Building A Streetable Supercharged Small Block

Well, the pressure's on today, we'll show you how to build a blown small block right here in the shop

today on horsepower TV,

we'll set out to build the ultimate treatable supercharged small block with the right power ADDers to make this 350 cube motor make an amazing 540 horsepower.

We'll take you to Mississippi for a hot I

hr a divisional shootout

and we'll put the final touches to our 32 Retro Street rod before we take it out for its first road test.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

We got it.

Hi and welcome to the horsepower shop. You know, when it comes to making horsepower for your street machine, there's nothing quite like a super charger

and there's nothing quite like that monstrous aluminum lung for visual impact.

That's right. Whether you have a vicious vega like this or just a pickup that needs more pickup, nothing gets the job done like a blower.

Now, the most common kind is a positive displacement root style that generates boost on demand.

But to use one of these effectively where you first need a solid foundation.

Yeah. And today we're gonna be bolting together a blown small block Chevy 350 that ought to crank out

about 540 horsepower on pump gas. Now, for reliability, we're starting with a four bolt main block that's been machined washed and fitted with these A RP main studs.

This

Liotti steel crank has been lightened on all the throws and the journals have been treated to a full polished job

and radius filets to eliminate any stress risers that could lead to failure.

Now, the oil holes have been champed

to get rid of any sharp edges

and to give us a little bit larger oil footprint on the bearings.

Oh, and check this detail out. The counterweights have been knife edged to cut through the oil in the pan a little bit better and free up a few more horsepower.

The rest of the reciprocating assembly is also from the knotty, including these forage 20 CC reverse dome pistons. Now, these will work with our heads to give us about an 8.5 to 1 compression ratio.

We're gonna hang them on a set of their pro billet rods that have polished side beams, bronze bushings and the small ends and cap screws on the big ends. Now, this is all for extra reliability. After all the increased boost generated by our blower

is gonna increase the strain on our bottom end.

Well, here's something you want to pay a little extra attention to whenever you're assembling a blower motor. Now, I like to run a little more ring clearance here on the end gap than the normal 17 to 20 that you run on most street engines. And that's because the blower puts more heat into the engine and causes the rings to expand just a little bit more. Now, I like to run about 22 to 24 thousands on the top ring and about 20 to 22 thousands on the second ring. That's gonna give them plenty of room to grow

since the blower forces the fuel mixture into your engine. Well, you need a cam shaft with more lift and duration on the exhaust side than the intake to get rid of those combusted gasses. Now, this hydraulic roller specs out at 227 degrees duration on the intake 234 on the exhaust with a lift of 478 and 480 respectively.

Roller cams have a tendency to walk out of the front of the block. So we've added this button to our double roller cam gear and it butts up against the timing cover. Now, on the backside here,

this Torrington bearing will prevent the cam gear from galling. The face of the front cam journal

and oiling system is the lifeblood of any engine

and to help keep our blower motor alive. We're using this moroso high volume pump that has a Heli arc pickup. Now, it works with their seven quart oil pan that has a built in scraper and winded screen to help strip the oil off the crank and reduce parasitic power losses in that area.

Our aluminum heads come from Holly complete with 2021 60 valves that have been treated to a three angle valve job. Of course, they're housed inside the 66 cc combustion chambers.

We like these heads because the ports are large enough to handle the additional flow

and the seat pressure is strong enough to keep the valves closed

even under maximum boost.

Of course, all that boost won't do us any good if we can't keep it contained. So to seal the cylinder heads to the block, we're using these Mr gasket ultra seals. Now, they're a composition gasket

with a steel ring right here next to the board and an elastomer coating to help improve seal. Now, the best part about them though is they never need retorting

and speaking of torque, we're gonna hold the heads in place with these A RP Pro series bolts. Thank

you. All right,

the lifters are next and since we're using a roller cam,

just need to put a little oil on them here to loop them up. Hey, man, would you drop that in? You

gotta tell them something very important.

Always use Molly push rods with guide plates because here's what can happen with regular push rods made of steel, they can wear against the guide plate before you know it. You got metal shavings in your motor. And that's a great tip. Now, we're gonna keep the roller theme going with these 15 rockers.

They are aluminum extrusions with a fully roller

tron and tip. And of course, once we get the valve set,

these poly locks will help us keep those settings.

We'll make sure to keep your poly

lock. We'll be back with more of our supercharged small block right after this.

Later in the show, it's time for spring racing fever. We'll head to Southern Mississippi for an I hr A sportsman event when the competition is fast and furious.

Also, later, we'll button up our 32 street ride before we take her out to pound some pavement. Don't pass this up

for the latest news on horsepower TV. Check us out online at horsepower tv.com.

