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500 RWHP 346 Pump Gas engine (w/ only a 229' camshaft!!)
Guys,
Awhile back I posted about my latest and greatest cathedral heads for a 3.900 bore engine....my new MMS 227X heads which are essentially slightly reworked versions of my 220 heads that Darth V8R and a handful of others rocked some good number with.
I was confident these heads in optimized trim could generate over 500 RWHP with a camshaft less than 230 degrees @ .050 (on pump gas of course). Something street friendly with good manners and a really broad torque and power curve besides the big peak number I was looking for.
One of my customers finally got one together that accomplished just that and the peak torque this combination produced was excellent as well (in fact the best I have seen to date with a pump gas 346....this engine is only 11.37 to 1 compression btw)
Check out the final power and torque curve (the tuning shop said this was the best N/A 346 they have ever had on their dyno btw).
504 RWHP / and almost 455 RWTQ (These are very solid numbers for a healthy 6.0 build IMO)
Car is a very clean 02' Camaro SS and I forgot to mention it has 4.10 gears as well (this thing would have seen 510 ish with the stock ring and pinion ratio!)
Quick rundown of the parts in this build
OEM 346 shortblock
MMS 227X heads milled to achieve 11.37 w/ .040 gasket
MMS custom grind cam 229 / 235 @ .050 114 LSA
Johnson 2116 LSR lifters
MMS Ported Melling pump
MMS Ported 102 FAST intake
Yella Terra Ultralite rockers 1.7 ratio
Mamo lightweight RPS clutch assembly (Steel wheel)
C5 repro 18" X 10.5" rims w/ Nitto NT05 tires (a fairly heavy tire/wheel combo also)
I believe the car has 1.875 headers but need to defer to the owner on that who will be chiming in soon
Really happy with these results....I was confident these type of numbers were attainable based simply off what I achieved with my own C5 Vette 20 years ago with parts that were excellent in their day but not as good as what Im producing now.
The new stuff Im shipping is even more efficient and moves larger volumes of air on both intake and exhaust and still has excellent velocity. There is better manifold availability now....better cam lobe profiles etc.
Hell the old timers here might remember I made 475 RWHP with a smaller 224 cam back then.....435 ish torque but I also spent alot of time dialing that car in....alot of time. Even those numbers still look good today factoring in the very street friendly 224 stick (that build had one of the first sets of AFR 205's I designed back in the day)
The curves this engine produced are excellent....torque carries for a long way and peaks fairly late for this sized cam with the heads helping out a bunch in that department.
Anyway....would love to get an idle video and possibly an in car action ripping thru the gears! Will leave that up to the owner to see if he can accommodate us
Any of you reading and thinking about something similar don't hesitate to reach out.....I have a decent amount of inventory in my 227 X heads at the moment....lead times would be pretty reasonable
Those numbers, that curve, and I bet it drives nice too. Damn fine work, as expected. If GM were smart, they'd hire you to put together GM Performance upgrade packages and sell them at dealers.
I remember your C5 Tony. That was a car ahead of its time. It was a beast. I think most guys today would be happy with 11.20s@125mph, and still get 25mpg. This new motor thats at 500+whp.....Wow, impressive with the smallish cam, too.....
Those numbers, that curve, and I bet it drives nice too. Damn fine work, as expected. If GM were smart, they'd hire you to put together GM Performance upgrade packages and sell them at dealers.
My wife has been telling me the same thing for a decade (why don't you work for GM).
But after living in California for 25 years I wouldn't have been be able to deal with the Detroit weather or I might have applied for the job! (Lets face it, the weather is the only good thing about this State!!)
Im happy doing what Im doing to be honest....I get to mix it up alot more this way also as I end up designing so many different types of combinations (alot of which don't even make it to this forum as I still do alot of old school 24' BBC and 23' Gen 1 SBC combinations as well.....for marine and cars).
Anyway for you guys already looking for performance metrics, the customer didnt even get to drive the car yesterday !!
Hopefully he drove it today for the first time but lets give him some time to get acclimated with the new engine and clutch package. if he lived close by and let me I would love to rip a pass or two in this thing but that's not the situation.
That said consider how many other 346 combo's came before this one at the shop that ran the chassis dyno (hundreds likely)....the facts its the best one they have tested says alot.
How fast it is at the track depends on weather, driver, track prep, tires and wheels.....you guys know the deal.
Im sure its going to be an incredibly fun ride and it wont be a bear to drive around town either.....the have your cake and eat it to combination in most aspects
Is it inexpensive to re-create....of course not but its not ridiculous either.
Any one seriously interested can give me a call as there are lots of options when it comes to putting these things together so pricing can vary based on what we end up ordering.
This wasn't even a max effort example of this combination but it certainly had alot of good parts that all worked well together
Catch you guys later....hopefully the owner chimes in soon
WOW. great numbers !....I hate to say... but my heads are still sitting waiting for more $$$$ to get the rest of the package....I forgot to ask you what numbers you think my setup would be .....the cam in that package is not the same as mine is it?
I also forgot to ask what lifters you recommend....i want a link bar setup.....are the johnsons he used a good idea or something else ?
WOW. great numbers !....I hate to say... but my heads are still sitting waiting for more $$$$ to get the rest of the package....I forgot to ask you what numbers you think my setup would be .....the cam in that package is not the same as mine is it?
I also forgot to ask what lifters you recommend....i want a link bar setup.....are the johnsons he used a good idea or something else ?
Call or email me.....I don't even know who you are!
I remember your C5 Tony. That was a car ahead of its time. It was a beast. I think most guys today would be happy with 11.20s@125mph, and still get 25mpg. This new motor thats at 500+whp.....Wow, impressive with the smallish cam, too.....
My camaro literally does all of that with stock 853 heads and a old futral 228/232 camshaft from over a decade ago. Trapped 124 at 11.1 and got 25mpg on a 12 hour road trim in july with the AC on at 80mph
Hello, I am the customer with this build. I have yet to drive the car. We are sorting out a part throttle cruise issue on the tune. Once that is sorted, I can get some more data for you all. Here is a link for a video showing Idle. I can't thank Tony enough for making this project a success. I did everything that he recommended, and it worked. Everyone who has touched this project from the guys who did the install to the tuner have been more than impressed.
Here is how the car was set up before the mamo package. Old Ported fast 102, nw 102 tb, electric wp, ati underdrive damper, stock heads and valve train, Factory regrind cam, 1 3/4" headers. So, we picked up 91 numbers with the new heads, cam, valvetrain, fresh ported 102 for good measure, rps clutch, and went to 1 7/8" headers.