It was an interesting way to start the morning; walking in to the Westech dyno shop and seeing the three monster Big-Block Shootout V-8s fully decked-out for battle assured one unshakable truth: It was going to be a fun day. Obviously, we have been working toward this goal for about six months now, and the planning began much earlier still, so to see the results all together in the same place brought several feelings out. The first and foremost feeling was relief.
Relief meant all three engines were completed on time and had been transported to the right shop on the right day. Relief meant all three engine builders were present and confident about their creations. Relief meant John Baechtel told us he'd secured all of the necessary exhaust, bellhousing, flywheel, and dyno input shaft changes required to run all three engines in one long day on his excellent SuperFlow engine dyno. Now, it was time for some eagerly-awaited anticipation and excitement.
THE FORD 460
Mark Sanchez of Automotive Engineering West crafted the Dearborn representative to our event. His final incarnation of the 460 certainly delivered the goods. Once final tuning and timing had been accomplished, the largest-displacement V-8 entered in our contest had churned out 618 hp (at 6,100 rpm) and 554 lb-ft of torque at 4,600 rpm. The torque curve needs a new name, as it had very little curvature at all. From our beginning sample rpm of 3,500 all the way to 6,500 where we stopped, the 460 cranked out over 500 lb-ft. Mark Sanchez was satisfied with the results, but still wanted more.
"We flowed the heads after they had been pocket ported, and we got about 315 cfm out of them. We feel these heads are capable of 630 hp and our 618 number shows we're close. Still, that's plenty of power for 92 octane, and whoever wins this engine better have some serious suspension under the car."
You may also notice a Weiand Stealth intake manifold under the Demon, as opposed to the Edelbrock Victor unit we described in the engine build a couple months ago. This switch was a last-minute replacement when Mark was about to port the intake, and discovered it was designed for a 429 SCJ, not the 460. The port misalignment was severe, of course, so the Stealth was the only intake he had readily available to port match.
"I know I'll be sacrificing some top end by going to the dual plane, but the Stealth is about the best dual-plane I've worked with. If there is a sacrifice, it will be small and it will be on the very top end. We added the 1-inch spacer on top of the intake for more plenum volume, and I feel this combination will actually gain more in the midrange than we'd lose on the top end. This contest is about peak power, but please take a good look at our torque curve. I think you'll like what you see."
We did look at the torque curve and as Mark predicted, it was amazingly flat. This Ford may not have won the Shootout, but we're sure it'll win some fans on the street.
THE CHEVY 454
Being one of the most popular big-blocks ever, the 454 Chevy is loaded with both potential and the aftermarket expertise to exploit it. Certainly we've shown you plenty of solid big-block buildups here in PHR, but we could only estimate the final power outputs on our giveaway Rat. We all hovered around the 625hp-range, and as the 454 began to sing on the dyno, we were all silenced as numbers in the 640 range popped up on the screen. We got even more pumped up when we compared the fuel flow between the front and rear bowls, and determined the motor wanted more gas. We knew even greater power would follow.
After giving the bad Bow Tie all it wanted to drink, the final reward was 657 hp at both 6,300 and 6,400 rpm. Like the Ford, the Chevy pulled more than 500 lb-ft of torque from 3,500-6,500 rpm, peaking at 562 at 5,800 rpm.
We were very happy with these numbers, especially considering they were produced by a hydraulic-roller equipped 454 on pump gas! Our own Red Line 540ci Merlin laid down 670 hp in a similar configuration, but required the added cost of a stroker crank and a solid roller setup to do so. This 454 was built with a GM Performance Parts block, crankshaft, and connecting rods, so you can see the potential of the big-block hiding in your garage. Engine builder Paul Pfaff was pleased with the performance.
"You know we're going to give you hell about giving us a hydraulic roller when the other guys had solids, right? But, we did really well. We'd tested this engine on our own dyno and got about 640 out of it without fine-tuning. We knew it was a good one, but we didn't know if 640 would be enough to win this thing. Seeing 657 horses here is really good, especially on 92 octane."
