At this point, we briefly considered swapping the stock cam for a larger 'stick to see if we could crest the 400hp mark, but that would have been too obvious, not to mention a fair bit of work, and we were feeling lazy that day. Far simpler would be to swap on a set of higher-ratio adjustable roller rockers. The higher-ratio rockers offer the benefit of increasing effective lift and duration at the valves without compromising the inherent driveability of the mild stock cam. Comp Cams offers the perfect product for this application with its aluminum adjustable 1.7:1 roller rockers (PN 1054), which bolt onto the stock cylinder-head pedestals and allow easy valve adjustment with a pushrod-cup adjuster nut. We had the valve gear swapped in about 15 minutes (we didn't even have to change the pushrods), and pulled the handle on the dyno. Success! As expected, the higher-ratio rockers increased the area under the curve of the stock cam, pushing output to 405 hp at 6,200 rpm and 380 lb-ft of torque at 4,300, a gain of 23 hp and 12 lb-ft of torque.
To put this performance in context, consider that this relatively small engine is making 1.34 hp and 1.25 lb-ft of torque per cubic inch with a stock camshaft. An equivalent 350ci engine would need to make 470 hp and 437 lb-ft to equal this specific output, numbers that usually take good cylinder heads and a healthy cam. So these AFR heads really are just that good. The 302 also benefits from having a 4-inch bore, which maximizes the cylinder-head flow, and although the stock hydraulic-roller camshaft is small by performance standards, its lift and duration figures are pretty decent compared to a typical smog-era stocker.
The beauty of this combination is that you can take a very inexpensive stock engine, spend your money on a few good parts that really make power, and wind up with a truly kick-ass, driveable little engine without breaking the bank. Now just imagine all those parts bolted onto a 347 stroker with a big cam. Maybe next time.
Little DemonDemon Carburetion's newest offerings are the Road Demon Jr. carburetors, which fill out the entry-level end of its lineup. Budget priced at $259 through mail-order distributors, Road Demon Jr. carbs are offered in 525-, 625-, and 725-cfm vacuum-secondary versions that incorporate many features of the existing Road Demons in a smaller, simpler, and less expensive package. Sharing the same basic main body as the Road Demon, the Road Demon Jr. substitutes a cast-aluminum primary metering block and throttle-body baseplate for the more expensive billet counterparts of the Road Demons. The Demon Jr. carbs also substitute a nonadjustable metering plate on the secondary side, along with side-hung float bowls and a single fuel inlet with a crossover tube to supply the secondaries. Despite its lower price, the Road Demon Jr. is still packed with features, such as an O-ringed transfer tube to prevent fuel leaks, clear sight plugs in both float bowls, and oversized idle-mixture screws. Options include electric-choke kits, and throttle-linkage and fuel-line packages for tunnel-ram and dual-quad applications.
By Matthew King
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