[jim_howard_pdx]

Well Erik,

I get a laugh when I think about all the over 400 cubic inch big blocks I built so we could run in the 9's and 10's. With the current heads from Dart, TF, Brodix, Edelbrock, Canfield, and others it seems like 9's are just a matter of properly preparing the chassis, and even that is becoming relatively routine. Then you look at specialty oem heads like the Yates heads, all the Ford Motorsport stuff, the remaked Hemi's, the racing Chevy heads, really building power is almost like building something from LEGO. Just find someone running consistent and copy it.

I would love to hear more about your 420 windsor sometime soon. Are you using the Dart block? When I tore apart my 358 a few weeks back, I chastised myself for not putting in a main bearing girdle last time. It is not that 400 HP is going to do alot of core distortion, but anything you can do on a Ford block to keep those main caps tight and secure is just critical. That is one reason I liked racing the 428 scj block. We cross drilled it and ran three seasons with the main bearings and journals looking practically new. Only the rod bearings showed the typical abuse of 700 ft pounds of torque.

We were shocked that the two sleeved pistons ran so well at 9.2. The shop that did the work told me he had 190 mph 427 engines similarly sleeved running upwards of 8,500 RPM without issue. We figured to run the sleeved block long enough to find a side oiler 427. But after the end of the season tear down, we determined no real need to pay the big bucks. A 427 side oiler even back in the 70's was running 3,500.00 prepared.