Paul is right about the hydraulic roller, as the Chevy was the only engine to have one. The Ford and Mopar ended up with solid rollers, but that wasn't the plan. Initially, we'd hoped to have hydraulic rollers in all three engines, and since the Chevy was assembled first, the plan was still fine then. Once the Mopar and the Ford had determined their camshaft needs were far beyond the range of off-the-shelf hydraulic rollers currently available for their respective engines, we conceded and gave them solids. However, the specifications on all the cams were similar.
To try and level the playing field a little, the Chevy was given an electric water pump for its pulls while the Mopar and Ford were forced to turn their pumps with belt-driven pulleys, which we knew would cost some power.
THE MOPAR 440
Dick Landy showed up with plenty on his mind. His brother and business partner Mike Landy had been hurt in a non-racing-related accident a few days earlier, and Dick needed to get to the hospital to see him. His condition had improved since the accident, but things were still pretty serious. We shared his concern and hoped to have some good news for Dick to bring Mike.
The 440 fired easily and idled wonderfully at 850 rpm. It had the most civilized idle of all three engines, and we were about floored when the 440s first pull delivered 653 horses before any tuning. We asked Dick if he'd tuned the engine on his own in-house dyno, and he said he hadn't, due to a computer glitch and the issues with his brother. After adding a bit of timing and leaning out the jets a bit, the Mopar came to life on the top end. The final tally was the death knell for the competition, as the underrated 440 screamed up to 6,800 rpm after delivering 684 hp! The Mopar won on all counts, maintaining 582 lb-ft of torque at 5,500-5,800 rpm. We've never seen a naturally-aspirated 92-octane 440 ever make power like this before, and we were duly impressed.
"These things run pretty good. We know the heads can breathe up there. They're not as good as the B1s, but they can run well. Our valvetrain isn't nice and easy to change ratios on like the other guys, but it is really stable since it's a shaft setup. We can't go much past 1.6:1 without it costing a lot. Where are the other guys? 1.7:1, 1.8:1? We're at 1.6:1, and that's it. So, we're happy it did well. I'd have liked one of those electric water pumps too. We've done back-to-back tests, and that's worth at least 20 horses on a 440."
Even after winning our Shootout, Dick was still looking for more horsepower. If there's any question why he's become a legend in the racing business, here's a bit more proof. We didn't need any more evidence, but we heartily congratulate Dick and all the crew at DLI for their victory, and we send our best wishes to Mike Landy for a speedy recovery!
THE PLAYING FIELD
How level did we make it? We did the best we could. By working at Westech, we took great strides toward equality before ever firing the first engine. The SuperFlow engine dyno at Westech has gained a reputation for being stingy. It's been accused of reading low, but its calibration is checked on a regular basis and we know the powers-that-be at SuperFlow keep a close eye on it. Our experience has shown that it is always in a perfect state of calibration and its numbers can be relied on. The technicians at Westech understand the importance of accurate testing, and they also know how horsepower claims can sometimes be inflated. For this reason, they've nicknamed their dyno "The Polygraph Room," since it's proven to be quite the lie detector.
As you've already read, the Chevy has an electric water pump to offset the gains the Ford and Mopar had by getting solid roller cams. We also were forced to work with correction factors in determining final horsepower numbers, as the humidity and air temperature were both high on the day of the Shootout. The dyno was recalibrated prior to each engine's run, as opposed to just doing it once in the morning or running on previously determined values. All three engines also breathed through Hooker Super Competition headers and Flowmaster mufflers. By keeping exhaust products consistent and from the same manufacturers, we hoped to further even things out. All three engines also used the exact same Demon 850 carburetor (we transferred it from engine-to-engine) and burned gasoline from the same tank of Union 76 Premium. The same MSD ignition box was hooked up to all three ignition systems.
