crowd. The more oddball the number, the more I shudder, and don't ask me to work with fractions unless you want to watch my head explode.

Sometimes you just have to go all out. Ken Crocie of H-O Racing has been building big-block Pontiac engines for close to 40 years, most of which have been aimed at the street, as is this engine. While front-end weight is a concern in drag racing, it's much more critical when turning corners. Today, the most popular ploy when building a road car is to use an enhanced, all-aluminum LS engine. Crocie's customer wanted to keep his '78 Trans Am purely Pontiac by building a big--no, make that very big--all-aluminum Pontiac engine. Big in this case refers to a 4.50-inch stroke and 4.35-inch bore motor that displaces a whacking 535 inches. But even more comforting than the displacement is the distinct lack of cast iron. This rascal is pure aluminum. Frankly, if an aluminum crank could survive the rigors of 690 lb-ft of twist and 6,000 rpm, Crocie would have bolted one in. Virtually everything else that found its way into or onto this big Indian is aluminum--right down to the connecting rods, rocker arms, and even the carburetor. The payoff to all this alloy happened once Crocie put the engine on the scale. In fact, they had to calibrate it to double check the numbers, as its bantam weight of 415 pounds with a carburetor and a Powermaster starter motor seemed unbelievably light.

We'd like to introduce you to Nikki Phillips, June Cochran (Playmate of the Year, 1963), and, of course, Linda Vaughn on the far right. This was shot by either Pat Brollier or Gerry Stiles at the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis in September 1971 and unearthed by archivist Thomas Voehringer. Since we are geeks, we first noticed the cart, the Schiefer clutch, and the Hurst stickers. Then we wondered if it was a Cushman and who smashed the headlight and how. Finally, we ogled the on-board munchables. There is something wrong with our priorities.

OK, this is over the top. A friend sent us a link to CVperformance.com.au, where we watched a Procomp Motorsports and CV Performance--sponsored Mustang at Sydney Dragway in Australia knocking down a 5.95/260.31-mph pass that was so quick that the video looks like the film was sped up. A starting line video shows the car crossed up on one pass so badly that the left front tire was off the pavement, sliding and black-tracking the tires. Driver/owner Rob Campisi kept his foot buried and pulled off that amazing run and several others at around the same speed and e.t. What's even more crazed is that according to CV Performance's Con Elfes, the Australians have only one quick class called Super Sedan (SS) for all cars 10.99 and quicker. In the videos, this Mustang is staged against a hapless Camaro driver dialed in at 9.95 at probably 150 mph. The poor Camaro looks like it's running about 60 mph when the Mustang blows past. In reality if the Camaro was running 150, the Mustang was pushing a 90-mph speed differential! The CV Performance guys lay claim to the world's fastest Mustang. They're probably right. The story behind the effort can be traced to the U.S. and Pro Mod entrepreneur Mike Moran of Moran Motorsports. Mike did all the CNC work on the intake manifold, adapting the pair of 500-lb/hr injectors in each cylinder. That isn't easy when the injectors are positioned at different angles. Mike did all the tuning on the engine electronically, literally while Campisi was making passes at the dragstrip. We've heard that life in Australia is like the way it used to be in the Wild West, and after watching that video, we believe, baby. We had to know more about the power behind this amazing achievement, so Moran and Elfes responded with some technical tidbits we're passing along.

"I love my job!" squealed Julia, director of video operations, as she clung to the back of the passenger seat trying to steady the camera while we executed the fifth or sixth smoking donut in Ron Burgundy, our new project beater. The car had begun to fill with smoke and the wipers had suddenly come on. There was a man running along the side of the car. "Who the hell is that?” someone yelled over the screaming engine. It sounded like a girl's voice, but it could have been any one of us. Five more spins and an attempt was made to straighten out the car and get the show going in one direction. Rental cops deployed from the nearby bagel shop, but their golf carts were no match. We were gone, leaving only a swirly, squiggly, tire-tread reminder of Ron's awesomeness. Back in the safety of the Car Craft shop, we decided it was time for a turbo.

"I often buy cars when my wife is out of town." If you were to ask any married man about that quote from Scott Miller, he would tell you that it sounds like a recipe for disaster. But Scott says he’s been able to make it work. For example, in 1998, he had been looking for a new car while his wife was away on vacation. And like any savvy wife, she probably anticipated what was about to happen. True to form, Scott bought a brand-new Camaro, then called his wife to deliver the news. (Hint to all single guys: Bad news is often better delivered over the phone.) When wife Shannon learned of the acquisition, her response was, "Too bad—you could've had the BMW!" But she was just yanking Scott’s chain. The couple has made the most out of that Camaro for the last 13 years. In the intervening time, Scott has slowly been assembling a quick summer machine that he takes to Brainerd International, where his best pass is an 11.63 at 118 mph. That’s impressive for a mildly warmed-over LS1. There’s no huge cubic-inch stroker here, just a stock short-block 5.7L with a cam, heads, and some intake work. Even more surprising is that the 4L60E is also stock, fitted only with a Yank 10-inch converter. Scott takes great pride in driving the Camaro 80 miles each way to the track, with the slicks and the jack stuffed in the back. While this might be a late-model cruiser with tons of amenities, some things never change.

