#Jesel Shaft mount rockers and roller lifters

[rpmtrish]

FEATURES - GRAPE JUICED - Dave Pierce - 68 Pro Mod Camaro

FEATURES – GRAPE JUICED – Dave Pierce – 68 Pro Mod Camaro

Drag racers are a predictable bunch, especially those who live at the ragged edge of extreme speed and power. Pretty much anything that enhances performance is highly coveted, and most of the time, if a little is good, then a lot is better.

Take Claremore, Oklahoma’s Dave Pierce. It wasn’t enough to have a carbon fiber Bickel-built Camaro Pro Mod. Oh, no. He had to have nearly 1,000 cubic inches…

[itsworn]

Horsepower! Ryan Jones’ 2,500HP, Single-Turbo LS Nova

If you’ve been following Outlaw racing for a while, you may have heard of Ryan “Toaster” Jones, the West Coast hitter who has been racing tire-limited classes for the last five years. Back when everyone was marveling at running low-5s on a 235-series drag radial, Toaster clicked off an insane 4.65 at 161 mph, a record that stood for years. “We were pushing everything as hard as we could with a 94mm turbo on gasoline,” Jones says. “I knew that in order to stay competitive, we needed to step things up.”

Stepping up in this case meant a switch to methanol, new technology, and a huge 106mm Precision Pro Mod turbocharger. The car made a lot more power, but there was an issue. “We had to weigh nearly 3,500 pounds when we ran the 275 classes, which is just ridiculous for a small-block,” Jones says. With the popularity of no-prep and grudge-style racing, the decision was made to drop the class racing and focus on Outlaw activities. Team Boddie’s Outlaw eighth-mile race series was gaining ground, so Jones made the decision to run his Nova there, where he could drop to 3,000 pounds and face the blower and nitrous cars head on.

With Championship wins in 2017 and 2018, you could say Toaster has had quite a bit of success. At more than 40 psi of boost, the small-block LS is definitely churning out some power, and with Jones’ consistent driving, the team had all the ingredients for a championship. Toaster said none of this would be possible without his crew: Jaime Vorhees, Pete Consolo, Art Williams, and Brian Peterson. Jones also won the first-ever NHRA small-tire race in a four-wide battle in Las Vegas. With some new and very tough competition for 2019, Toaster indicated that he’ll be “swinging for the fences” this racing season, so if you’re on the West Coast, come check out the little Nova that could!

Yes, that is Ryan “Toaster” Jones’ small-tire Nova putting the gap on the Street Outlaws Sonoma. He told us the Nova has been 1.07 seconds to the 60-foot mark, but past that he’s not talking.

The Car

Ryan “Toaster” Jones has had shoebox Novas ever since he was in high school, but it’s culminated in his current ’65, which features a 25.3 chassis that’s certified to 6.50, along with an AJE chromoly front clip and Koni double-adjustable shocks. A two-speed TH400 and Pro Torque converter from Mike’s Transmissions in Lancaster, CA, sends power back to a ladder-bar rear suspension and a Strange 9-inch rearend with JRI four-way shocks. Jones would like to give a big hand to Josh Deeds for helping tune the car, Jamie at Fab-Tech Custom Fabrication & Welding for the work on the car, DJ Safety for helping keep him safe, and Wilwood for picking out brakes that stop the car from warp speed.

Not Your Average LS

You’ve probably heard of 5.3 and 6.0 LS engines, but how about a 7.3L? Yep, that’s right. Toaster’s engine is big, thanks to starting with a Dart LS-Next block. The aftermarket block was filled with a Winberg (the Top Fuel guys) billet crank, GRP aluminum rods, and 11:1-compression Ross Racing pistons and Total Seal rings. Oiling is handled by a Daily Engineering dry-sump oiling system and 9-quart reservoir. A custom 55mm Comp Cams solid-roller camshaft bumps the valvetrain with more than 0.800 inch of lift and an undisclosed amount of duration. The 9,000-rpm short-block stays together due to some careful machine work by Mike Consolo at QMP Racing Engines.

