Our Dirt Modified Gets Its Claimer Engine!

Hey, welcome to the horsepower shop where recently we got the crazy notion to go round track racing by building our own open wheel modify.

Now, today we're gonna drop in the power train, finish up the body and we'll pretty much get this baby ready for the track, but just in case you missed our dirt racing debut,

here's a recap to bring you up to speed.

We made a trip to speedway Motors in Lincoln, Nebraska where our chassis was welded together

and our rear end was built according to I MC A specs back at the shop, we completed the suspension and brakes,

plus we installed a fuel cell and ran our fuel and brake lines.

We also installed an OEM steering box again according to the rules of the sanctioning body

and we started hanging some of the car's body parts.

Today, we're going to finish up the body after we get some power into that race car. Now, I MC A is the oldest sanctioning racing body and the letters stand for International Motor Contest Association.

Now, ever since the modifieds hit the scene in 1979 they've had an engine claim rule. Now what that states is at the end of the race, any competitor can buy your engine for $525. So, to be competitive but economical, we're using a cast iron block with four bolt mains.

However, ours has been machined to accept the 3750 Stroker crank and the cylinder walls have been bored to four inches

to reach a total of 377 cubes.

And to fill that bottom in, we're using an eagle rotating assembly that includes this steel forged crank set of their H beam connecting rods

and some srp domed pistons with this valve relief and an intention here for the spark plug.

After using our miking tools to ensure that everything is gonna match up,

we can drop in our crank.

It's called the main calves

and tore down the A RP boats

which have three different torque specs.

Finally, we can check the crank shaft

for proper inlay.

Then we can go to work installing our pistons and rods using plenty of assembly lube, of course.

And that completes our race motors rotating assembly. The block we got uses a one piece rear main seal while our ran

shaft is made for a two piece rear main seal. So what are we going to do about that?

Well, we're using a rear main seal adapter from

Moroso. I've already bolted half of it to the block and installed half of the two piece seal.

The other half of the seal goes in the top piece of the adapter and they just get bolted together.

That's pretty handy part.

Now, our valve train came from crane and back to the rule book. It says no hydraulic roller cam shaft. So we're gonna stick with this power max flat tap it piece.

We'll use a set of mechanical lifters.

And while the rules also say no stud girdles, well, there's no problem stepping up to these pro race rocker arms with roller tips that may free up a little extra horsepower

after sliding in our cab shaft using plenty of assembly lube. Of course,

we can install our crane timing set straight up.

After that, we can install our timing cover

along with the new front seal.

Oiling is especially critical in a stroke or race engine like this. So we're using one of moros so's high volume oil pumps and to secure it, we use one of a rps studs.

This eight quart oil pan we got from GM has a windage tray and a crank scraper

and hear that.

Well, let's trap doors that helps keep the oil in the sump even during heartbreaking.

Unfortunately, Gm doesn't make a pan to clear those larger CNC machine mains. So it requires a little homemade modification to clear the mains and to make the stud holes line up

this harmonic balance. I'm installing is a six and three quarter inch piece from professional products

and a zero balance plus SF I approved for racing applications.

All right, with this handled, what do you say? We turn our attention to the top end.

The small port vortec is the strongest cast iron cylinder head. The GM makes these things come out of the box with two inch intake valves, 155 inch exhaust valves inside a 66 cc combustion chamber.

Now, since our camshaft has a 580 lift, well, there is some machining required in the valve guides. Plus we swapped out the stock springs for these much stouter double springs to handle that extra lift.

All right.

Now, while we sent down on these heads, no reason to go anywhere. We got a whole lot more work ahead of us. Yeah. When we get back from the break, we're gonna throw this 377 into that modified monster and even fire it up if we get lucky, stay with us.

Well, we're back to finish up our modified motor build up. Now, during the break, not only do we get the heads bolted down, but we also added some guide plates and larger studs to accommodate those pro race rockers.

