Goodson announces its release of their Heavy Duty Universal Dressing Stand. Dress stones up to 4” dia. Uses your standard .343” (11/32”) pilot (sold separately). Adjustable from 0° to 90°. Scale marked in 1° increments. Includes premium diamond dresser. All steel construction. Dressing Stand Pilot sold separately. New Dressing Stand Bushings boosts stone holder on pilot for dressing large diameter stones.
Universal – adaptable to use with most grinding systems.

FROM SHORTBLOCK TO LONGBLOCK

CYLINDER HEADS & VALVETRAIN

 Our beasty 427W is finally in longblock form.

Engine build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian

 The use of studs, as compared to bolts, provides a more accurate and consistent clamping load for the cylinder heads, and eliminates wear & tear on the block’s threaded holes during future head service.

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Birchwood Automotive Group (operated by Precision Engine editor Mike Mavrigian) now offers its services to both manufacturers and engine build shops, including technical writing, product and installation studio photography, custom engine preparation for display purposes, special corporate project vehicle builds, design, transport and more. The firm has prepared a number of engines as well as completed vehicles for an array of private and corporate clients. Technical writing and photography is available for product releases, magazine articles, technical books, web sites and more. Birchwood’s technical facility is located in northeast Ohio. Visit Birchwood’s web site at www.birchwoodautomotive.com.

Edelbrock has announced the release of their new E-Force Supercharger kits for the C6 Corvette. The all new design pushes the stock LS3 engine up to an amazing 554 flywheel HP and 515 ft/lbs of torque (with stock fuel pump) or 599 flywheel HP and 547 ft/lbs of torque (with included high volume fuel pump). This supercharger incorporates the Eaton Twin Vortices Series (TVS) Gen VI rotor assembly, the same internals used on the new ZR-1 Corvette, as well as an air to water twin intercooler system and dual core heat exchanger. Torque has been optimized through the use of 12″ long runners, while low speed fuel economy is retained through the use of an internal bypass valve to reduce parasitic loss. All of this technology fits under the stock hood without modification to the hood, hood liner or cowl.

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ConocoPhillips Company has added their exclusive Liquid Titanium® additive to the majority of its Kendall® GT-1® Motor Oils, including synthetic blend, full synthetic and high mileage offerings. The new Kendall GT-1 Motor Oils engineered with Liquid Titanium are designed to help reduce friction, fight engine wear and most importantly, prolong engine life, according to Steve Tarbox, Director, Product Management, ConocoPhillips Lubricants.

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The engineering team at Crane Cams® has developed a new Pro-Race

fiber optics-based racing distributor that’s proven to function

flawlessly in today’s ultra-high underhood temperatures.

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Edelbrock is excited to announce the return of the “Big Carb Deal” consumer carburetor promotion. Consumers receive a free Edelbrock air-cleaner assembly with proof of purchase of any new Edelbrock carburetor.

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Canton’s new circle track pan is designed for 1985 and earlier smallblock Chevy engines in chassis without X-members. With an L-sump depth of only 6.5”, the pan provides maximum ground clearance, while offering an 8-quart capacity. The pan features a six-trap-door circle track baffle assembly with a bolt-in slosh baffle for oil control, a crank scraper, windage tray, a ½” NPT temperature sender bung and a provision for a pan-mounted dipstick. Designed to accommodate Canton 20-030, 20-031 and 20-032 pickups.

by Mike Mavrigian

Build/assembly and all photos by author

Our Lunati roller cam features 0.544″ valve lift at intake and 0.560″ at exhaust, with duration of 232 intake and 242 exhaust. Centerline is 108 intake and 116 exhaust.

CAMSHAFT AND TIMING

Dart thoughtfully provided anti-friction-coated cam bearings with their block. Each bearing is etched with a part number, and they must be installed in the proper order.

Starting with the rear #5 bearing and working forward, the bearings are installed as follows: B388 (no. 5 bore), B387 (no. 4 bore), B386 (no. 3 bore), B385 (no. 2 bore) and B384 (no. 1 bore). Each cam bearing features three oil holes and a circumferential groove on the outer surface. Align one of the oil holes with each cam bore oil hole.

With Dart’s coated cam bearings installed, the Lunati roller cam was coated with Royal Purple Max Tuff assembly lube (journals and lobes) and carefully inserted into the cam bores. Thanks to Dart’s precision machining of the cam bores and Lunati’s precision cam manufacturing, the bump stick slid in without a whimper and rolled like butter. Nice.

Royal Purple Max Tuff assembly lube was applied to the roller cam journals and lobes. This synthetic lube is very clingy and offers high pressure protection.

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We machine the block, balance the crank and check clearances.

 The Dart Iron Eagle 351W block is a precision-cast and raw-machined product of unparalleled quality. Dart provides a bit of extra deck height and minimal bore diameter, allowing the builder to precisely achieve desired dimensions.

By Mike Mavrigian

 all photos by author

CYLINDER BORES AND BLOCK DECK MACHINING

Our block was finish-machined by Scott Gressman at Gressman Powersports (Fremont, OH…a mere 80 mile drive west of my shop).

Cylinder boring and deck surfacing was handled on Gressman’s RMC CNC machine, taking advantage of RMC’s block blueprint software for the Dart 351W Iron Eagle block.

Our Dart Iron Eagle 351W block was delivered with 4.000” rough-machined bores. Our JE pistons (P/N 232474) feature a skirt diameter of 4.1205”. JE recommends a piston to bore clearance of 0.005”, so our bores required a finished size of 4.1255”.

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