Mammoth Head Flow

One of the main reasons Jones switched to the LS platform was that the cylinder heads flow nearly 100 cfm more than even a traditional 18-degree small-block Chevy head. Jones started with Mozez canted-valve cylinder heads from Mast Motorsports, which were factory CNC-ported to flow 453 cfm on the intake side and 273 cfm on the exhaust side at 0.800-inch lift. Turbo heat is hard on valves, so Jones selected 2.25-inch titanium intake valves and 1.60-inch Inconel exhaust valves to handle the heat. Jesel keyway lifters connect to the cam and Manton pushrods, but the rocker-arm system is a little tricky. Jones found that for the engine to survive, he had to run shaft-mount Jesel rockers with aluminum on the intake and steel on the exhaust side to handle the insane turbo drive pressures.

Fuel Tech to the Rescue

We know Toaster had a good amount of success with the BigStuff3 platform, so we asked him about the switch to the FT600. “At one point, I had five different computers and data-logging systems on the car that I all had to jam through, download, and review between rounds,” he says. “It wasn’t fun!” Now the Fuel Tech does it all, including controlling the mammoth Billet Atomizer 850 injectors and Spark 8 coil-on-plug ignition. A huge 15-gpm Waterman Racing fuel pump feeds -16 and -12 lines to the fuel rails, and a 105mm Accufab throttle-body gulps in air from a 106mm Precision Turbo Pro Mod turbocharger, which is controlled with twin 46mm Precision Turbo wastegates and a Procharger race blow-off valve. On VP Racing M1 fuel, that’s good enough for around 2,500 hp at the flywheel, or an insane 1,930 rwhp on a chassis dyno at 30 psi of boost (all the dyno would hold). Whew!

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[itsworn]

This 1971 “NASCAR” Chevy Nova Sits on Used Circle-Track Parts

NASCAR Nova

The Nova was well-maintained with most of its original interior and body. It may have helped that this base model has never had carpet in the interior.

The story of this weather-worn Nova reads like a series of vintage hot-rodding short stories. Fabricator Greg Turner built this Nova like the racecars of yesteryear with hard work, talent, the help of friends, and little money. It took him 15 years, working for race teams during the day and reworking their used, unwanted parts at night.

Under the factory original patina is the heart of a NASCAR Xfinity series racecar, with an 18-degree 358ci small-block capable of 10,000 rpm. The chassis mimics that of an Xfinity car too but now sits on skinnies and Mickey Thompson slicks. What’s more poetic is Greg is a fabricator at Petty’s Garage, a team which once took a break from dominating NASCAR to take on drag racing in the early ’70s.

The rear axle housing is another used stock car part Greg doesn’t remember where it came from. He shortened the housing and centered it (stock car rear ends are built staggered to improve left turns only).

The mixing of motorsports makes perfect sense in central North Carolina, a countryside filled with racetracks both round and straight alike. Before Petty’s Garage, Greg worked at Bill Davis Racing, “It was pretty cool to talk hot rod stuff at the break truck with some of the best race engine builders in the world,” said Greg. “I befriended some of the most talented fabricators, cylinder head builders, intake manifold guys, carburetor guys…”

Greg acquired the Nova in that dream-like scenario: A one-owner, only driven by a little old lady to Church on Sundays and Bingo on Thursday night. After months of persistence, Greg purchased her 6-cylinder Nova for $3,500. The most basic offering Chevrolet provided at the time, with rubber mats instead of carpet. Over the next 15 years, Greg built the Nova piece by piece in the small garage beside his house. He’d refurbish many parts the team no longer needed, long before used-parts warehouses took over the job of disposing of yesterday’s race hardware.

It’s easy to miss all of the intricate fabrication, but once you get underneath, it’s easy to recognize Greg’s talent.

Tech Notes Who: Greg Turner What: 1971 Chevrolet Nova Where: Sophia, North Carolina

Engine The real deal 358ci NASCAR Xfinity Series engine (known as the Busch Series at the time) retired from its racecar duties in the mid-’90s. When Bill Davis switched from Ford to Pontiac, they traded parts with Penske. One day while searching through a warehouse at work, Greg found this engine covered in dust and Penske markings. It originally powered one of Ward Burton’s race cars.