Now, I'll go ahead and get the lifters oiled up, get them dropped in and we can check for proper push rod length

to do that. We're using this push rod L

checker from comp cams. Now, with the lifter completely off of the cam lobe, go ahead and loosely bolt down a rocker arm.

Now, by using the tool, you can go ahead and get the roller tip of the rocker centered on the valve stem.

Once you've got that done, go ahead and turn over the motor and as long as the roller tip stay centered on the valve stem and opens the valve completely,

you'll know your push rod lane.

Hey, well, Mike's out gathering up those push rods. Let me show you the bow tie intake. We're going to use this thing's an aluminum single plane design that's been raised 200 thousands to accommodate our heads. Now, this air gap is going to isolate the incoming charge from hot engine oil. This thing's been designed

to accept a single flash four barrel carburetor,

which in our case is this Holly 4150 HP Pro series.

It's designed for racing specifically on gasoline. It features mechanical secondaries and it's going to flow 750 CFM.

But now with these proper Len push rides in place

and the rocker arms installed,

we can mow down our intake and car speedway motor sent us the water pump for the car. Now, this is a short style high volume piece specifically designed for short track racing.

So it'll give us plenty of flow all the way up until the last lap.

We'll finish the motor once we get it dropped into the car with the transmission and we'll be ready for that. After I bolt up these motor mounts, we picked up from speedway.

We're using this 153 tooth lightweight steel flex blade from Tilton

and to make it made up properly with our transmission, this three piece hub drive kit.

According to the rule book, we have to use a bell housing that's virtually bulletproof. And

sf I approved. Now, this one from Tilton is especially made

for circle track applications and notice how we got this plate between it and the engine. Now, once everything's bolted into the car,

this thing will serve as a stabilizing device and that's important since we don't use a trans

map. Now, I promise I'm not juicing up, but this transmission only weighs 43 pounds. Now, we ordered it from speedway motors and it's made by Falcon racing.

It features an internal hydraulic clutch with one reverse and two forward speeds. Now to get it in and out of gear, we'll use these shift rods once it's in the car,

we still have a lot of work ahead of us before we can fire this thing up. Well, like installing these race friendly shone fill headers.

These are long primary step headers with three inch collectors.

The driver side has a 90 degree turn out while the passenger side has a 60 degree. And of course they're adjustable for injured location and for power band

Toni

well, the header in place and now valve covers this thing is looking a lot more race ready, but it's far from it

However, we're gonna take a break right now. When we come back,

we're gonna take you to the home of some rare racing memories. You don't want to miss it. Stay with us.

He's the man who put modified dirt car competition on the racing map, but he also reigns over the most amazing collection of horsepower history you'll ever witness next meet Speedy Bill Smith

and his incredible museum of memory.

Hey, welcome back to Horsepower. That's it for the trans linkage. You know, we might have bitten off a little more than we can chew today. We wanted to get our modified project finished up and the motor fired, but it looks like we got a lot more parts than we do time.

I'll say, just look at all this stuff. Well, more work for next week, I guess.

Anyway, we wanted to save

some time to share something with you. We discovered out in Lincoln, Nebraska where this project began.

It's a one of a kind museum that celebrates Speedy. Bill Smith's lifelong passion for racing and high performance.

In fact, you're about to witness one of the most incredible collections of cool cars and rare engines under one roof.

Whether you're going straight or turning left.

When you have an obsession for motor sports, the road of life can lead in many exciting directions.

Now, if you're lucky and persistent, the destination can be making a living with what you love.

I've been blessed

that I could take my passion

and

my love

and do what I do and make a living at it.

That's the way it's been for Speedy Bill Smith.

That's a racer, an engine builder and owner of what's celebrated as America's oldest speed shop.

But if that weren't enough, Bill also reigns over the most amazing collection of high performance history

located in Lincoln, Nebraska. His museum contains more than 75 race cars and specialty vehicles from land speed record holders to a 56 Ford Sun liner that won more NASCAR races than any other drop top in its time.

