Lack Of MONEY Ain't Killing Your HP Goals.. It's Lack Of RESEARCH

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]We got a really good video for you guys today. I think you're going to like it.

[00:00:03]Let's go up here. Get to 65. Bring it out. Some stuff we need to talk about.

[00:00:20]So good.

[00:00:30]And by the way, that was a cold start.

[00:00:33]This car has not been started since sometime yesterday. It's like 3:00.

[00:00:37]Okay, we got a I'm telling you, we got an awesome topic today. I think this is going to help a lot of you guys out trying to decide what you want to build next. Like, do I save the money? Do I go all in on a build? Or do I just kind of do what I can afford? I get this question quite often from people. They say, "Hey man, if you had this to do all over again, would you build the same engine?" And I'm not talking about this car in particular. I just mean in any of my cars. Would you build the same engine again or what would you do different?

[00:01:06]Well, it really all depends on the car because they're all different. But we'll start with the 65. To start with, we had a 347 stroker in this car. Let's just let's just go over and look at it. Come on. Well, I guess we should start from way back in the day. This car had a built 289 in it. Now, ever since I was a little kid, my dad and his friend Michael, they built a hot little 289 for this car, and that's what I drove in high school. When we put the 347 in it, power obviously increased. Drivability, believe it or not, was better with the 347 than it was with the 289. And that's probably honestly because the 289 was it seen better days, right? But man, we cleared up a lot of issues when we put the 347 in this car. But then we hurt the engine. So, we pulled the engine out of this car and decided we were going to rebuild it. And here comes the question that every car guy at some point has to ask themselves.

[00:02:02]What do I do here? You know, money's tight. I mean, we're all on a budget.

[00:02:05]Can any of you watching this video just go spend $2 million on an engine just cuz you want to? Come on. Right? So, we're all on some type of budget. We all just kind of brainstormed and we come up with an idea. What can we do to this engine that won't cost a lot that can make a big difference? This is where the big change come in. We had to have a new kit, right? So, we decided that we would go with DSS. I went through Anderson Ford Motorsport. We got custom pistons that are good for 11 12:1 compression.

[00:02:35]Actually, a little more, but 11 12:1 compression in this car. Forged pistons, HBAM rods, forged crank. Good stuff, right? Really good bottom end. And I thought that that was necessary because this thing has a dark block and if you're going to have a dark block, you might as well have a really good bottom end, right? Spin it to the moon. Then we decided we were going to upgrade cam shafts. So, we went from the N91 cam shaft to the N11, which isn't a huge jump, per se, but yeah, it made a difference. Made a difference in the sound at least. Then we went with limited travel lifters. And those damn things are extremely expensive if you guys don't know. So, I I had to make a decision. I'm like, man, this is a lot of money. We could get away with just a bottom end and put this thing back together with the same cam shaft. But here's the problem that we all run into.

[00:03:22]I'm already in the engine. If I can do it, I might as well go ahead and do it, right? Well, I can't tell you whether that's the right or wrong approach. I don't know. But what I will tell you is I'm extremely happy with the upgrades that we did when we put those limited travel lifters in this car and we fired it up for the first time with a new cam and the new compression.

[00:03:45]Whoa.

[00:03:47][ __ ] It made a big difference, right?

[00:03:50]It made a huge difference. car got more pop, got more quench, more compression, bigger cam shaft, limited travel lifters, which are probably going to make it hit a little harder, honestly, because it kind of acts like a solid roller in a way. I was sold immediately.

[00:04:03]I'm like, "Oh [ __ ] this is good. This is better than the old setup because we got more compression." Now, if you guys don't know, an engine likes compression.

[00:04:12]It likes it. It needs it. It needs tight quench and it helps the engine burn clean and run clean. You ever look at these old worn out engines that like 8 and 12 to1 compression engines and they're all gummed up and sure they'll run forever but they're going to be gummed up and anyway. So then we had to go for a first drive and I'm like all right how's this cam shaft going to work out an N91's already you know fairly big cam shaft and M11 is even bigger and I'm like uh but my thought process was this this cam shaft with extra compression and quench honestly shouldn't be too aggressive. It shouldn't be too bad and here's why. We got 14 gears in the rear of the car also if anybody wonders. But here's why I say that the car is going to make more torque. It's going to make more power at idle, right? I mean, with compression and quench, this thing is going to be very efficient. It's going to burn clean. You're going to have a little more torque and power. So, my thought process was with the bigger cam, the higher compression should pull right out. And it did. We had a few little issues and hiccups in the beginning. I had to do some adjustments on the carburetor. And I worked with Kevin at CSU. Even though this is an ATM carburetor, he he helped us out, which is another reason why I love Kevin so much. And we got this thing dialed in and oh my god, I think this is No, I'm not even going to say it. I'm not even going to say it. So, I always run into this dilemma. They're all my favorite. I think this is my favorite car now, you know. Well, of course, cuz it's the last one that we built. So, it's kind of always your favorite in a way. But I here's what I'll say. The question is this, and and I got off topic a little bit, but I wanted to give you guys a little bit of a backstory on this car.