It was rebuilt mostly original, with the 18-quart dry-sump oiling system and 4.150 x 3.31 bore and stroke. It’s a Chevrolet Bowtie block with a Winberg billet crank, Lentz 6.125 rods, and JE flat-top pistons. A variety of Greg’s friends performed the machining work.

The 46cc, 18-degree Chevrolet heads were ported by Reher Morrison and feature titanium valves. Greg guesses the Comp Cam solid cam has .700-degrees of lift and .280-degrees of duration at 0.050. The valvetrain features roller bearings and a Jesel belt drive, Crower .937 lifters, and W+W shaft mounted 1.65 rockers with Pac valve springs.

“It’s made to run wide open all the time,” said Greg, and so far, it’s held up well on the street. Greg shifts just shy of the 8,000 rpm redline, but he says the engine is capable of 9,000-10,000 rpms, but it’s unnecessary for his use.

The used 1 7/8-inch long-tube headers were modified to work in the Nova. The 3-inch oval tube pipes keep ground clearance a non-issue with dual Flowmaster mufflers which dump in front of the rear axle.

Greg was able to break in the engine on the Petty’s Garage engine dyno, and without any tuning, it made 548 hp at 7,000 rpm.

Fueling Under the hood of the Nova, it’s more colorful than the outside of a stickered-up Cup car. The large -10 AN fuel fittings came from one of Roy Hill’s Pro Mod drag cars. With a 12:1 compression the car surprisingly runs fine on pump gas, but Greg typically runs a 50/50 mix of 110-octane race gas and 93-octane pump gas. He sometimes runs leftover barrels of NASCAR approved Sunoco E15, but that’s only during race season.

Drivetrain The 358 sends power through a used NASCAR four-speed, with a McLeod clutch and homemade hydraulic system. Greg worked extensively to create a clutch system which functioned adequately but didn’t require an extra hole in the firewall. With straight cut gears, Greg says, “it’s loud but very fun.” Out back is a stockcar’s former Ford 9-inch housing shortened with equal-length tubes and 31-spline axles, as that’s what most circle track cars run.

Wheels & Tires Weld Pro-Star aluminum wheels are all around with skinny 4x15s in the front and 10x15s in the back, wrapped in 315/60R15 Mickey Thompson Drag Radials.

Chassis From afar, Greg’s Nova appears to be a clean driver, but when you look underneath, you’ll find great metalworking and chassis design. “All of the suspension points are based on a Busch-series car, but with original Nova mounting points,” said Greg who built it all at home without a lift.

The chassis was built without a lift or chassis table in Greg’s home garage. All of the suspension points are taken from an Xfinity series car.

Greg worked to retain all of the Nova’s originality. He ran tubular frame rails (like long sub-frame connectors) from the front clip to the rear frame rails in front of the axle. There are only two welds on the chassis to the new subframe. Otherwise, the front clip still unbolts like factory. He also designed a two-piece ladder bar to prevent floorboard modifications. “Just something I came up with, it’s simple,” said Greg.

Greg Turner performed essentially zero fabrication to the outside of the Nova. Its unsuspecting appearance features the original, factory green paint.

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[itsworn]

This Wicked Rambler Pushes 645hp on the Street and Strip

Growing up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, it was easy for Pete Ricchio to follow a path set in place by the prior generations of his family. His grandfather, father and uncles all worked on the line at the Kenosha Engine plant, which produced both engines and complete cars for AMC. Establishing deep roots within the company created a vibe within the household honoring the time spent helping to create what they considered the ultimate cars for the public. It was commonplace for Pete to come home from school and see his dad elbows-deep on a number of cars including a 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler and 1973 Javelin AMX. He remembers always wanting to be a part of the projects, initially starting with plastic kit models at the kitchen table and eventually working his way up to turning wrenches right alongside his mentor. Couple this with regular visits to Great Lakes Dragaway with his two brothers, Joe and Tony, add an endless stream of local car shows featuring classic muscle, and there was plenty of momentum to secure his path to the future.

