Sorry it took so long!!

Well....some of you know me better than others....those who know a little of my personal life know I pulled the hard running 383 from my Vette over three years ago and the car has sat dormant since waiting for a new powerplant.

While the first 18 - 24 months probably have to do more with delays in getting the new AFR 245 heads into production, I knew two things going into this build.....one it would be at least 447 CID.....two that I would run the new AFR 245's I played a large role in designing. I guess the good news about all the internal delays at AFR was knowing this project was destined for my next build, I had the opportunity to keep "playing" with the port and chamber designs quietly searching for more flow....some of this after hours on my time....some of this on AFR time in between other R&D projects. First I was shooting for mid 340's (CFM).....then, given more delays and time I said why not try for 350's....you get the picture. When the smoke cleared AFR ended up with a pretty bad-azz cathedral head flowing mid 350's right out of the box and a strong exhaust port to compliment that intake flow.

Now some of you guys are probably thinking that the 245's were released quite awhile and that would be true. The additional delays in the completion of this project was all me.....mainly due to my decision to place a higher priority on customer's engine builds (and other special head and manifold projects) than my own. Not complaining...its comes with the territory I guess.....the classic shoe maker who wears shoes with worn out soles. Anyway, it was about time for my own "shoes" and here is a couple of pics of the project nearing its dyno date in less than a week. Over the years it also grew a little with the final displacement coming in at 454.....the iconic BBC figure back in the day and one of the main reasons I was drawn to it, not to mention bigger would allow me to "trade away" some torque down low that I would have an abundance of anyway in search of torque up high (aka horsepower). Call the extra seven cubes another small perk of the delay.....had too much time to think (and "454" just rolls off the tongue a little sweeter!)

Anyway, don't have much time now but as I said I wanted to post a few pics. To be honest I'm embarrassed to admit I almost spent as much time planning the aesthetics of this build as I did the individual components. LS engines in general just never seemed look as good as a well thought out old school SBC/BBC platform that you could easily spend time detailing with good results and I was determined to do something a little different yet have it look as if it could have been a special high performance GM crate engine option (I tend to like understated but highly detailed executions that look very "OEM" if you will). Anyway....I got the look I was after and hopefully it runs the part as well....we will find out soon enough. In short, it's a pump gas hydraulic roller motor that I expect good street manners from and hopefully flirting with 700 HP at the end of the day with over 600 ft/lbs thru the meat of what should be a wide flat torque curve.

I have numerous different tidbits in this build that make it unique and add a bit of the wild card to the equation (wild card as it could be a good move or it could be a bad move....LOL), but at the end of the day personal builds are the ones you can push the envelope a bit and try some things. You can always go back and fix something that may not have worked out as hoped for and have no one to answer to but yourself....if you did hit a homer you could consider including the same in a customers build down the road....if it's a flop you learned something, rectify it and move on.

Anyway....enough dialogue....enjoy the photos....will post results in the dyno section next week hopefully



















Cheers,
Tony

 

this is a beauty. Sometimes I just want to have one sitting in the house instead the engine bay. Another one from the best! cant wait for the #s!!

 

But I still like sex better

 

Looks real nice......care to put out your estimates for what it will make? Engine dyno or chassis dyno?

 

wow...

 

Very Nice!

 

looks great.I like the way the vac pump is driven.is it a reworked stock gm smog pump?

 

i have always liked the red coil packs on a black valve cover. this was the last pic i needed to see for me to decide to paint mine red, and do the valve covers black. i personally like the unfinished look of the bare FAST intake, but that is one sexy motor!

 

A true thing of beauty. Would look even better sitting in my engine bay

 

Very Nice!

 

Hey Tony,
Whats the round about size on the cam? Not asking for " top secret specs"...Does it really need the vacuum pump?

 

Tony, if the head flows around 355cfm what does the FAST intake manifold flow? When bolted to the head is there much of a drop in flow?

 

Expectations running high and I am sure will exceed all. Lookin good!

 

Wow, just wow. I've been scrolling through those pics and my heart is still fluttering. I showed this to a girl that I work with that drifts a 300TT ZX that dreams of putting a motor like this in her car to drift with. Slowly but surely I'm turning her to the American LS muscle side, and builds like this only help put the nail in the coffin.

Can't wait to see those dyno numbers!!!

 

 

That is a nice looking engine

 

Unbelievable, that thing is a work of art. I want one

 

Gary,

Its actually a GZ Motorsports kit.....(I carefully masked off and painted part of the pump body black and polished the supplied pulley).

It's their Sportsman series pump which is a modified OEM air pump (teflon lined rotors etc.). They offer a Pro kit with a larger pump that is built from an aftermarket housing but its larger in size and doesn't package as well in my Vette (you have to change the OEM coolant tank to make room for the larger pump). This engine should seal up well and the fact its a wetsump engine means I would be limiting the amount of vacuum anyway so I felt the Sportsman pump would work just fine in my application.

Regarding whether I "need" it or not (someone else asked about that), do we really need more power?....LOL I did run a lighter thinner ring in this engine to try and free up some power in reduced frictional losses so the pump might be beneficial in terms of oil control. At the end of the day if its worth another 10 HP or so at this level the money and time invested justify those gains. It becomes increasingly more difficult to find 5 and 10 HP increases (normally aspirated at least) once you covered most of your bases as I usually do. And finding that extra power thru a camshaft means you sacrificed some lower RPM torque, drivability, and fuel economy from increased overlap of the larger cam lobes.

Speaking of cam this engine has a little less than you might guess.....I kept intake and exhaust in the low 250's in an effort to make it a better package from the standpoint of drivability. Truthfully it was painful selecting a grind for this engine knowing I wanted to put up as big a number as possible but knowing at the end of the day I'm the one that has to live with my decision and I prefer a powerful package that you can actually enjoy driving. Of course that usually dictates a little less cam than one you might put in a Friday night street bullet. Basically I took the same approach with this build as I do most of my builds....try to focus on airflow and efficiency and hit ALL the small details (perfect ring gap, cylinder wall sizing and finish, bearing clearance, focusing on windage loss reduction, degreed cam, lifter preload, pushrod selection, etc.) agonizing over every painstaking detail of the assembly and parts selection and by doing so you're not going to need to rely on as big cam to put up a number.

At the end of the day I wanted a larger more powerful version of my 383.....that was a great little engine....drove very well around town where you didn't have to pay any penalties to own it (except the fuel bill perhaps and even that was reasonable) but when you hammered on it that engine shrieked to redline with the ferocity of an engine you would never think could be that docile.

Thanks for all the positive comments guys....will handle a few of the other questions asked a little later!

-Tony

 

Great Answer!!! Thanks for the reply, im sure its going to be a beast. I once faced the same challenge, do I want a nice street car or a weekend racecar...then I realized high compression, ridiculous cam, roll cage, chattery clutch, and loud exhaust made that decision for me. So I sold it LOL

 

Definitely looks worthy of Vader. Maybe you can have Han Solo provide the commentary on a street vid again, lol. Great build, I can't wait to see the results. By the way, what coilpacks do you have mounted?