New Products March 2010

BUDGET BREAKTHROUGH!
Holley 850 & 950 Street HP
Street HPs have been around for a while in 650- and 750-cfm versions, and have gained a reputation for great performance at a great price, and now they're available in 850 and 950 versions. Although they are called Street HPs, they are equally at home on the track. They feature the popular Holley HP Series race-ready main body, but are calibrated for street/strip duty. The base plate also has several vacuum ports to cover PCV, power brakes, and other vacuum-driven accessories. Other features include mechanical secondaries for optimum tire-turning performance, power valve blow-out protection, non-stick gaskets, adjustable air bleeds, four-corner idle system, Ford kick-down, and down-leg boosters. And now for the best news: All this hard-core performance is available at a bargain price that will blow your doors off. The 850-cfm version, PN 0-82851, sells for $526.99 (Summit), and the 950 (PN 0-82951) is a steal at $542.39. It's like Christmas all over again!

BUDGET POWER:
New EQ Aluminum Head
If our prior experience with EQ cylinder heads is any indication, EQ's new aluminum cylinder head, dubbed the AC200BS, will be a grand slam. Two years ago, we built a Vortec-based 350 using EQ's cast-iron heads. The total bill, including the core engine, was about $3,400, and we pulled out 448 flywheel horsepower on 91-octane pump gas. The guys at EQ have been at it again, and they've got an improved aluminum version for standard small-blocks. Unlike their previous cylinder heads, the new AC200BS (and their cast-iron CH350 head) are now available assembled as an option. The bare castings are $449, or $539 assembled (suggested retail). Actual street price will be less. Specs on the lightweight head: 197cc intake runners, 65cc combustion chambers, 2.02/1.60-inch valves, straight plug, phosphor bronze guides, and up to 500 hp out of the box. Using a 9.5:1 ZZ4-based 350 engine and a dual-plane intake, these heads have made 411 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque on pump gas. Intake flow as measured by Shaver Specialty Engines peaked at 231 cfm at .500-inch lift. We'd like to get our hands on a set of these heads for a budget build, so stay tuned.

TIME-SAVER:
Dynamat Custom Kits
The Dynamat line of sound insulation products has been very popular with hot rodders who want to moderate the sound and vibration from engine and road noise. In the past, the use of the product has required custom measuring and cutting by the user, but Dynamat has now come up with application-specific kits that are precision-cut by a CNC machine, taking all the guesswork out. This will help the enthusiast who wants to know how much of the Dynamat Xtreme product to order-a difficult thing to calculate for a first-time user. Currently, Dynamat has seven applications, but they plan to offer a lot more in the coming months.