It wasn’t long until Pete earned his license and gathered enough cash to buy his first car, a 1966 Rambler American. It was packed with a 401ci engine and 727 trans, which he transformed into a solid performer over time. He eventually sold the car around the same time his dad purchased a non-running, near rust-free 1966 Rambler Rogue 2-door. The car still wore its original paint, interior, and 290ci V-8 driveline. His brother Tony owned it for a while, then offered it to Pete, who knew it was rare (only 8,718 produced) and would be a perfect base for his next build. He immediately dropped in a 390 and 727 transmission, then spent some time updating the car for better handling and braking.

One of the toughest things to accomplish when setting up a dual purpose race/street car is designing an engine that works at the track but is also civil enough to take the kids out for ice cream after school. On top of that, Pete insisted on keeping the car all-AMC, even though it would have been easier to drop an LS into the engine compartment.

Pete remained true to the car and to his family’s legacy with AMC, and built an effective, performer at the track. More than that, it forged an indelible relationship with his family and the next generation of AMC fans. This was the car he got married to wife Michelle in, and his three children, Emma, Rian and Anthony, have also grown up with the car and being a part of the local scene with it. The AMC legacy will live on for sure.

Tech Notes

Who: Pete Ricchio

What: 1966 Rambler Rogue

Where: Kenosha, Wisconsin

Engine/Transmission: To keep his Rambler all AMC, Pete reached began with a 1971 AMC 401. Working with TNT Racing Engines of Gurnee, Illinois, the team got started by massaging the original iron block to perfection. The bottom end was built to handle plenty of abuse. The original crankshaft was matched to a set of Carrillo forged steel Pro-H connecting rods wearing Ross Racing 12:1 forged aluminum pistons, while a roller stick from Bullet Racing Cams matched to Crane Ultra-Pro roller lifters. Indy’s 401-SR aluminum heads were added, featuring 61cc combustion chambers and 235cc intake runners. They were ported by the legendary Ken Parkman and are filled with all the right goods, including Manly Race Series valves, titanium retainers, Jesel Sportsman Series1.6:1 shaft-mount rockers and capped by custom valve covers from Blitzkrieg Motor Sports. Up top, an Indy intake wears a ZEX Perimeter Plate Nitrous system and an Accufab 1,250 cfm throttle body Engine management is by Holley Dominator EFI, custom tuned by Dennis Equitz at Blitzkrieg Motorsports of Caledonia, Wisconsin. Other notable bits include Peterson belt drive oil pump, CSR Performance water pump, Powermaster starter and custom engine pulleys from Blitzkrieg Motorsports. It all sparks to life through an MSD ignition with crank trigger, while exhaust dumps through custom 2-inch headers to 3 ½-inch exhaust linked to Dynomax Bullet mufflers. The combination is good for 645hp @7500prm with enough grunt to make it a serious contender at the strip, where it’s run a best of 8.883 at 151 mph. To move the power, a bulletproof TH400 trans from Proformance Racing Transmissions of Woodstock, Illinois, is matched to a PTC 9-inch converter.

Body: Even in the best conditions, 50-year-old sheetmetal will still need some massaging to make it look right. Pete had John Gaddy of Kenosha strip the car to bare metal, and replace any rust with clean steel. Having always been a fan of the Hurst SC/Rambler style, Pete decided to add a fiberglass hood with an SC-style scoop from Show Cars Body Parts. From there, John set all the gaps and prepped the body for paint. To keep it real, Pete chose a factory color, PPG Apollo Yellow, and combined it with a black roof to add what we consider a perfect amount of contrast to the base coat.

Interior: We’re guessing Pete isn’t a fan of clutter, judging by the clean, simple interior. The stock dash was filled in with a plain fiberglass insert, accented by bead-rolled aluminum door panels. Vitals are monitored through Holley digital dash and the Strange steering wheel is mounted to a custom lightweight column. Racing seats from Kirkey add plenty of support while the back seat is upholstered in factory black vinyl accented by black carpet. A 10-point chromoly rollcage by DRC Motorsports of Kenosha keeps it safe combined, as do the Simpson belts and a fire suppression system from Safecraft. A custom wiring harness from Blitzkrieg Motorsports brings it all to life.

