I got this email right before Christmas, thought I share it. The story behind the email is that one of our customers duplicated the engine I use in my car. It's nearly identical everyplace, with about half a point less compression. He got it finished up and carried it to a local shop, who was run by an "old timer" who is a "Chevy Guy". Even before they made pulls on the engine, he was getting "bashed" pretty hard by the shop owner, and a few others in attendence. Specifically, the shop owner wanted him to take off the Q-jet we sent him for the engine and put on his "custom tuned" HP series Holley carburetor. He told my customer that he's seen all sorts of Q-jets used on his dyno over the years, and even custom built ones were basically "turds" for what he was trying to do. Anyhow, here's the email, enjoy: Hi Cliff, I thought you might like a picture of one of your beautiful carbs sitting on this nasty 468. Twas the night before the dyno session and all thru the house, not a creature was stirring... And the next day on the last and best two pulls, peak tq. was 604 ft.lbs.at 3900 rpm, and the best hp pull was 552 at 5500 rpm. SD ported KRE heads flowing around 297 cfm, RPM intake, SD Old Faithful cam, 10.5:1 cr., crank scraper, 30 degrees total timing, and Cliff's 800 cfm q-jet. There were a couple of other brand boys there that were so shocked, I thought we were going to have to dial 911. The dyno guy walked out into the shop and says...604 ft. lbs. with a Q-Jet, can you believe it ???!!! The only thing we had to do to the carb was adjust the idle speed and lean the APT 1/4 turn! Thanks Cliff!!!
I would love for someone to take an engine like that and have it run at various shops. There are a lot of guys out there that are the local "experts" that need some education!!! Those boys will be careful what they say in the future!
"What engine is that? Pontiac? Any specs on the internals? Great dyno results." Yes, Pontiac 455, built from a 400 block with a stroker crankshaft. Same basic deal as a standard 455 with a 3" main bearing instead of 3.25". Nothing fancy with the shortblock, just stronger than stock rods and better pistons with zero deck height. The crank in that build was an Eagle cast steel stroker, displacement 467cid. The cam is a custom grind, 292/308, 236/245/112, Hydraulic Roller with .381" lobes. The heads are KRE aluminum "D" ports, ported and set-up by Dave Bishop at SD Performance. The Buick 455 is actually a better foundation for making big HP than the Pontiac. The Pontiac is an undersquare design, fed by pretty small heads (cross-section). They do use pretty long rods in them, 6.625". Doesn't mean they woln't make great power, but the rod to stroke ratio and bore to stroke ratio isn't as good as the Buick engine. I'm really not a brand specific guy, V-8 engines have round holes with round pistons moving up and down in them. It's the total combination of parts that make for a good end result, regardless of the brand. NONE of them will make great power without good flowing heads, and you don't need tennis ball sized ports like the BBC's to make great power!:TU: ......Cliff
