More Power! It's the hot rodder's mantra. If you've got 250 hp, you want 300. If you've got 500, you want 750. It's a hot rodder's nature to go just a little bit faster or quicker than the other guy. This is especially true if the other guy drives a Ford, Mopar, or--best of all--a Honda. To feed this thirst for more Bow Tie power, we've come up with several power combinations that will help light your fire.
We've broken these down into six solid power combos for a small-block and a couple of big-block deals. Yeah, we know, that's actually 8--we couldn't resist giving you more than advertised. This year we're also doing this a little differently by mixing in several engine combinations from some of the best professional engine builders in the country. We polled companies like American Speed, Golen Engine Service, and Scott Shafiroff Racing Engines. We've given you the whole range of power options from mild street engines that would make excellent street cruisers to a couple of big-inch small- and big-blocks that would thump on all but the baddest street engines. This includes a look at a bruiser 434ci Mouse motor and a 540ci Rat, both of which should make the tire companies salivate.
In the interest of brevity, we're going to skip the torque specs and the bearing clearances and concentrate on the components that create the power curve. The details will include cylinder heads, compression, cam specs, intake manifold, carburetor, and header specifics. Also keep in mind that the only way to be guaranteed that you will make the power attributed to these engines is to duplicate them exactly. Change the cam, heads, or any other component and the power will change. Of course, it's also possible to use a better cylinder head than the one recommended and the power will increase. But this involves ensuring that the head you choose is indeed better. The beauty of these combinations is that you don't have to do anything except clone what's been done. Or, you could make it even easier and buy one of these engines. Either way, there are several ways to go depending on how much you want to spend and how badly you want to barbeque your rear tires. Either way, it'll be fun. We guarantee it.
Check 'em out in the sidebars below.