Chassis/Suspension: To set-up the car for a well-balanced combination of drag strip and street use Pete sought help from DRC Motorsports. Their fab crew installed mini-tubs to accommodate the 275 drag radials. They also set up the Chassisworks Fab9 rear axle with a set of 3.60:1 gears Menscer Motorsports coilovers, CalTracs traction bars, and an anti-roll bar to help launch the car straight. Up front, DRC built a custom tubular K-member, replacing the oddball trunnion/strut fromt suspension with tubular control arms and Koni shocks. A Strange Engineering dual master feeds Wilwood 11-inch drilled rotors with matching 4-piston calipers.

Wheels/Tires: Nailing it all to the pavement you’ll find a set of American Racing polished aluminum TrakStar 15×3 ½ -inch front and 15×10 beadlock rear wheels shod with Hoosier Racing rubber.

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[itsworn]

Dyno Day: Trick Flow 270 Mopar Heads

If you’ve been following Car Craft’s Mopar 470 testing, you’ll remember that in the Feb. 2017 issue, we hit 700 hp while testing various rocker-arm ratios. In the May 2017 issue, we moved up to 720 hp after installing a Mopar intake that Wilson Manifolds ported for us. Our conclusion after the intake test was that head-port size was holding us back from making more power. Evidently, someone heard our plea; a short time later, we learned that Trick Flow had released a large-port 270cc head for the Mopar big-block engines. One phone call to Summit Racing, and a set of spanking-new heads arrived on our doorstep.

The Trick Flow 270 heads have a 2.63×1.34-inch Max Wedge port size with 25 percent more cross-section area than the 240cc head, which should allow our 470-inch engine to breathe easier and make more power, especially in the higher-rpm range. One issue with the larger port size is the limited selection of Max Wedge–size intake manifolds available for the Chrysler 400 engine. The only intake we could find was one from Indy Cylinder Heads, so we called our friends at Mancini Racing and got one on the way. If you’re using the taller 440 block, you’ll find quite a few Max Wedge intake manifolds available, including single four-barrel intakes and more exotic fare such as cross rams and box rams.

For this round of testing, we decided to build a new short-block because our existing 470-inch engine wasn’t designed to handle the power we anticipated making with the larger heads. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to build a Mopar stroker engine these days, thanks to a large number of vendors selling high-quality parts. With just a few phone calls, we had custom pistons on order from JE and a crankshaft and connecting-rods kit coming from Molnar. We reused the top end of the engine to keep things as consistent as possible. Once we had the parts on hand, we turned them over to the team at Gray’s Automotive in McMinnville, Oregon. They build these 470 engines on a regular basis, so they were able to machine the 400 block and put the short-block together without any issues.

We decided to use a dry-sump oiling system for this engine to increase power and improve durability. A dry-sump system is more complicated than a typical wet-sump design, but running the oil through an external tank provides better temperature control and reduces the amount of air trapped in the oil. In short, a dry-sump system provides a way to deliver high-quality oil to the bearings at the correct temperature and pressure, which helps the engine live longer.

Once we had the short-block squared away, we got the engine up on the dyno for the comparison tests. The first runs were made with the original Trick Flow 240 heads to verify where our baseline was. The best power we had seen with the previous short-block was 718 hp using the 240 heads with the Wilson intake. With the new short-block, the baseline moved up to 725 hp using the same camshaft, intake manifold, carburetor, and cylinder heads. So even though we had changed the entire short-block, our engine was repeating within 1 percent of its previous results, which gave us some confidence in our testing process. The slight increase in power is most likely due to the pan vacuum created by the dry-sump oil system, but we haven’t verified that yet.

After the 240 baseline test, we swapped the Trick Flow 270 heads. The intake surface on the 270 heads was extended by roughly half an inch from that of 240 heads, so a different intake gasket design was required. The extended intake surface sealed to a solid valley plate with RTV silicone, and the intake manifold sealed to the heads with a paper gasket. Trick Flow recommends the Fel-Pro No. 1218 intake gasket. This intake gasket is 0.060-inch thick, which might create an issue if the block was decked below factory height, so port alignment needs to be verified on a new build.

