Chevy vs. Ford: Who Has The Stoutest Small Block?

Hey, no more. Horsepower guessing games for us. Yeah, wait till you see the latest addition to our shop in action

today on horsepower TV.

Take cover for a small block. Shoot out. We'll explore the new Chevy and Ford crate engines before we welcome to our new engine

dyno

to see who's got the top horsepower numbers

and the shoe box bonanza. As we go back to the days of the 49 through 51 Fords and Mercury

and the tip on how to use spacers to get more power out of your car.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Hi, welcome again to horsepower TV.

There's an ongoing argument between Ford fans and Chevy stall warts over who's got the stoutest small block a battle that's been waged on and off the track for years. And today we're gonna duke it out right here in the shop.

Yeah. Now both manufacturers offer stouthearted small blocks right out of the crate and they both benefit from proven parts, ample output and affordable price tags.

So we ordered the latest and greatest small blocks from both Ford

and Chevy to give you a close up. Look at the hardware it takes and the horsepower they make

what's more we're gonna stage a small block slug fest using the newest addition to the horsepower shop. Our portable engine

dyno we got from land and sea that measures up to 800 horsepower.

Now, this is the control console where we can measure things like horsepower torque and all the engines vital signs. Plus the computer makes all the calculations and stores them in memory, which comes in pretty handy when you're doing things like component to component testing.

Now, this is the actual

dyno

test stand that mounts the engine and provides the connections for sensors and other hookups. Back here, we have the absorption unit which is essentially a large water break that's connected to the engine

with a special

dyno

drive coupler that we got from the cloud industries. Now, this thing will both

up to either fly wheels or flex plates and accepts this special 10 flying shaft from the absorption unit. Now, what that absorption unit does actually is measure ancient torque and well, of course, horsepower is a mathematical calculation of torque and RPM.

Well, now that we know how it works, what do you say we meet the challengers

first. The Ford,

it's a 351 Windsor rated at 385 horsepower.

And since it's a Windsor, it's a perfect replacement for earlier Mustangs like this K code convertible here or even later model 5 L ponies.

Well, over here we've got GM performance parts ZZ 5350

also rated at 385 horse now, since it's based on the same small block that's been around since 1955. Well, this thing will bolt between the frame rails of everything from a full size Chevy to a Chevelle or even a Camaro.

Well, the small block Ford is no newcomer either. It's been waving the blue oval banner since 1963.

But the parts that make up this wild Windsor are all new starting with the sportsman block. Now it's 15 pounds heavier than the older production block with most of the weight here in the main bulkheads and pan rails. Of course, these ribs here are new for increased stability

and both the cylinders and decks are thicker to minimize distortion. Hey, don't think I didn't notice those two bolt mains. Now, the GM block is a cast iron four bolt main unit that's been around since about 1969. Now, it's nothing special, but it's plenty stout enough. And besides why mess with something that works.

Now, the crank shaft is forged from premium steel and it features polished journals,

radius, oil holes and rolled filets to help minimize stress risers and eliminate crank failure.

Well, steel is no big deal.

The Ford's crank is a nodular casting with the same features of the GM for the same reasons,

but the balancer, well, it's an SF I approved unit with dual timing marks and pulley boat patterns to accommodate both early and late model applications. See, the Ford guys were looking out for you and your engine swap ideas.

The piston is a high silicone hyper

eutectic piece with a reverse dome

to yield a pump, gas friendly 9 to 1 compression ratio.

It's hung on a beefy Windsor truck rod with more meat around the big end

and a set of high tensile strength boats.

The ZZ Motor uses hyper eutectic pistons too, but these are a flat top designed to promote good flame travel across the piston face and they'll yield about a 9.6 compression ratio. So they'll be compatible with pump gas too.

Now, the connecting rods are high tech all the way.

They're powdered metal forgings that use crack cap technology and a set of high tensile strength bolts for improved clamping.

Very impressive there, bow tie bubba. But so much for the bottom end of our screaming small blocks right now, we got to get to the bottom line and take a commercial break. Hey, but don't go away. The big duel on the

dyno

is coming right up.

Stay tuned as we mash the gas to see if it's the Chevy or the Ford making the most power on our new engine dyno

for the latest news on horsepower TV. Check us out online at horsepower

tv.com.

Hi. Welcome back to our small block shootout. We showed you the bottom end of our crate motors. Now, let's see how they're finished up before we put them on the

dyno

Ford racing performance parts shows their aluminum GT 40 heads to contain the combustion in that 351

the chambers are a high swirl designed to promote combustion efficiency

and they spec out at 64 CCS. Now, the stainless valves are swirl polished and undercut to promote flow.

They measure 194 on the intake, 154 on the exhaust.

But GM performance parts, fast burn heads are practically race ready right out of the box. Now, check this out,

they've got a heart shaped combustion chamber to promote that fast burn and well, I guess that's how they got their name

and they're fitted with a two inch hollow stem intake valve that's made out of stainless steel.

The exhaust valve is a 1560 that's sodium filled and it comes with a three angle valve job right from the factory and also their back cut to help promote that low lift flow.