CNC LS3 Heads

What it is: Factory CNC cylinder heads for your new Camaro, Corvette, or LS-swapped muscle car

Why you care: These 276cc heads flow nearly 370 cfm on the intake and 262 cfm on the exhaust at 0.700-inch lift. Those are great advertising numbers, but the real trick is the 340/247-cfm flow numbers at 0.500 lift. The heads retain the stock 68cc chamber, so you don’t have to worry about too much compression, and have 2.165/1.59-inch valves that fit any LS engine with a 4-inch- or-larger bore.

How much: $700.00 each (assembled)

Learn more:
GM Performance Parts
Warren, MI
800/577-6888
/www.gmperformanceparts.com

This is a great monthly story because it gives us a perfect excuse to hit the junkyard. We were trolling for S-10 V8 swap parts the other day when we noticed a factory oil filter relocation part on an '88 S-10 Blazer 4x4 with a 4.3L V6. We decided it was cool and unbolted it. We cut the factory aluminum/rubber lines because the factory hoses were too clumsy and probably wouldn’t fit anything we had anyway. This particular piece also incorporated a second set of fittings that fed an oil cooler located in the radiator. The best part is that we bought it for $4.50, and there are probably other factory systems just as cheap. By employing a few minor fabrication skills, this relocation block could be used to direct oil to an aftermarket oil cooler. In fact, we might even use this part on our S-10, which means we could purchase a factory V6 radiator with an oil cooler and use the factory lines.

How many times have you wondered, How would my car stack up against those cars I see in the magazine? It's the age-old question, and Car Craft answered it by evaluating readers' cars in 1986 with the first Real Street Eliminator competition. Back then, the event encompassed a variety of contests and spanned several tracks. Now, 35 years later, we're still testing street-car mettle, but we've pared it down to three simple contests: a rear-wheel-horsepower chassis dyno blast, three days worth of driving on a challenging and twisting autocross course, and a 150-foot-long speed- stop challenge we call Launch Box.

We were recently treated to a sneak peak at Holley’s new line of pumps. You're looking at the standard-output pump (PN 12-700) in the main image. Don't take that to mean wimpy output (see the spec chart below for specific flow numbers). In short, the HP pump will support 900 carbureted horsepower, while the twin-pump Dominator is good to 1,050 hp.

The key is the gerotor design, which helps to move large amounts of fuel more efficiently than traditional vane-style pumps. These pumps offer reliable fuel flow, quiet operation, and long lives. Holley rates them as good for more than 100,000 miles.

Greg Monroe, Downey, CA

550 hp—HA! You know that's a damn lie. But it’s the story Greg Monroe is sticking to when people ask him how much power this 4.6 engine makes. When pressed, he says, "Maybe 560 on a good day with ice in the intercooler reservoir." But he can't stifle the grin on his face as he says this. The truth is, this engine has got to make well over 800 hp. An early version of it propelled Greg's '01 Bullitt Mustang to a best quarter-mile time of 8.20 seconds at 170 mph on C16 race gas. Now he's got more compression, more boost, and E85 to burn. He's looking to crack into the 7s.

Building a Bigger Clevor

Andrew Grubb; Ontario, Canada: I am planning the build of a 351, Windsor-based, 427 stroker engine with around 600 hp that is as streetable as possible. Do you think it is worth spending the extra $2,000 for a Dart block that allows the capability to run a 4.125-inch bore, so that a shorter (less than 4-inch) stroke can be used? Most stroker kits use an excessively long stroke that can significantly reduce engine life, so the extra initial investment of the Dart block may be worthwhile in the long run. Also, would having a shorter stroke and a larger bore create a more high-end power engine (spinning up to 7,000 rpm or so)? What are the main benefits of using Cleveland-style heads, and would it really be worth the effort over a set of say, AFR 205cc (PN 1450) ported heads? I intend to run on pump gas, and the compression will be around 10.5:1 with forged internals.

We promised to install a Hemi into our Dodge Demon, and that time is here. A quick search using the keywords "5.7 Hemi" on our eBay Mobile app netted us about 50 different used engines of various years with a wide range of mileage. As this is written, the average was $2,000 for a 5.7 Hemi from a truck and $4,500 for one from a Charger or 300C. We chose a truck engine with 65K on the clock for $1,900 from eBay seller Knox Auto Parts. Knox is a wholesale salvage yard in Knoxville, Tennessee. The total price with shipping was $2,203.99. For that, we received the complete engine, a wiring harness, and a starter.

