That brings us to the engine in Brian's photos...finally!
As I began research into which direction I wanted to go, I laid out the parameters of what I wanted. The street conversion had entailed adding a little weight to the Valiant, as well as a milder gear (4.30 to 3.89), and a tighter, more efficient converter (8 inch J&W, 4200 behind the 3.79 stroke, and a pleasure on the street), So I wanted more torque. Going from the 3.79 to a 4 inch just really didn't seem to be enough to justify a new rotating assembly. Then I read Dave Verna's masterfully written and photographed "430 inch small block build" on Moparts, and found a path I could definitely follow!
Weeks later I told my brother Dale, who owed me money from a car of mine he had sold, "Why don't you just call Rod at BPE and tell him I want the DJVCuda rotating assembly, in a 4.070 bore". Dave's engine had cranked out 627HP at 6500, and 560 ft/lbs of torque at 5000. Numbers I'd definitely be happy with except for a few caveats. The MCH Eddies and the roller cam. My X block has solid lifter bore bushings, and I want to stay with a flat tappet cam, also I felt that the Eddies are just a little small for this kind of engine.
As I knocked around ideas for a top end, researching the W and Indy stuff, Bryce Mulvey published his "new Airwolf 220 tested on a pump gas 408" thread on Moparts. While ordinarily the Word "New" would have scared me off immediately, I was intrigued with the build, the 633 HP at 6500, and 562 ft/lbs of torque at 5000 definitely caught my eye. Once again the presence of a healthy roller cam gave me rise to be cautious, but I began to think, with the Airwolf heads, on a BPE 428 shortblock, could I get comparable numbers with less cam?
I finally got Bryce on the phone, and ordered the heads, along with a beehive spring upgrade for the 3 steps bigger Hughes flat tappet I had in mind.
While I waited for my parts, I took the block to a co-worker who does machine work part time in his garage and had him bore and deck the block. Then I went to Drag Week 2013 with my beater 66 Satellite while I waited on the parts even longer!