The intake ports have been redesigned with a raised roof to give you a straighter shot at the combustion chamber and over here on the exhaust side,

well, a little redesign has gone on there too again with a raised roof and ad shaped port to improve scavenging.

The ZZ five uses the same roller tap at cam shaft as a ZZ four, but those heads just beg for more valve timing. So we're gonna install G M's Hot cam upgrade.

Now, you can use your same old hydraulic roller lifters, but the kit comes with a set of 16 roller rockers. They're gonna help increase your net lift. Now, chances are those rollers aren't gonna fit under those stamp steel valve covers that come on the crate engine. So you're gonna need a set of tall valve covers like these polished aluminum pieces from GM performance.

Yeah, with the Windsor's cam shaft is largely responsible for its 385 hard hitting horses.

It's a fairly aggressive flat tap at hydraulic cam that specs out at 50,236 degrees intake, 246 degrees exhaust.

Now, the lifters and push rods are straight production pieces but proven performers as is the timing set. Now, that is a double roller with

multiple key ways at the cranks pocket so you can advance or retard your timing

like the Chevy, the Rocker arms are fully roller

to reduce friction,

but these are pedestal mounted for simplicity and reliability. Fuel distribution duties are up to this Victor Junior style single plane intake. Now, the open plenum and individual runners here allow this engine to breathe easy on up to the 6000 red line.

Well, you better catch your breath before we bolt these things to the dyno

because I'm telling you

this, Chevy is one heavy breather. Now it uses a dual plane intake

with raised runners to match the ones on the heads and a divided plenum here to pump up that bottom end torque. Now, the incoming fuel charges lit off with this G Mh E I ignition

and this induction ignition combination ought to be good for six grand

easy.

Well, it should come as no shock to you that our ignition is up to the task too.

Ford falls back on its reliable du

spark distributor with high performance cap and rotor that have brass terminals and contacts.

Now, the final touch on this wild Windsor is a pair of polished aluminum valve covers

to make sure it's all dressed up when it's time to go. Speaking of which enough show and tell it's time for the showdown.

You got that right

now. I've already bolted up the small block Chevy to the

dyno stand here and just to make sure that we're on a level playing ground,

we're gonna replace both o

ignitions in the engines with this Holly annihilator set up. Now, it includes the controller box coil distributor and wires. Plus we're gonna use their 800 CFM double pumper carb and a set of hooker street style headers with one and three quarter inch primaries. Now, hey, I don't know about you, but man, I'm ready to make some noise,

man. 448 horsepower, you know, the stock ZZ four is only rated at 355 horse. So I guess that hot cam and fast burn heads are really doing the job. Yeah, I guess so. Well, I bet that Windsor is just as strong. Come on. Let's get that mouse off the stand and get the rat killer. Right. I'm

with you.

Well, now we're ready to see if this bad blue oval can exterminate the mouse's numbers.

Ok.

Windsor's rated at 385 and we made, uh, 412 there. That's better than I expected. It really is. That was a great run. Now, you did come up a little bit short compared to that small box Chevy. But hey,

both of these crate engines are winners in our book. Now, stay tuned. We'll be right back after this.

I like our new toy. Oh, man, this is great. Check this out. I can't believe all the information we get out of this thing.

Next. It's a shoebox, Bonanza. You don't wanna miss as we go back to the days of the 49 through 51 Fords and Mercury's up in motor city.

Their passion is Ford shoe boxes and Mercury bathtubs made from 1949 to 51

and most drove their revered rides to this annual meet just outside of motor city.

It's an event that evolved from a growing Ford and Merck fanaticism among Jim Gte's generation. We were probably driving thirties and forties cars and when the shoebox Fords came out in 49 the 49 Mercury's came out.

They were just instant hits with everybody

and almost everybody found out a way to get one from tail lights to tail pipe. Some are just as bone stock as when they got them.

Others represent a half century of hot rodding and customizing on an ever popular platform.

It's what you would call highly modified.

Uh, it's been bored out. It's stroked, cordoned, it's relieved. It's got a four barrel carburetor in it

and a three quarter race cam

which makes it, uh,

quite swift. Everybody responds to the car either with a look, a smile,

a high five, a thumbs up. Well, it's just

smooth, strong, reliable

vehicle and it makes a trip for a mile for a loaf of bread or 1300 miles from Florida of pure joy.

Eugene Blackwell's pride and joy is the 51 B

where he found after a six year search.

It's got 24 coats of paint and some unique touches from the Continental kit to the outside sun visors

into the car. There's no seams. They usually have, uh,

like bolts in it. This the roof, you know, and that didn't look cool.

So I had them mold it right into the roof. The Continental kit is molded into the body. There's no seams, uh, no place. It was four years in the making, but the result is an old Murk masterpiece. The only bad part is we have that four by 60 air conditioning. Do you know what that is?

I know 60 mile an hour

and four windows open.

Well, speaking of cool customs. A California Ford Freak drove this beauty to Plymouth.

A guy who couldn't decide if he wanted a 1950 or a 51 Ford started making Victoria's hard tops in 1951.

