650HP stock block

[jim_howard_pdx]

Ron,

Denny is great. He and I agree on a great many things. He has seen more broken busted engines than I have, but in southern california where I grew up and raced, I was surrounded by racing giants. It was in a little piece of hot rod heaven. I had Ed Iskedarian grind custom camshafts and build high rpm push rods for my 428 scj racer. I had Chet Herbert sell me his #2 cam that held the current 428 scj bracket for 17 months straight. And it goes on and on, the list of racing legends I got a chance to wrench with.

I had three friends with world record running Hemis, I had two friends campaigning LS 6's and 7's in the 10's. I had two friends running SOHC engines that I wrenched with. I had one friend campaigning an Olds 400 small block at the same 9.25 index as I raced, but he was using direct ported NOS and I was engine only.

I had two friends racing Clevelands, both at 11 second brackets. One very close friend campaigned a pinto with a 550 HP Cleveland and FMX transmission in a mid 9 bracket.

I had two friends racing Pantaras, one set the world record for a gasoline powered turbo ford engine at Bonneville. It has been broken since then, but stood up for 6-8 years.

I canyon raced at Mulhulland, Laurel, and Topanga Canyons. I got to know two outstanding canyon racers. One ran a 135,000 dollar turbo porsche and the other ran a 40,000 LS7 corvette (which unfortunately went over the cliff-driver lived!).

I had two friends autocrossing Cobra kit cars, one with a stroked 460 with aluminum super cobra jet heads and the other with a 427 side oiler using a 428 crank which net 454 cubic inches. Both were well over 400 hp on the rear wheels which in a Cobra can be hairy to say the least.

By the way, the hp and torque numbers I am quoting on my 358 block are projections based on Edelbrock's 358 engine they dyno'd at 401 HP. My trick flow heads out of the box deliver 6 more HP than the RPM Edelbrock heads, and with the port work I have performed I figure another 15 HP to be fairly conservative. I know my modified Holley will out HP the Edelbrock 750 they used on their dyno. But I would rather post conservative numbers than lie. By the way, my car beats a 305 HP Cobra by more than a second at the Quarter mile, and that was with all 16 of my valve guides shot to s h i t. Ask Tom, he will tell you I have never seen worst valve guides in all my years of racing. One of my best friends used to be the head cylinder porter at Valley Head Service. I just wish he could have seen these guides. I must have been sucking a good quart of oil every 4-500 miles from the guides alone.

With the fresh engine, good sealing, cleaner intake charge, a more rod oriented cam shaft, I think low 12's should be easy on slicks.

However, until I actually dyno the engine, and get some passes on the engine I am just bench racing upon what I know to be reliable guestimates. I do not have the money for dyno time now.

Denny has been really, really good to me. I have not found a better more knowledgeable performance shop here in the Portland area. I told Amber and Tom that I will not allow people to bad mouth him when. Most complain that he is too slow, or that he is expensive. That is not a reason to bad mouth a race shop.

Denny will tell you that I have patiently waited for weeks for him to do stuff I could get done in Los Angeles in a few days. He is well worth the wait. Denny is a cut above anyone I know in town, and TOM and AMBER have fun teasing me. D a m n, I am so very easy to tease.

I know Denny to be fair, with STRONG knowledge about racing and building reliable engines. I give Denny my highest rating of any Ford Motorsport dealer I have ever worked with. That is not something to snear at, because down in Los Angeles, there were some AWESOME Ford Motorsport people I visited weekly.

I get a kick out of Denny. He never brags. He is such a great guy. A couple of weeks back, he showed me the 427 SOHC engine he built while he was helping me with my rebuild. You should have seen how proud he was figuring out how to help the customer with the oiling issues. His smile was "soul" deep. Tom told me later that the engine fired right up and sounded different than any other FORD he had ever heard, more like a big block chevy. NO a Cammer sounds only like a Cammer. It is a breed all its own.

Ron, I think it is cool to talk with you. I have not found many people running in the 9's here in Portland. I bet there are less than 20 cars in the area capable of these times. When I raced Pamona, 9 second cars were a dime a dozen. Competition was fierce, and some of the cars were flat out nasty consistent.

Good luck on the crank scrapper. I would give Mustangs Plus a call. Their number is 800-999-4289. They sell 302 and 351 crank scrappers for 14.00. You can easily modify these to fit your rod and rod bolts. ....I would try to help you...., but Denny would warn you not to let me touch your engine. I am bad luck. LOL

I have broken 3 street rod motors in the last 6 years. I was sure each was going to live a long and health life of 200,000 miles or more......

Happy racing. Email me at any time at jim_howard_pdx@yahoo.com. I am looking for a good Ford club to join. Let me know if you know of any. Now that my kids are getting all grown up, it is time to build my next project.

I am happy to take you for a drive in my Stang. I would like Denny to drive it, but he is probably WAY too busy to give me that honor.