Next up, Taylor added a Wilson Manifolds tapered four-hole spacer that raised the entire power curve and added as much as 8 hp at a couple of points along the way. Not bad for a simple bolt-on piece. It appears this spacer may have improved the mixture distribution in the manifold, or at least contributed to enhancing mixture homogeneity throughout the entire rpm curve.
The great news here is that we now had a 347ci small-block making 514 hp with a 1,600-rpm power band separating peak torque and peak hp. Cranking up our steam-powered calculator, that comes out to an amazing 1.48 hp per ci. Baby, that will spank more than its share of street pretenders!
Finally, for Test 3, Taylor added a Holley HP 830-cfm carb to see if the stroker Ford would respond to slowing the incoming air a little. Peak power improved slightly, but at a loss through most of the rest of the curve. Here's a case where a bigger carb isn't better, even with the peak hp improvement.
If we cut to the chase, this is a stout small-block that can be assembled with virtually all off-the-shelf parts. Sure, the cam is a special order, but it still uses a stock distributor gear. If you like the idea of 500-plus horsepower, a rough idle, and lots of gear, then this is a horse that's ready to ride.
| Cam Specs |
| Cam Description | Adv. | Duration @ | Valve | Lobe |
| | Dur. | 0.050 | Lift | Sep. |
| Mech. Roller, 286R |
| Int. | 276 | 246 | 0.635 | 110 |
| Exh. | 284 | 254 | 0.635 |
| These specs are with a 1.6:1 rocker ratio |
| Lash: Int., 0.012-inch; Exh., 0.014-inch |
Power TestsTest 1 was our baseline run with a 750-cfm Holley HP carb on 91-octane pump gas with 10.5:1 compression
Test 2 added the Wilson Manifolds 1-inch tapered spacer. Note the overall increase in torque.
Test 3 added an 830-cfm Holley carb along with the 1-inch spacer. Note that the larger carburetor made more peak power, but also cost torque throughout all but the peak power area.