We started the 270 tests with the Indy intake manifold, but after just a few pulls, we concluded that the Indy intake wasn’t an ideal match for this engine. The engine was missing some lower-end torque and the top-end power was a little ragged. We still had the Wilson-ported intake from the 240 test, so we swapped that back on to see how it would do. The Wilson intake had smaller ports than the Indy intake, but the engine responded with more power down low and the curve up top smoothed out nicely. Best power with the Wilson intake was 751 hp, picking up 50 hp more than our best numbers previously recorded. The next step is to send the Indy intake to Wilson Manifolds to be ported. Once the intake is back, we’ll get this 470 back on the dyno to see if we can pick up some more power. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Engine Details

Chrysler 400 block with Molnar 3.91-inch crankshaft and 6.700-inch connecting rods JE pistons, Trick Flow 270cc heads with K-Motion K-950 springs Comp Cams 264/268 solid roller with HXL and HXX lobes Jesel beltdrive and distributor Machine work, engine assembly, and dyno testing was performed by Gray’s Automotive in McMinnville, OR

Here is Paul Roberts from Gray’s Automotive swapping heads on our 470-inch Mopar. We used the pump-gas Mopar stroker engine to run back-to-back tests with the Trick Flow 240 and 270 heads.

The new Trick Flow 270 heads have Max Wedge–sized intake ports measuring 2.630×1.340 inches. Airflow at 0.700 lift is up 5 percent from the 240 heads, going from 334 cfm to 352.

The port size in the 240 heads was quite a bit smaller at 2.270×1.230 inches. Shown here with a 270 intake gasket, the size difference is significant.

The 270 heads use a competition porting process with a small CNC step over, which gives the 270 heads a much smoother surface finish than the 240 heads. The chamber size is 78 cc for both heads.

Our 470-inch short-block uses a Chrysler 400 block with a 3.91-stroke crank. The JE pistons have a small dish to keep the compression at a pump-gas-friendly 11 to 1.

The rotating assembly for our 470-inch Mopar includes the Molnar crank and rods, as well as the JE pistons and a set of chamfered and coated main bearings from Hughes Engines. The final bob weight was 2,065 grams, which is very light for a steel-rod Mopar big-block.

This is a dry-sump engine, so a few things are different from a normal wet-sump design. The oil pan is a low-profile, four-sump design carved out of billet. The dipstick hole is sealed with an aluminum plug and an inlet plate replaces the oil pump.

The Mancini Racing inlet plate provides a mounting point for the pump bracket and a No. 12 AN inlet fitting.

Comp Cams provided the trick, dual-taper pushrods and the 961-16 solid roller lifters. These lifters provide through-pushrod oiling for our rocker arms.

We worked with T&D to develop these 1.65-ratio shaft-mount rockers for our 240 heads. They bolted on perfectly to the 270 heads, so we’re using them again. Gross valve lift with these rockers is 0.730 inch, but net valve lift after lash and deflection is right at 0.700 inch.

The T&D rocker arms splash a fair amount of oil inside the cover since they are oiled through the pushrod and the block via the rocker stands. We should’ve restricted the oil coming from the block since we are using pushrod oiling.

The 240 heads were run with a solid valley cover and a set of aluminum “bat wings” to hold the intake gaskets in place. This is the best approach we’ve found so far to keep the intake gaskets properly aligned.

After making a few pulls with the 240 heads, the short-block was stripped down to make way for the 270 heads. The short-block didn’t seem to have any issues, so we changed the head gaskets and bolted the 270 heads in place.

Paul lays down a thick bead of RTV on the valley cover to provide a seal to the 270 head. The 270 heads have an extended intake face that overlaps the valley cover and provides a tight seal.

As the 270 heads are torqued in place, it’s good to see the RTV is evenly squeezed out along the entire length of the valley plate. The 270 head reuses all of the 240 hardware, including head bolts, rocker-arm studs, rocker-arms, and pushrods.

