Nicks Garage 383 build

That's crazy to miss the mark by that much, how could that be possible even with a limited knowledge of performance engines.

I can only theorize…….
The builder had it in his head how he was going to build it…….and basically disregarded the owners requests.
Now, keep in mind I’ve got one side of the story, but both the auto shop and engine owner seemed to be on the same page about the goal being 500hp.
I never spoke with the builder about it.

But, fundamentally………nothing in the build was geared towards a target of 500hp.
Stock cast rods, stock replacement style cast pistons, late model smogger heads with zero porting, low CR, small cam, small intake, small carb……..that doesn’t all add up to big hp.

I know the builder, and if he really had “500hp” in his sights, I’m sure it would have been a lot closer to that mark.

Nonetheless, it left his shop with a sheet from his dyno showing about 340hp, which I was not able to duplicate on the dyno I use.