Hey, welcome back to the shop and our blown small block. Chevy build up. Now while you were gone, we bolted down the intake manifold. That's gonna allow us to mount up that Holly 420 mega blower. And the reason they call it that is because it displaces 420 cubic inches of air with each revolution and with our combination of parts. Well, we're gonna be looking for about seven P si of boost. Now, each one comes with a polished case and these Teflon tipped rotors that allow a little bit tighter case clearance for more efficient boost.

Hey, Joe, check this out

if our blower ever sneezes. Well, this is where all that backed up pressure is gonna go.

Now, this pop off plate is held in place with these springs and they're preloaded by tightening these nuts.

That is a great safety feature. Now I mentioned earlier how a blower puts more heat into the engine. Well, to get rid of some of that heat, we got this high flow aluminum water pump from Wyatt,

that'll do the job. Now, let's go check out our drive setup.

The mega lower

uses an eight millimeter Gilmore Bell drive system with different size pulleys so you can tailor your boost to your application.

Here's how it all goes together.

The accessory drive pulley boats up first to the street damper from Viber Tech.

Then the bottom blower drive fully,

the water pump pulley goes on next along with the belt.

Then we mount the idler pulley,

install the drive belt and adjust the tension.

So we have about an inch of deflection on the longest span of the belt.

If you're running a motor bigger than ours or you just want more boost, you can swap out this upper drive pulley for one that's smaller

and that'll spin the blower faster.

The key element to making this supercharger set up work are the carbs now, since Holly began building blowers. Well, they've developed a whole new line of carbs, especially for that application

and they include a special referencing on the power valves that'll fatten up that fuel curve when you need it. Now, we're using a pair of 600 CFM double pumpers and they're gonna get their fill from this mechanical pump that's rated at 100 and 80 gallons per hour.

A blower puts extra demands on your ignition too because of increased cylinder pressure. So for firepower, we're gonna use this annihilator ignition system

that includes a pro billet distributor

feeding into a set of nine millimeter plug wires. Now we're gonna need these too because this capacitive discharge unit puts out enough power to light up Las Vegas.

The pro strip controller box here has a built in rev limiter and boost retard plus it's fully programmable

and that boost retard is extremely important on a supercharged engine because it helps keep it from detonating.

Now, what makes it all work is this map sensor that connects to the controller through the wiring harness and what it does, it tells the controller to back the timing down one degree for every pound of boost. Usually this thing just mounts right on the firewall.

I guess you're ready for some plug wires. I'm fired up to see this thing. Finished.

Polished aluminum valve covers are the final touch our blower motor build up.

Now, you might be wondering, hey, why don't you guys dyno

this thing? We don't have to.

Holly's already tested the supercharger set up. They got 540 horsepower over 500 ft pounds of torque. Wow. Now, you're probably also wondering how much an engine like this would cost and, well, I think you could bolt one together for about 15 to 20 grand.

Yeah, but you don't have to leave right now because we'll be back with more horsepower TV. Right after this

up next. I hr a racers aim high as they kick off the drag racing season.

We'll follow some of the top sportsman competitors in their first y2k quest for a championship run.

Horsepower tv's race of the week is brought to you by Edelbrock,

the leader in automotive performance for nearly 75 years.

Hi, welcome back to the show into Hub City Raceway in Mississippi where after a long winter's wait, the time has come the time to lay down some numbers rack up points and,

well, you can read,

it's a divisional championship in the Holly I hr, a sportsman series and racers from eight classes came to this event sponsored by Howard Computers

on this eight mile track. They can not only earn money but also get a leg up for the upcoming national championships, but the points he earns here this weekend will be do double duty points. They'll go toward a divisional championship and toward a world championship.

Some of the heaviest hitters in the country came here to kick off their seasons including Frank T

the 1999 top sportsman champ. Well, when you're number one, they're all knocking at you. So we're gonna go up there and just do the best. We can just have another fun year and just see how it turns out.

Frank chose a relatively small 565 cube, 1100 horse motor to make his consistent power.

By the way, the eight mile minimum dial in is 549 in the sportsman class.

The champion

for now.

That's one of Frank's friendly but close rivals, Ronnie Davis who started off the last decade by taking a world crown. My motivation this year was I won the first world championship in the nineties, 1991. I hr e and I want to win the first one in 2000. In

my opinion, I've raced a long time. 75% of its preparation, 25% driver.

I think you can take an average driver and put him in a great car and he can win,

you can put a great driver in a bad car and he ain't gonna win anything.

In addition to great racing on the strip, we found some great stories here in the pits.

For example, the racer we met who refused to let a handicap hold him back from his top dragster dreams.

Charlie Colado lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident in 1985.

His handicap is one that would keep most racers off the strip, but not Charlie who was determined to use his ingenuity to overcome the odds.

Well, necessity is the mother of invention. So, uh I did what I had to, to make it work for me

since I'm missing my right leg. What I did was put the gas pedal on the left,

the hand brake is right here

on the right side. I put the shifter on the left

parachutes are over here.

Just made it. So it fits me.