Since the 270 heads use a Max Wedge–size intake port, we ordered an Indy 400-3 intake from Mancini Racing. The Indy intake was down on power, so we’re going to send it off to Wilson for some porting magic.

The ports on the cast Indy intake had some irregular shapes, which might have been a factor in how it performed.

In search of a good baseline number, we installed the Wilson-prepped Mopar Performance intake. The Wilson intake has small runners, but it worked well enough for us to see 751 peak horsepower.

The ports in the Wilson intake are smaller than the intake gasket, but the ports are smooth and uniform, which could be why it worked so well.

The small-port Wilson intake was stronger down low and a little smoother up top on the 270 heads.

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Building a 460CI Ford Windsor

Modern computer controls make bolting up a power-adder easier than ever before. But sometimes you need to go old school and make your horsepower the old-fashioned way: with all-American cubic inches.

The easiest way to manufacture big inches is to go with a big-block, but depending on the car, installing a big-block can cause some pretty big headaches. Swapping a big-block into a Ford with a factory small-block requires at least changing the motor mounts as well as the bellhousing, not to mention the ,myriad other issues that can pop up when switching engine families.

The other option is to maximize a small-block with additional bore and stroke. When Doug Aitken, owner of Prestige Motorsports in Concord, North Carolina, recently told us they were building a 460ci Ford Windsor with nearly all shelf-stock parts, we knew we had to get in on it.

The final displacement of 460 inches was no accident, because it’s an important designation among the Blue Oval crowd: The 460 was the biggest version of Ford’s 385 series big-blocks. It was produced from 1968–1997 and showed up in everything from Lincoln Continentals to work trucks and motorhomes. It was around long enough that the first versions were carbureted, while the last were updated with fuel injection. No matter how the fuel was delivered, the 460 never seemed to live up to the potential of its massive displacement. Street versions of the engine produced as much as 365 hp, which isn’t much to brag about, but during the smog era it was choked all the way down to an absolutely pitiful 208.

On the dyno, we never saw Prestige’s version of the 460 make as little as 208 hp anywhere in the rpm range. In fact, when they started the pull at 3,400 rpm, the horsepower was already at 341 and climbing fast. We saw a peak of just over 660 hp, but had they extended the dyno pull beyond 6,400 rpm, that number would have likely gone even higher. What we really like about this engine is the fantastic torque production that comes from the long stroke. By 4,000 rpm, it had exceeded 500 lb-ft of torque and it never dropped below 500 until they ended the run at 6,400 rpm.

Prestige says this engine will be going into a 1970 Mustang, and the owner wanted to significantly up the power while keeping the original balance and feel. Stuffing a 4.250-inch stroke into a small-block means this engine is no screamer, but having all that torque on tap practically anywhere in the rpm range should make the Mustang a ton of fun to drive.

The finished product looks sharp for a Ford Windsor, but there’s no clue this small-block is packing 460 ci.

The basis for this build is a new, tall-deck Dart SHP iron-block. Besides the 9.500-inch deck height, this block was ordered with a 4.125-inch bore. In stock form, the SHP block can handle stroke all the way up to 4.250 inches. ARP studs were chosen to help maintain good cylinder-head seal.

Comp Cams provided the solid roller cam with 265/274 duration at 0.050 lift. When combined with a set of 1.6:1-ratio Jesel rockers, intake valve lift measures 0.694 inch and 0.697 inch for the exhausts. The Dart SHP block utilizes standard Windsor main journals, and those are King’s coated XP main bearings in place in the saddles.

Prestige chose a forged crank from Scat Enterprises that bumps the stroke to 4.250 inches, up from 3.500 inches in a stock 351. Here, you can see the Mallory metal required to get the rotating assembly balanced while still limiting the counterweight height.

One of the many benefits of Dart’s SHP block is the four-bolt steel main caps that come standard. After dropping the crank in place and ensuring at least 0.006 inch of thrust bearing clearance, the main bolts are torqued to 105 ft-lbs for the inner bolts and 65 for the outers.