Could we have made it any fairer? Certainly, if the Chevy had a solid roller and a belt-driven water pump, we could say yes, but considering the task we had, we feel we did all we could to provide an absolutely even contest. Our sincerest thanks go out to all those who made this contest possible, including all at Summit Racing (especially Joel Fishel and Carl Prets), GM Performance Parts (especially Gary Penn), and to Dick and Mike Landy, Paul Pfaff and Gordon Jennings, and Mark Sanchez. A special thanks goes out to John Baechtel and his great crew at Westech. We promise the harassing phone calls will stop now.
ANALYSIS
So, what else did we find out about our combatants? We encouraged all of our engine builders to take advantage of their experience as much as possible. According to the builders, the Ford 460 had about 9.5:1 compression, the Chevy 454 had about 9.8:1, and the Mopar 440 had over 10:1. The expertise of our builders and the amount of attention they paid to the piston tops and combustion chambers accounts for the ability of these engines to run on 92-octane with higher compression. Surely, the aluminum heads contributed to the antidetonation characteristics, but none of our engines ever showed any signs of being close. We never had to back timing off to avoid knock.
The contest was developed to showcase the positive points of each engine design when compared to rival designs of similar displacement. If it's possible to tweak Indy cylinder heads to run over 10:1 compression ratio on 92-octane, you need to know this. Certainly, Dick Landy worked hard to get the power curve up higher on the rpm scale by effectively matching components to run up high, but the added compression fueled the fire. The port sizing and high-angle, single-plane intake were all designed with high-rpm in mind, so it came as no surprise the Mopar wanted to sing higher than 6,500 rpm, where the Chevy's hydraulic roller nosed over and beyond the optimal flow point of the Ford design.
We hope you've enjoyed seeing these three excellent street engines come together, and we're very pleased with the final results. We were hoping for power numbers in the 600-horse range, and we ended up with much more than that. The readers who win these engines will be more than impressed, and we hope we've been able to provide valuable tips on each of the big three's big-blocks. Again, we'd like to thank Summit Racing for their support, and we encourage readers to use all of the services offered by Summit. They want you to be happy with your purchases, and if you give them the opportunity to help you fine-tune your design, they will.
AEW's Mark Sanchez also performed a lot of his own labor, but also assisted the Westech guys with the other engines. He was busy all day! We appreciate his assistance through all levels of the Shootout. Here, he snugs down the flywheel on the 460 prior to torquing and final setup on the dyno. The final jetting on the big Ford called for 91 jets for the primaries and 94 jets in the secondaries, with 37 degrees of total timing advance. | 
The Westech facility has an awesome SuperFlow dyno setup. We were absolutely insistent about keeping things even, so the crew at Westech recalibrated the correction factor for the dyno prior to every run. | 
It was a hot, muggy day so the air changed as the day passed. Westech kept track of air pressure, humidity, and dewpoint using traditional barometric pressure gauges and the dewpoint wet/dry bulb. |
The Chevy 454 came from Pfaff's shop very close to perfect tune, and all we needed to do was increase jet size until the engine was happy. Our final jet sizes in the Demon 850-cfm carb were 91s on the primary side, and 96s on the secondary side. Timing was set at 41 degrees total. | 
Even with the Westech crew doing most of the labor, the engine builders were certainly keeping an eye on things. Dick Landy was pretty quiet until it was time for the Mopar to run. | 
He escorted the engine from shipping crate to dyno and preferred to tune the motor himself. It worked for him! The final jet sizes for the 440 were 93s on the primaries and 97s in the secondaries. Timing was adjusted to 31 degrees of total advance. |
installed on the Ford 460. The consistency was necessary, and the performance was undeniable. Thanks to Hooker for setting us up with the right pipes! | 
All three dyno engines also ran through streetable Flowmaster 3-inch diameter mufflers. We didn't include full tailpipes or any kind of crossover, but the muffs were connected to 18-inch extensions from the headers to better simulate under-car conditions and to clear the dyno equipment. | 
Even though we had to declare a winner, all three engines started, ran, and idled with ease. They all made excellent power and torque on pump gas and will make fabulous prizes for the winners of the Sweepstakes. Credit goes to the three men who assembled these fine powerplants and to Summit Racing for supplying the hard-core goods to make them sing. Thanks again guys! |