[00:05:45]Here's the question at hand. Would I build this again, or would I try to save a little bit of money and just do like a a cast bottom end stroker? Um, not worry about getting custom pistons made to get the compression up. Um, you know, which route would I go?

[00:06:05]I think I'm forever a compression guy now. always kind of was. I had cars with higher compression years ago. Um, but we kind of gotten away from it, you know, not low compression per se, but you know, we got away from the higher compression like 11, like 10 and a half and up. I'm that guy now. I I have seen the light. So, here's the deal. Let's say I was on a budget and I wanted to rebuild this this setup, but I just didn't have the money to go all forged internals. Don't don't do it. If you're that guy and you want to build a hot little 347, 331, 408, 306, I don't care. If you're that guy, you can do this on a budget with a cast bottom end. It doesn't have to be.

[00:06:48]You can use a Scat 9000 crankshaft and still turn this thing to the moon. It's going to be okay. So, as long as you're not running like power adders and things like that and making tons of horsepower, tons of horsepower, you don't have to have that forged bottom end. Now, it is beneficial, and in my opinion, you guys can argue this if you want to, if you're trying to get your quench right, the quench is what'll get you, not the compression, the quench, which is how tall or how close that piston comes up to the bottom of the head. You mess around and get 30,000 of quench and that's all you've got, and you got all stock [ __ ] in the bottom end or just not good stuff, it can stretch. But, you know, we can talk about Burgger's car.

[00:07:27]Burgger's car is a 427 dart block. It's a CNC motorsports setup right here in this car. 427 makes dozen horsepower. I don't even know.

[00:07:38]This thing I'm sure makes right now minimum 800 to the wheels. Minimum 800 to the wheels right now. So the question would be, would you do this again? Well, you know, that's going to depend on your budget. I think once you step up in life, once you level up, you typically don't go back down. Sometimes you have to. Life happens. And sometimes you got to like scale it back. But here's one thing that I've learned in life. If I can ever get to the next tier, I don't want to come back. I'm forever in that next tier. Now, if I come back down a tier or two, it's not permanent. It's something that maybe I'm just doing temporarily, right? And see, those upper tiers aren't always better in my opinion. Do you do some of you guys really need a 1000 horsepower running around the street, $20,000 engine, you know? Do you really need that? That's a next tier. That's a tier up, two or three up. But you don't need it. Every tier, every jump, every level up is not always better. I will always, if I can, pay attention to head CC, quench, and compression. And probably be a limited travel lifter guy if I can afford it.

[00:08:49]Now, if I end up damn, as you can see, we got two engines over here. This is the one that we just got from the wrecking yard. And this one over here is the old 289 came out. If I were to rebuild this 289 over here, I would focus on compression quench and things like that. The issue that you get into a lot of times if you buy the wrong set of heads and say you buy a 67cc head and you're going to put that on a stock bottom end 302, you can't get your compression up enough to matter. It's just not. It's going to be low compression. That's a really big CC chamber. You can shave the heads a little bit. Can't go too far. You can put a thinner head gasket and that's about all you can do. All right. So, you need to know when you purchase your heads if you're going to be that guy like I'm going to be the compression guy like I want this [ __ ] to pop. I want it to have power. I want it to be nasty. 93 only minimal. Then make sure you get your head CCed accordingly. Now, here's a caveat to that. If you plan on going big boore, say 363, say 408, something like that, you got to be careful with these 58cc heads and 56cc heads, that's going to give you way more compression than you probably want a lot of times because of the diameter of the piston is going to just make more compression, more surface area, right? But if you're if you know you're going to be 347 and kind of like below, then you can get away with a 58 cc head and that's what's going to give you your compression. Now, your quench has nothing to do with that.

[00:10:22]Your quench is going to come from zero decking the block, right? So, you got to make a decision. Which way do you want to go? Who do you want to be? You want to be the low compression guy that's just not taking any chances? That's that's cool. I understand it. But you're leaving a lot of horsepower on the table. So, hear me out. If you have a chance and you're purchasing heads, always purchase a smaller CC combustion chamber head, right? If you're going to stay small cubic inch under 347, that's just me. That's what I say. You guys can do what you want to do. Let's go back out. Let's finish this video up. The question is, would I build this again?

[00:11:00]Yes, I would 100% build this setup again right here. I would 100%. So, let's get into say the Retro Fox. Would I do the Retro Fox the same way?

[00:11:11]Yes and no. The Retro Fox is a perfect example of a supercharged stock bottom car that is an absolute ripper. And don't think for a minute that the Retro Fox wouldn't give this car a run for its money. I do believe this one's faster, but we might just have to see one day.

[00:11:27]Stock bottom man car. One thing, right, which is a supercharger and a Bcam. It's got a stock intake on it and well, stock lower with a Hartman upper and it makes gobs of power. So, would I change anything?

