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 [...]
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 [...]
STROKIN’ THE DART WINDSOR
Our current engine project begins with a 351W block and increasing displacement to a whopping 427 CID.
Text & photos by Mike Mavrigian
The Dart 351W iron-alloy block is available in either a 9.200” (standard Cleveland) or 9.500” deck height. We opted for the 9.5” deck.
This project will serve as an example of a [...]
A Kalamazoo, MI racer added a $20,000 racing engine to his list of winnings during Engine Pro’s Engine Giveaway presented by Dart Machinery at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI on September 12, 2009, during the Fifth Annual IHRA Funny Car Nationals. Justin Wanamaker’s name was the last one remaining as names of the [...]
The vacuum pump and alternator setup hangs low, leaving the head area clean.
Belt tension adjustment on radius tooth setups don’t require much tension at all, which removes a bit of stress from the crank. The tooth engagement alone provides a positive pulley drive.
Routing the -12 plumbing from the vacuum pump to the valve covers allowed [...]
Even though the drive hub system will be clamped to the crank snout with the 6-inch long center bolt to prevent the possibility of independent hub rotation, two roll pins are installed to the hub. The countersunk inside face of the ATI Super Damper was then drilled to accept these roll pins.
Plumbing the vacuum pump [...]
The BG fuel log is adjustable for length, allowing bowl-to-bowl spacing to be set by simply slipping the male tube inside the female tube.
The male tube section of the BG fuel log features three sealing O-rings.
Fitting the BG fuel rail to our Dominator was a piece of cake. I installed the Race Pumps fuel pressure [...]
CARBURETOR/FUEL PLUMBING
Our big-gulp carb is Holley’s Ultra Dominator (P/N 0-80673), an 1,150 cfm race carb that features billet metering blocks, three-circuit metering, mechanical secondaries and oversized sight windows for easy float adjustment. Recommended fuel pressure is 5-7.5 psi. The anodized billet metering blocks feature changeable idle feed restrictors for easier tuning of the idle system [...]
The upper intake manifold plenum box gasket is stainless-steel reinforced and provided a perfect fit.
The upper plenum box is secured with 1/4″ x 20 x 3/4″ stainless socket head cap screws. I applied a dab of moly to the threads prior to installation. I tightened all screws to 60 in-lbs using a criss-cross pattern.
The Profiler [...]
Using my Goodson 1.8″ – 2.6″ valve spring height gauge, we set final spring installed height at 2.150″.
The original valve guides protruded a tad too high for adequate retainer-to-guide-seal clearance.
Using a 1/2″ guide cutter and an 11/32″ pilot, I cut the guides down by 0.147″.
During intake manifold and gasket test fitting, I discovered that [...]
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