I immersed myself in everything Small Block on Moparts, trying to crack the code or wriggle my way into this seemingly secret society. I read DJVCuda's awesome 430 build thread, followed the Bryce Mulvey Air Wolf 408 thread, and revisited IMM Brian's Pump gas 620HP build in Car Craft. Ole buddy J-Body's trials with the W-5 stuff also weighed into my outlook, as well as some of the first hand conversations I'd had with users of Indy -2, and -1 heads, and some of their problem with leaking, and casting flaws. Building another set of headers was really a road I didn't want to go down right now, and I cannot abide dealing with leaky castings or valvetrain issues...that stuff drives me crazy, especially on a street car.

I've ran standard port, solid cam big blocks most of my life, because I just didn't want the added expense of a roller cam, and offset rocker systems. The 2 BB Indy-1 engines I have now are equipped with Jesel's on one, and T&D's on the other, so I understand how much it REALLY costs to step up to those heads with the valvetrain involved, I wasn't ready for that commitment to the smallblock! So, the rough draft of a 10.5 to 1 427-430 inch engine, with a standard style head, either max ported Eddie RPM's or AirWolfs, began to take shape in my thoughts.

Saturday, March 30th, The Wife, and Grandson decided they wanted to go out for breakfast, so we once again loaded up in the Belvedere for the trip. On the way back, we pulled up to a stoplight, and a huge black F250 Powerstroke 4x4, jacked to the moon with monster mudders, pulled along the passenger's side. The Grandson looked over, and is breath caught, "LOOK PAPA, that's a big truck!" his arm immediately shot out the window and he gave the thumbs up that he was already getting used to. The F-250 owner chuckled and leaned his head out the window, "That sure is a nice Hot Rod you have there, young man!" The Grandson shot back a quick "Thanks" as the people behind us honked as the light had apparently changed. I was a beaming grandpa as we drove away, knowing I had already infused a little car culture into the youngster with just 2 outings!