Well, we're here to uh do the best we can and, you know, it's gonna be a long season. So, uh, we'll just take it one race at a time.

Thanks to young couples like Anthony and Melinda Berta

Sportsman racing is becoming more of a family affair.

Yeah. The people that play together, stay together and it works for us. So,

yeah, we're happy.

I

watched him do it for 12 years and then before I got in one, but yeah, I got talked into it and fell in love with it.

Melinda chose the fast and Furious top dragster class with a minimum 519 dial in on the eight mile while husband Anthony was champion last year in both superstock

and modified Eliminator.

I like both of them. I like the superstar cars because they do the wheelies and they're really fun to drive and,

but it, if I'm winning, it doesn't matter,

you know, track editions couldn't be better for today's eliminations and it won't be long before we find out who starts off 2000 with a big win.

Remember Charlie? Well, he posted some stout numbers for the weekend

though, going down in eliminations as did Melinda who lost in round one.

Frank T packed it up after breaking out of his 518 dial in, in round one.

But Ronnie Davis ripped through the first couple of rounds. Winning and winning. Big.

We're pretty good. We've been uh 3480 ones in a row. So we're doing, uh,

Ronnie's luck almost ran out in this semifinal run, losing control right at the finish line.

I really don't know if it was wind or oil on the tracks. No oil on the car,

but I got to play the sideways. I just about hit the guard rail but, uh, I got saved.

Anthony broke out in the fourth round of Super Street competition

but came back to win modified with this 487 run against the 485 dial in. Well, it's been a good year so far. It's the first race and we got a win. So I guess with this car, one defeated

Nuts over Ronnie Davis who lost to a local bracket racer who ran an amazing 495 on a 494 despite having a serious oil leak just before elimination.

I didn't even think I had a chance. I got up this morning. All he was fixed and everything just went lovely.

So now it's on the national competition

and we'll take you there later in the year

as the sportsman contenders. I hr a battle it out for the first titles of the 21st century,

the horsepower TV crew at the Amily Oil Summer Nationals, June 16 through 18

at Cordova Dragway Park in Cordova Illinois.

Hi and welcome back to the shop where it's time to put the finishing touches

on our 32 3 window coup project. The Great ball of fire. You might remember several weeks ago when we kicked off this project

aiming to build the ultimate retro street ride.

We started with a hardwood 32 3 window two frame.

And since we're building a nostalgia piece, we added an I beam front suspension

with a socal

fin brake set up

out back. We hung a curry eight inch rear end

and for power, we built a small block Chevy motor fed by a three Boose carb setup.

Now we bolted it to a 350 transmission.

Then we turned our painter Rick Harris loose to lay down that horsepower purple paint.

He also gave it a cool retro flame jump.

Then we voted on some special megaphone headers before voting on the body itself.

Now, one of the final touches to our 32 is this banjo style steering wheel from LA

Cara. Now we have this one covered in the same pearl white material as the rest of our 60 style roll and complete interior. And down here we went with purple carpet and

we've got it back here in the trunk too along with more bleats and purple piping

and check this out. We built a panel here that

hides our battery. Now,

as soon as I installed this weather stripping, we got from A and M soft seal, this 32 will be officially finished

and ready for its first road test.

Hey, street might be neat. But retro is the only way to go. Don't you go anywhere? We'll be right back after this.

And now hot parts brought to you by car parts.com, everything for your car, truck van or SUV.

Hey, let's face it. You mustang guys like to keep up with the latest trends, right?

Well, now you can update your 87 through 99 Ponies dash with this white face conversion kit from BBK performance. Now it's easy to install and check this out

when the lights are on.

Well, you got a full color display

so now you can give some class to your dash at prices under $70.

Well, here's a classy way to keep your tools straight. It's a billet aluminum tool tray organizer from DS S competition products. Now, it holds both Sae and metric sockets with half inch, three eights and quarter inch drives. Plus there's room for swivel sockets, accessories

and even extensions. Now, if you want one of these for your toolbox,

you're gonna have to sock it to your budget for about 100 and $90.

You're gonna need some of those sockets to install this new timing set for G M's gen six big block. It's a full roller from comp cams to replace the original link type

and fits inside the stock composite timing cover. It's got multiple key ways and an offset bushing to help you degree in your cam.

Now, this whole setup will set you back about 100 and 80 bucks. Hey, great timing. And we're just about out of time ourselves. Here's a look at next week's show.

We

get our hands dirty hopping up a Harley with a passel of parts designed to drastically pump up the power.

In fact, you'll be astounded at the results we get on the

dyno Jet

in our race of the week. It's the NSC A Southern shootout in Darlington featuring America's fastest street cars where you'll ride inside some of these six

land missiles. This

next ba

drive,

it's going to rock and roll

and remember. High performance fun is what this show is all about

for information about the products used in today's show and more. Check us out online at Horsepower tv.com

Horsepower TV is an RTM production.