Well it started out as a GM short block. It is the foundation of the engine I currently use. When I first
bought the short block it had a hydraulic roller camshaft, and flat top pistons. I installed a set of Cast
Iron Merlin heads on it and put it in the car. Hoping for greatness it was a very big disappointment. It
was a second off of where my 496 was running. I only gave that a few weekends until I started
changing things. The camshaft was the first thing, and then I changed to a tighter converter, finally
got within a half a second of where I thought it should be. I then decided to switch it to alcohol. That
made a big difference, but it was still a few tenths off of where the 496 would run. The only thing
really left was compression. I did nothing for a couple of seasons as the car was consistent and I
did not want to go that deep into the still practically new engine. After a few years on it I located
some .004 over pistons that had the compression I wanted and tore the beast down and freshened
it up with the new pistons and converted the Hydraulic roller camshaft to a conventional roller set up
with a significant increase in lift. This combination ended up going a little quicker than the 496 ever
did. And on gas. The quickest et's the 496 ever seen was on alcohol. It was a year later after talking
countless times with Reher Morrison that I broke down and bought a set of their CNC 335 Dart
Aluminum heads. They told me I would pick up 4 tenths. I was skeptical, but Let me tell ya, they
were right on the money, even before any carb tunning. The car went the best of a 9.22 with that
combination. But it had to be run on race fuel. That gets to be not so cool trying to drive on the street
all the time. Below is a video of back then at Wichita International Raceway.
bought the short block it had a hydraulic roller camshaft, and flat top pistons. I installed a set of Cast
Iron Merlin heads on it and put it in the car. Hoping for greatness it was a very big disappointment. It
was a second off of where my 496 was running. I only gave that a few weekends until I started
changing things. The camshaft was the first thing, and then I changed to a tighter converter, finally
got within a half a second of where I thought it should be. I then decided to switch it to alcohol. That
made a big difference, but it was still a few tenths off of where the 496 would run. The only thing
really left was compression. I did nothing for a couple of seasons as the car was consistent and I
did not want to go that deep into the still practically new engine. After a few years on it I located
some .004 over pistons that had the compression I wanted and tore the beast down and freshened
it up with the new pistons and converted the Hydraulic roller camshaft to a conventional roller set up
with a significant increase in lift. This combination ended up going a little quicker than the 496 ever
did. And on gas. The quickest et's the 496 ever seen was on alcohol. It was a year later after talking
countless times with Reher Morrison that I broke down and bought a set of their CNC 335 Dart
Aluminum heads. They told me I would pick up 4 tenths. I was skeptical, but Let me tell ya, they
were right on the money, even before any carb tunning. The car went the best of a 9.22 with that
combination. But it had to be run on race fuel. That gets to be not so cool trying to drive on the street
all the time. Below is a video of back then at Wichita International Raceway.
The "502"...
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