Big Block Chevy Engine Bulid - The Street Beast Part 2

Induction System
Our big-block's induction system was from Holley. We used the single-plane street/strip Team G rectangle-port intake with a 4500-series 1050 Dominator carb. The manifold choice was predicated on some dyno tests of pre-production prototype manifolds we did for Holley on similar, but slightly more street-oriented big-blocks in the 468- to 482-inch range. At the end of the day, for any big-block build shooting for more than 600 hp, a Dominator-style carb is the way to go. This carb and the Weiand Team G intake made what proved to be a potent power producing combination.

After pulling the intake out of the box, the first job was to check port alignment with the Dart Iron Eagle heads. For the most part, the port runner's perimeter fell marginally inside the ports in the head. The exception was the corners. The corners in the heads were of a bigger radius than those in the manifold, so some minor filling was called for before putting the die grinder to the manifold. After having a couple of days for the filler material to fully cure, Bruce Greer matched the manifold runners to the head ports. In the case of this manifold, matching was made a lot easier by the fact that it was possible to look down the port and check what had been achieved.

Bottom End Finishing Touches
While our manifold work was being done, parts were on their way from Jeg's. This consisted of some smart-looking Moroso valve covers and the bottom end parts in the lube department. The Moroso pump was a competition prepped model PN 22150. This was fitted with a pickup to suit a basic street/strip pan. The pan was essentially an entry-level deal and came with a street-friendly price tag. The block-to-pan gasket was the one-piece FelPro blue gasket. The negative effects of over tightening with this type of gasket are virtually eliminated by means of the metal inserts in the stud/bolt holes.

Top End Finishing Touches
All that was left to do of any consequence on our 482 was to install the Moroso valve covers, the carb, and the distributor. All that is straightforward stuff, but a few words on the Performance Distributor HEI distributor. I have been using their distributors for over 20 years and they have never failed to deliver. There are a few other companies making quality distributors, but the one we chose to use here represents a great-bang-for-the-buck deal and got the nod for its budget-oriented performance.

Dyno Time
When it came to dyno test, the UNCC Motorsports Superflow had already been booked in advance by the Formula SAE and the Drag Race team. T&L pretty much dyno tests seven days a week, but once again, T&L's boss, Lloyd McCleary, saved the day by letting us use one of the three SuperFlows he has. Basically, Lloyd donated a Saturday on the proviso that we would be off at day's end to accommodate a Sunday dyno booking by a customer. Normally, a day on the dyno would be all that would be required to cover the setup needs of an engine such as this. However, a few hiccups on our part, such as an intake water leak and a couple of other things like forgetting the Sunoco race gas we needed, meant a late start.

With the timing set at 36 degrees, our 482 pumped out just a fraction under 675 hp and 625 lb-ftt. Since this engine was supposed to have a respectable amount of low-speed torque due to having a relatively short cam (a COMP Cams single-pattern 286 XSR Xtreme street roller), we would've liked to show what it did down in the 2,500-rpm range. The bottom line is that this 482 made too much torque in the lower rpm range for the SuperFlow, which was set up for all-out race engines. Though we don't have hard numbers, you can safely conclude this engine can make some very respectable numbers far lower than our graph shows. And Lloyd's comment on our engine? "I am sure if I could have spent a day fine-tuning, it would've picked up 10 lb-ft and 10 hp. But even without that, your guys did good. It's a great engine." Just as a reminder, T&L does offer several versions of this engine with iron or aluminum Dart heads, mid or high compression, solid or hydraulic roller cam, and in single- or two-plane manifold form.

Log on to www.tandleng.com for details. If you'd rather have T&L build it for you, this exact turnkey engine is available for $7,900 ($8,500 with aluminum heads). They are putting their streamlined cup car building techniques into building these custom crate units. Contrary to what you might think, this has resulted in a drop in crate motor cost, not an increase.

The Dart adjustable pushrod...        read full caption The Dart adjustable pushrod guideplates should be set to achieve the roller/valve tip alignment shown here.

Note the polyloc's position...        read full caption Note the polyloc's position in relation to the rocker slot. If it is close to the end of the slot as shown here, the pushrod cup is about to go into bind with the end of the pushrod.

Here is the Holley Dominator...        read full caption Here is the Holley Dominator carb we used. It was chosen based on dyno test results over many years that show almost conclusively that big-block Chevys really like a well set-up Dominator.

UNCC Motorsports student Bruce...        read full caption UNCC Motorsports student Bruce Greer took the necessary time to precisely match the Team G intake to the ported Dart Iron Eagles.

One of the advantages to using...        read full caption One of the advantages to using a single-plane manifold such as the Weiand Team G is that there is good line of sight to confirm port alignment has been satisfactorily achieved.

A key factor for any successful...        read full caption A key factor for any successful single-plane big-block Chevy manifold is the form of the runner divider shown here.

Here is our finished Team...        read full caption Here is our finished Team G manifold ready to run. The success of the engine indicated it delivered the good results we had seen in previous comparative testing.

Nothing fancy for our timing...        read full caption Nothing fancy for our timing cover, just a plain $9 item from our local parts store and a coat of black paint.

The oil pump used was a Moroso...        read full caption The oil pump used was a Moroso competition unit with the heavy-duty driveshaft and appropriate pan pick-up.

At $230, our entry-level Moroso...        read full caption At $230, our entry-level Moroso street/strip oil pan fit like a high-dollar item. That meant none of the fighting so often required to get bolt holes to align with the threads in the block.

The one-piece FelPro pan gasket...        read full caption The one-piece FelPro pan gasket is a big improvement over the old cork multi-piece-style gasket, and as an added advantage, it's re-usable. With the Moroso pan's good fit, we could almost throw away our tube of silicone sealer.

T&L's top guns, Lloyd and...        read full caption T&L's top guns, Lloyd and Ray, made short work of getting our big-block on the dyno, but a few problems on our part slowed down the show.

Part of a successful engine...        read full caption Part of a successful engine builder's resume has to include a lot of dyno time. T&L's Lloyd McCleary literally has tens of thousands of dyno pulls to his credit.

Big low-end torque numbers...        read full caption Big low-end torque numbers prevented us from pulling our 482 much under 3,900 rpm, indicating low-speed output was stout. As can be seen from this graph, peak torque and hp were just shy of 625 and 675 respectively.