To keep the compression down to a pump-gas-friendly 10.6:1, Prestige worked with JE Pistons to come up with a custom set of lightweight forged pistons with the correct dish to help keep the compression down despite the long stroke.

Matched to the pistons is a set of 0.043/0.043-inch and 3.0mm low-tension piston rings with a steel nitride top ring gapped to 0.022 inch.

To go with the JE pistons, Prestige ordered a set of 6.250-inch Eagle H-beam rods with the big ends sized to Chevy-size 2.100 inches to minimize drag.

The Dart SHP block handled the 4.155-inch-diameter pistons easily. We’re told this block can be bored out to an impressive 4.185 inches.

The cylinder heads are a set of AFR’s Competition Cylinder Head. This cast-aluminum head is purpose-built for small-block Fords that require a lot of air. The large 220cc intake ports flow almost 300 cfm by the time the valves reach 0.500-inch lift and keep going up from there. Both the intake and exhaust ports, as well as the combustion chambers, are CNC-machined for maximum flow and consistency from port to port.

Even though the heads arrived with CNC work already done on the ports, Prestige still port-matched the heads to the Edelbrock Super Victor intake manifold.

The combustion chambers measure 72cc and were fitted with stainless-steel valves sized at 2.100 and 1.570 inches.

Prestige ordered AFR’s upgraded valvespring package that’s comprised of these PAC Racing springs that can handle up to 0.710-inch lift with 220 pounds of pressure at installed height and 603 in-lb at full lift. AFR says they are good for 7,400 rpm, which is way more than the engine builder will recommend with all the stroke this engine will have.

We’ve already mentioned ARP head studs are being used to ensure optimum clamping load. Fel-Pro head and intake gaskets are also used to promote good sealing.

BAM pressurized roller lifters might look like overkill for a street engine, but the staff at Prestige says they’ve seen good results with the design when it comes to performance and reliability.

A big-inch stroker can’t get by with the stock damper. Apart from its unique look, Prestige likes using dampers from Innovators West because they work well, are SFI certified, and the aluminum outer shell helps minimize rotating weight. Because the engine is internally balanced, this is a neutral-balance harmonic damper. Also, notice the 7-quart gated oil pan from Canton Racing Products, with the front-sump positioned to fit the 1970 Mustang’s crossmember. Stroker motors are notorious for whipping the oil into a froth when using a stock pan, so a deep pan with a windage tray is always a good idea.

A shaft-mount valvetrain may seem like overkill, but when you can source a full set of Jesel aluminum Sportsman Series shaft rockers for a little over a grand, it’s hard to turn down the trouble-free service they will provide. The rocker stands are torqued to 24 ft-lb and the valves are lashed to 0.010/0.010-inch cold. Once everything is properly warmed up on the dyno, the hot lash will be set to 0.020 inch for both intake and exhaust valves.

The 5/16-inch-diameter pushrods from Trend Performance were custom-made to 8.100 inches long.

Because this stroker should already make enough torque to roast the tires at practically any rpm, Prestige owner Doug Aitken chose a single-plane Edelbrock Super Victor intake to boost top-end power. Single-plane intakes are always sexy—just make sure you either have enough clearance ahead of time or are willing to cut a hole in your hood.

A March Performance Pro-Track accessory drive system looks great while integrating the included water pump, alternator, and polished power-steering pump and reservoir. Because Ford made multiple options over the years, March even includes the correct front cover for you to use.

Fuel-mixing duties are handled by a Quick Fuel Q-Series 950-cfm carburetor. Besides the billet metering blocks and clear-sight glasses in the float bowls, the Q-Series carbs are a great option for cars that see miles on the street and regular blasts down the dragstrip.

On the dyno, the small-block 460 has a great rumble at low-rpm levels and pulls hard all the way to Prestige’s 6,400-rpm redline. The heads showed no sign of running out of air and the valvetrain could definitely handle more rpm, but long-stroke engines like this Ford—which is swinging the pistons 4.250 inches each way—don’t handle high rpm well for long, so a recommended redline is set at just less than 6,500 rpm.

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