5.0L Fistfight, part 4 : The Storm Rages On
Okay Car Crafters, stuff just got real. Our 5.0L Fistfight began innocently enough, with a comparison between the stock H.O. 302 Ford and LB9 305 TPI Chevy. Part two brought an array of fuel-injected mods, including TFS aluminum heads, Comp cams, and EFI-specific intakes. We rounded things out in part 3 with the perfect combination of carburetion and nitrous oxide. The use of CNC-ported, 170-cc 11R heads on the Ford allowed it to surge ahead in power production (with no similar heads available for the small-bore 305), but careful tuning in part three allowed the Chevy to make up ground once we added nitrous to the mix. For Chevy fans still complaining about the 11R head swap on the Ford, rest assured the Chevy will exact revenge here in part 4, but you’ll have to wait until the end to find out how. For part four, we decided to introduce boost to the equation by adding a TorqStorm centrifugal supercharger to the mix. In keeping with the spirit of the competition, both the Ford and Chevy received the same supercharger, pulley ratios and blow-through carburetor. How did they do? Let’s find out!
The Forgotten IR Intake Add 29HP And Lose Nothing Else!
The sad truth is, in terms of popularity, the modern Dodge Hemi takes a back seat to GM’s LS motor. If the Chevy is indeed the prom king, think of the Hemi as the guy in a leather jacket and tattoos who just crashed the party. Every bit as fit, the Hemi is just slightly less polished and proper, and real Dodge boys (and girls) would have it no other way. Yep, the Hemi is the bad boy of the bunch, and for good reason. Sporting the most recognizable name in the automotive industry, the modern Hemi had some big shoes to fill. The previous generations racked up countless wins in almost every form of motorsports, the most famous being those Top Fuel rocket ships. Even in stock trim, the 426 Hemis were serious contenders, ranking at or near the top of the performance heap during the original muscle car era. One needs to look no further than the auctions sites at the current pricing of Hemi-powered ’Cudas to see how much value enthusiasts place on the power of the pachyderm.
Testing Boost Theory on a Pair of LS Engines
One of the greatest inventions since the introduction of the internal combustion engine has to be boost. Nothing adds power to a combination like the introduction of some positive pressure, especially when it comes from an efficient twin-screw supercharger like the one we tested from Kenne Bell. Adding modest boost to your engine will transform even the wimpiest LS powerplant. Heck, even boosting a stock engine will offer serious gains, but the real power comes from the combination of boost and performance mods. The very best supercharged engines have something in common, they all started out as powerful naturally aspirated combinations. The more power your engine makes in naturally aspirated trim, the more power it will make under boost. What better way to illustrate our naturally aspirated/boost theory than with the application of boost to a pair of different LS powerplants?
We Swap Parts to Shift the Torque Curve on a 383 Stroker
From a simple math standpoint, making more horsepower requires nothing more than shifting torque production higher in the rev range. It is also possible to simply produce more torque in the same rpm, but with any given displacement, additional torque becomes more and more difficult.
Four Dyno-Proven Ways to Add More Power to Your Mild Big-Block Chevy
A recent trip to the local Pick Your Part wrecking yard revealed row after row of what we like to call possibilities. Under the hood of each and every vehicle in the yard were the makings of a high-performance race engine just begging for a new lease on life. Of course, some would take considerable work to get there while others may never make it. But choose wisely and the rewards can be impressive. When you go looking for power in the yard, it is always best to go big, as in big-block Chevy. In the sea of stock, junkyard engines, bigger certainly means better. Since we planned on running a trio of power-adders on our junkyard “race” engine, we went right for a engine we knew was capable of withstanding both boost and juice. Though earlier Mark IV and Gen V engines are usually available, we zeroed in on the latest and greatest: a Gen VI 454 (7.4L) offered by GM from 1996-’99 (actually into early 2000).