[00:11:40]Yes and no. I think it's the ultimate setup on a budget. Now, I know superchargers are not cheap. I get that, guys. But hear me out. If you're on a budget, I still think that the supercharged stock bottom end route is the best, right? But if I were to have to rebuild the engine, this is where things change. No, I would not put it back the way that it was. If I had to rebuild the engine due to rod knock or something like that, no, I would go 347.

[00:12:08]I would never go 331 over 347. I just You can squash all that longevity stuff, guys. Get your cubic inches. It's the same money. Just get your cubic inches.

[00:12:17]So, I'd go 347 on that car. Limited travel lifters, B21 cam shaft and send it. Just absolutely send it. Completely different car. Now, you got a car that's going to make some power. Now, compression wise, am I going to put this thing at 11 and a half to one compression? No, I'm not doing that. 10 to one though, absolutely. I'll put that car on 10 to1 compression with some good nice tight quench and it it'd be amazing. I wouldn't change the heads.

[00:12:44]It's got SV heads on it. I'd leave those. Intake. Ah, I'd probably even leave the intake. There's a lot of these cars that honestly I would change a few things about, but ultimately I wouldn't go back to Let me give you Let me give you this scenario here. Here's what I wouldn't do. If I were to have to build this engine again from scratch, what I would not do is go out and just get an off-the-shelf 347, 67cc heads, Anderson N41 cam shaft with a 650 double pumper because that's what most people think you need, and a dual plane intake. Hell no. I would build it back this way or maybe a touch hotter. There's limits to everything, guys, and you need to remember that. You can't just keep going, going, going. We're going to reach a point where your compression is going to be a problem for pump gas, right? But push the limit, guys. 11 to one is safe to run on pump gas. As long as you got 91 to 93, you're good to go, right? Keep the timing down. Make sure everything's good and you're going to be fine, and you're going to make a little more power.

[00:13:49]Now, where an issue comes in that I do need to address before we wrap this up is with automatic cars. I would probably not run this cam shaft in an automatic car that was a street car. And the reason being is you got to have a torque converter and gear to be able to run a cam like this or it's going to be a pig out of the hole. So, I probably wouldn't run this hot of a cam with this much duration, but I still would put a nice size cam in it. Still keep the compression up, still keep the quench up. So, yeah. I hope this helps answer some of the questions for you guys because I know everybody's like, "Would you do this again? I've had this question. What would you change?" Here it is. So, I hope you enjoyed. I'm gonna go ahead wrap this video up and as always, thanks for watching. Oh, and y'all stop messing with me about my Bob Barker mic. That's that's I like this thing.

[00:14:37]There's a whole lot of bench racing on a cold shop floor at night. One guy says bigger on her head. Another says keep velocity tight. One swears by ear computers. Another trust of carbon jets.

[00:14:54]But somewhere in the middle, boys, is where the real power gets made. Ain't no shame in compression.

[00:15:02]Ain't no shame in camp.

[00:15:05]If you're already buying piston to might as well build it like a man. Small chamber heads on a small cube motor.

[00:15:15]Wake that little winds right up. Tie a quench and squeeze the mixture. Free horsepower in the cup. Don't be scared of a hotter combo. Don't let the internet tell you no. If you spending money anyway, make that old Ford really go. Now listen close when ball gets bigger. Like a 4125.

[00:15:41]Them little chambers can sneak up on you. Compression climbs alive. That's why every combo's different. There ain't one magic setup for all. Street car, strip car, cruiser, bruiser, depends what you want when you mash the throttle. Big cam, small cam, hydraulic, or solid roll of sound.

[00:16:04]Low RPM torque, a high rev screen.

[00:16:08]Everybody wants a different crown. Fuel injection starts clean up. Carburetors got that old school soul. But both can make a monster if the combination's right as a whole. Ain't no shame in compression.

[00:16:25]Ain't no shame in camp if you're already tearing down the engine. Don't have stepped the master to plan. Small chamber heads on a small Q motor. Wait, that little wind's right up tire.

[00:16:42]Squeeze the mixture. Free horsepower in the cup. Don't be scared of a hot combo.

[00:16:48]Don't let the keyboard boy say no if you're already buying the parts. Make the thing flat out go. Now maybe you ain't got forg pistons. Maybe money's running thin. Throw a blow on a stock bottom in and let the boost roll in.

[00:17:09]Keep the RPM reasonable.

[00:17:12]Don't spin it to the moon. and you'll have 450 real world horses whistling through the afternoon.

[00:17:21]That's the beauty of hot riding.

[00:17:24]There's a 100 roads too fast. SOME FOLKS BUILD DINO QUEEN. SOME just want a hard pull when they pass. But if there's one thing worth, remember before you order every part. Build the engine for your purpose and build it with your heart.

[00:17:44]Small chamber heads on a small cube motor. Wait that little wind to ride up the tie to quench and squeeze the mixture. Free horsepower in the cup. The big decisions make great stories. That's what keeps us wrench and still.

[00:18:02]And there ain't nothing wrong with extra power if you build it smart and build it real.