In our Oct. '11 issue, we added 70 hp to Project Panther using new cams and cylinder heads from Trick Flow. In the process, we raised the rpm where peak torque and horsepower occur. Since this is a heavy car (4,000 pounds) with a small (281ci) engine, we want to launch the car as close to the new torque peak as possible and help acceleration by increasing the torque multiple at the axle. Fortunately, Ford Racing has the best prices on 3.73:1 ring-and-pinion and bearing kits for the 8.8, so I ordered up a set and called Tech Editor Smith’s buddy Tim Moore, who agreed to do the install. While this is something I’d like to be able to do myself, I don’t have the collection of pullers, drivers, and presses, not to mention the wealth of knowledge and experience Moore has at his disposal. In some cases, it’s better to let a pro do the job, and I am not ashamed to admit this is one job I was willing to hand over to someone experienced. Though the job itself is a dirty one, the removal and replacement of the differential carrier is pretty straightforward. Installing the pinion gear at the right depth is where finesse and skill are required. Get it wrong and at best your final drive will howl like straight-cut gears; at worst, you can burn up the pinion bearings. Moore got it right, of course, and the result is a quiet-running gearset and a more responsive car. Translation: It accelerates faster.

"They all thought I was nuts," Steve Nitti tells us as we marvel at his sick creation. "I bought it new on January 3, 1972, at 2:32 p.m. for $2,200." Yes, he knows the time of day he bought the car. That fact is also verified by the builder, who could recite that phrase off the top of his head too, even though he'd finished working on the car nearly a year before.

Replay:

A Slippery Subject

“Driving the Road Runner is like a moment of Zen,” says Dan Weishaar of his ’68 Road Runner.

Rich Blakely, Irvine, CA

Some engines just won’t go away. Back in the May ’11 issue, we brought you the first part of our budget-built 400 small-block Chevy. The idea was to bolt a set of iron Vortec heads on a junkyard 400 short-block, add a cam, and enjoy the torque. Right away, we ran into snags. The block was so nasty it demanded help while retaining the stock crank, pistons, and rods. The cam failed with less than a week before our deadline necessitating an unplanned thrash to rebuild the engine a second time because all that dead cam metal wiped out the main bearings. By the time we were finished, we had never worked so hard to produce so little power. The 400’s problems were multiple: The cylinders waffled like ice cream cones, preventing anything approaching ring seal, and the compression was a sickly 8.2:1 due to ugly 0.060-inch piston deck heights. In case you missed the story, the best power numbers were gained with a set of GM Performance Parts Vortec Bow Tie heads supplied by Scoggin-Dickey, and even then the 400 managed only 401 hp and 458 lb-ft of torque. We were underwhelmed.

There are about a million reasons why widening a set of factory wheels is a good idea. Often, the procedure costs less than buying new wheels. You generally can have them made to whatever offset you want, and they look good. Automobile manufacturers spend a fortune designing a car, and they often the get it right from the beginning. Widening a set of OE wheels is a great way to keep you car looking stock as you build it up, assuming you are into the whole sleeper vibe.

There is a wealth of budget-based components sitting in your local recycling yard just waiting for you to come and rescue them from the crusher. On Pro Touring cars that have taken up the challenge of the increasingly popular track days and tight-turn autocross events, these competitions also put lots of heat into power steering systems. Twice we’ve seen Saginaw GM power steering pump towers actually fall off due to the deadly combination of killer heat and vibration at Pro Touring events. So if heat is the big culprit, how ’bout trimming those temps with an inexpensive cooler? We were cruising the boneyard awhile back when we noticed a power steering cooler languishing on a fullsize Ford that looked like it would work on our road racer Chevelle.

Hank Groves / Woodstock, IL

Man, these cars are what it’s all about. Bitchin’, handmade, single- and twin-turbo systems stuffed into big, steel-door cars that absolutely crush everything else on the road: small-blocks and big-blocks, turbonetics, eBay turbos, Precision, and huge CT billet jobs pounding out 800 and 900 hp at the rear wheels. These cars aren’t trailer fluff. No gutted sheetmetal interiors here. Bench seats, carpet, tunes, and gears for the highway are the rule, and most of them run all day on pump juice. It’s not just about the Chevy—there’s a 700hp, small-block Mustang and even a Pontiac in the group. These are legit, 9-second street machines that see hours of freeway and street time and didn’t take a zillion dollars to build.

It’s been a couple of weeks since NMCA’s fun, three-day drag race and autocross event in Fontana, California, where I muscled my big ’65 Chevelle around a cascade of orange cones in a tight parking-lot course. In most autocross courses, it’s possible to be very quick with mediocre horsepower, as long as you’ve got a small, light vehicle that can negotiate the layout quickly and stay away from the cones. That’s exactly what we hope to build with Project Sten. The truck is light at only 2,600 pounds, but the four-banger falls short of mediocre and doesn’t have the power to compete even on a short parking-lot course, so that makes the small-block Chevy a natural swap. The ideal conversion would be an all-aluminum LS motor, and perhaps there’s one in our future, but for now we’ll stick with our affordable, if somewhat dated, TPI small-block.