How about this Smith built NASCAR race,

one of the first Pontiacs to compete and win in the fifties.

But it's the engines,

the Monumental Motors of History that make the Smith collection totally unique. I saw the magnificence of the machine work, the engineering,

all of the things that go to make something

that produces more horse power runs faster than the other guys and uh I just set out to collect them

and collect them. He did

now boasting one of the largest collections in the world over 550 exotic engines at Still County. Among them is this 1912 Chalmers six cylinder engine,

the first double overhead cam

hemi.

Some of them

are examples of

engineering and

building an engine that had uh

1015, 20 years of a man's life in it.

One of his engine building heroes is a little known innovator named Robert Roth, who built one off race machines in his Indiana garage from 1916 until 1949

and never gave his passion up and never changed his direction. Always striving for new ideas, more horsepower doing conversions on model TS model A's and then Ford's famous flathead V8. He did his own casting, he did his own machine work

his own design

and these are all examples. And this

one engine here is

uh a one off that he built with a dream to run that at Indianapolis.

Another favorite motor is one built by a company called Roberts that did some pretty incredible things with model Ts. Back in the mid twenties,

it has

two plugs per cylinder, one on each side, chain driven, single overhead cam, two large carburetors. It truly is a piece of art.

Well on to toys for smaller boys.

Speedy. Bill has amassed an amazing collection of toy tin cars,

little gas powered cars and get this over 700 pedal cars from a time when they were made from real metal or even wood.

This one dates back to the early 18 nineties before they were making the real deal in Detroit.

Of course, it's the speedway Motors operation that keeps his employees fed while keeping racers and street riders on the streets and tracks of the world.

But it's obvious that Speedy Bill Smith's passion for collecting

and keeping these memories alive is a gift to future generations of gear heads.

The fun is what I do and

until I can't do it anymore, why

it's still gonna be the same fun

horsepower TV S hot parts. A look at the latest performance innovations from the automotive aftermarket

since we're in a race mode today. How about this Keith Dorton series two barrel race car from Holly.

And this thing is eligible for many classes of NASCAR.

It blows 500 CFM

and has adjustable screw and air bleeds, reinforced HP metering blocks and power valve blowout protection. Now, all the choke related provisions have been deleted from this car

and it's available in single and dual inlet versions all for a price of about $385.

Here's a new aluminum intake manifold for your small block Chevy with Vortec heads.

It's a Street Avenger performance plus from Lion that's made out of a permanent mold casting. Now, it's also been CNC machine for a better fit and less chance to leak.

Now they

find it to work with all square F lance performance carburetors and you can get it in a single or dual plane. Now, it's also available with or without an EGR depending on your local emissions laws. There ought to be a law against the price starting out at only 100 and 45 bucks.

Well, whether you're building a race car or a serious street fighter,

here's some handy little pieces from Earls that could make your plumbing and electrical work a lot easier.

These steel and rubber grommets come in a variety of sizes and they're useful everywhere between the firewall to the trunk. Now, they're easy to install too using either screws or pop rivets.

Well, as we mentioned, next time on horse power, we're going to bear down and finish our modified bracer, but this is not even the main event.

You see recently, we've gotten a ton of emails from a lot of you asking.

When are you guys gonna give us a serious budget minded build up?

Here comes your answer.

This little 92 Mustang LX is our next project car and you can pick up one of these fox bodies pretty cheap these days.

That's why they're so popular for street machine build ups and there's a ton of aftermarket performance parts for them.

Yeah, you don't have to spend a lot of money fixing one up. Now, next week we're gonna treat this little Red Fox to a true low buck build up. We'll set a budget bolt on some fairly cheap parts then test our results out on the dyno Jet.

Yeah, it's gonna be a show jam packed with horsepower. Fun. And you guys don't want to miss it.