Uh I always preferred the simpler grill and trim from the 1950 models.

So I started with a 51 Victoria

and fitted all the pieces from a 50 front and rear end dash.

Uh And so it

gives the illusion of being a 50 Victoria even though they don't exist.

My wife was sitting in the car yesterday and two women walked by and one of the women looked at it and said, well, it must be some prototype of something they're gonna make. And the other woman said you boob, that's a 50 Ford

and they were both wrong in the West, right?

Ok. While customizing choices run the gamut, most of these Ford and Mercury guys have one thing in common

and that's a monumental motor.

The fabulous flathead V8 that was planted in these cars until the early fifties. The old timers will tell you that nothing sounds like a flathead

and, and, and that's really true. Uh You'll hear these cars throughout the day start up. You'll know a flathead right away.

Well, here's where you can hear dozens of flatheads humming in units

and a story cruise around the four Dearborn testing grounds

maybe for the first time since they were test driven here five decades ago. You get behind the wheel of this and you're 16 all over again. And I guess that's what us all goats are doing. We're buying our youth back, you know, but

costs a lot of money, but it's worth every penny of their hand.

Hopefully, newer generations will someday carry the torch of enthusiasm for classic mid century shoe boxes,

pounding the pavement and turning heads

on into the next century and beyond. You've got grandfathers encouraging grandkids and you got some young guys that are real excited about building cars like grandpa has

for more horsepower. Join us online at horsepower tv.com.

Welcome back. Now, here's a quick tip that'll help you lower your ETS on the track and pump up your performance on the street.

Carb spacers are an inexpensive way to get a few extra horses out of just about any engine.

Now, basically they fall into two styles open and four hole plenum. Now the open style, well, that's gonna increase your plenum volume to enhance upper RPM horsepower while the four holders increase mixture velocity to pump up that bottom end torque and midrange power

spacers come in varying thicknesses and to use them as a tuning aid. Well, you need to know your engine's needs. For instance, if your engine lays down on the top end, you can compensate for it by adding this open style spacer starting with a half inch,

then work your way up till you find your engine sweet spot.

But if your engine lays down right off the line, this four holder can help move your power band further down the RPM scale. And of course, the thicker the spacer, the greater the mix your velocity. Now that's gonna mean you're gonna get off the line just a little bit better.

The type of material that a spacer is made from can also affect its efficiency. For instance, wood

is the absolute best at insulating your carb from heat

and it's real easy to reshape to match your intake manifold. Now, unfortunately, gas breaks it down. So you're gonna have to inspect and replace these fairly often.

Phenolic resin is a durable material that's also a good insulator and pretty easy to reshape. But from a cost standpoint, well, it's a little more expensive than either wood or plastic.

Of course, plastic spacers are the least expensive, but they conduct more heat

and they can't be modified as easily as the wood or phenolic resin.

Finally, we have the aluminum spacers which are extremely durable,

but they're the poorest insulators out of the whole bunch. Now, they're available in the widest variety of thicknesses and can even be stacked to give you a real tower of power.

Of course, they say that knowledge is also power and well, now, you know how spacers like these that we got from Moroso can help you get the most out of your motor.

Well, it's time to give our sponsors a little space too and we'll be back with hot parts right after this.

And now hot parts brought to you by car parts.com, everything for your car, truck van or SUV,

when this 67 was new, an open element air cleaner like this one was considered state of the art.

But if you've got a 96 to 98 Mustang with a modular V8, well, KNNS got a more high tech way to give it more giddy up. It's a new cold air kit with an injection moded inlet. That boats right up your throttle body that cool dense air is filtered through KNNS million mile element for more horsepower and efficiency.

It's an efficient use of your bolt on budget to it under $300.

If you put more air in your motor, well, it's gonna want more fuel too and Edelbrock has stepped up with their line of high performance mechanical fuel pumps. Now, they're available for most popular applications in the racing version cranks out an amazing 130 gallons per hour while the street version tops out at about 100 and 10,

they're fully rebuildable and compatible with both gasoline and alcohol fuels. And hey, they're also compatible with your budget. Prices start at about 65 bucks

after you put all that air and fuel in your motor, it's gotta get out.

They make headers now for just about every application. But when you can't find a set to fit. Well, Headman's weld your own kit might be the answer.

Now, it comes with an assortment of male

bit pipe

header flanges and even a pair of pre

welded collectors. Now, this is a good way to take the pain out of your next engine swap or race car project and it won't put a lot of paint on your pocketbook at $335. Well, we're just aching to tell you about next week's show.

Take a peek.

We'll pump up the power and late model Mustang with a cold air kit, power pulleys oversized throttle body and high performance exhaust

in another new race of the week. It's a fast festival of speed for Fords only

and how lead still leads the way when it comes to Street Rod Fresco projects.

And remember high performance fun is what this show is all about.

Well, I had fun today but

we got to give that for one more pull. I'm with you, man. I'm way ahead of you. You know, there's nothing better than the sound of a small box screaming on the

dyno

for information about the products used in today's show. And more. Check us out online at horsepower tv.com

Horsepower TV is an RTM production.