Here are some pics of my car and engine and the results of the dyno test. Note that the last pic shows the engine compartment and note the machined billet spark plug wire separators. I like when it roars so after it rains and gets the dust off of the streets I put on two devices with no air cleaners (air horms) but they smooth the air coming into the carb and they really roar when you jump on it.
I built a low-compression, high horsepower 440. I took it out last night and it just flies! You have to be careful or it will get away from you. You also better already have a plan thought out that no matter what goes wrong, you have a counter-move already thought up and you put it to use instantly. Because that's all the time you will have to think and react.
The engine was dyno tested in February a few years ago. With 93 octane gas and the water temp at only 140 degrees, the original '62 Max Wedge intake which isn't supposed to be much good and two 750 Edlebrock carbs that had to be stagger-jetted to get the air/fuel mixture right. I was in charge of the jetting because I found on the web how Mopar used to jet those carbs. My jets aren't the same as the ones they used because my engine makes so much more HP and torque than the old original Max Wedge engines used to make. The carbs each had an air intake on them and as the Max Wedge intake slopes forward and the back has more space than the front, I found from the dyno sheets that the back carb is using almost 5 times as much air as the front carb. Both carbs together never went over 700 CFM, even at 6500 rpm, the highest rpm they did the test at. Something to remember because I never heard that anywere before but I saw it for myself.
The engine builder didn't cut the deck to zero, I used I think .020 Felpro head gasket, the combustion chamber had been modified and my hot cranking pressure was only 125 PSI. They used 93 octane gas when 87 octane gas would have given me even more HP. I hit 572.5 HP at 5900 RPM and 562.5 ft. lbs. of torque at 4500 rpm and that's "corrected" HP. Actual HP that day when the air temp in the garage was only 60 degrees and full of oxygen would have been over 600 HP, I'm sure. I've seen them test engines in contests and some engines making well over 600 HP that don't make as much torque as my engine does and they are running hotter cams and much higher compression. I have read time and time again in magazines that if you have large ports and too much carberration your car won't have any bottom end and it will bog when you stomp on the gas pedal. Not my car! Stomp on the gas pedal and the 8 1/2" B.F. Goodrich street slicks start melting, the rpms shoot up to 6300 rpm, then the slicks start to catch, the rpm drops back to 5500 rpm and I can shift anywhere up to 7000 rpm with no problems.
I blame Hughes Engines for all that horsepower and torque from a stock 440 block bored .040 over with probably less than 8.0 compression and an original Max Wedge intake that isn't supposed to work this well. Your cams and rocker arms and shafts are the best in the business. My cam is only the third hottest solid lifter flat tappet cam with 248 degrees duration on the intake and 252 degrees duration on the exhaust and with 1.6 ratio rocker arms it has .600 lift on the intake side and .610 lift on the exhaust side. Its as hot a cam as you could use on the street. I makes so much torque on the bottom end its unbelievable and when you see the HP and torque graph and how flat it is, just give all of yourselves a big pat on the back because you people make the best Mopar cams on the planet and the best rocker arms and shafts, pushrods, etc. If it comes from Hughes you know its right and if by chance something is wrong you people will bend over backwards to make things right. You don't blow off anyone who has any questions for you. Everyone at Hughes is knowledgeable, kind and generous plus being extremely helpful. I have been passing the word about Hughes Engines on some car forums and you got some customers who didn't even know you existed because of me and all the people who deal with you are extremely happy with your service and your parts. A better Mopar place doesn't exist on this planet.
I got one of the first set of Edlebrock Victor heads from you with the extended ports and with the 75 cc combustion chamber and with Keith Black pistons I used it was supposed to have 10.9 compression. Because of the metal taken out of the combustion chamber, using a thick head gasket and the engine builder not decking the block at zero is the reason the compression is so low but that turned out to be a blessing rather than a curse.
The power is "corrected" HP, not actual HP, which would have been a lot more as actual HP as the air was thick as the barometer was at 28.03 the day I dyno'd my engine, the lowest the dyno man had ever seen and the air was thick with oxygen. Actual HP would have been at least 600 HP that day and if they had used 87 octane gas and raised the temp. to 180 on the coolant it would have cracked 600 "corrected" HP anyway. This motor is a beast and screams on 87 octane gas. I take people on rides and before the ride I tell them that they are going on a ride they will never forget. I live in a small town with a four lane road that cuts the city in half and there are no houses along the road. I always hit 110 mph going up that road and the speed limit is only 35. I call my car the "White Coffin" because I'm probably going to get killed in that car but I have a plan for anything that goes wrong. It has a completely new brake system with a single resevior master cylinder and brand-new brake drums but I put carbon-metallic brakes shoes on it so the brakes don't fade on me. People get scared when they go for a ride with me. They try to put brakes on but I tell them to just sit back and enjoy the ride because I'm the one working the brakes and trying to put on brakes with no pedal on their side is futile. Then they say "what if the hood flies open when we are going over 100 mph"? I tell them I don't call the car the "White Coffin" for nothing and if that happened we would probably both wind up dead. No fear, brother, it makes you drive slow like an old lady.
Use any part of this email on your web site if you wish. You guys deserve all the credit in the world for making my dream come true and you were always more than helpful and you never turned your backs on me. You are the BEST MOPAR PLACE ON THE PLANET, hands down.
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