Racing Engine Build - The Ultimate Street Stock Motor

Once the ATI damper is in place, Santelik installs the timing pointer and verifies TDC.

The cast-iron heads are stock replacement pieces from RHS. And although they have the same general characteristics of a stock 23-degree Chevy head (for practically the same cost) the performance they provide is quite a bit better.

The RHS heads are decked to ensure each chamber is as close to the 64cc minimum as possible. Because of the rules, RCE can't do much to the chambers or ports besides cut three-angle valve seats.

Here, Santelik has a set of the steel Manley valves in place and is checking valve clearance to the piston.

Before bolting up the Champ oil pan (complete with integral windage tray), Santelik must determine the proper oil pump pickup height. First, he measures the depth from the pan rails to the bottom of the sump.

Then he mocks up the oil pump and pickup on the block and measures the vertical distance from the bottom of the pickup screen to the block's pan rail. There should be between 1/4- to 3/8-inch clearance between the bottom of the pickup screen and the bottom of the pan.

RCE uses a Melling 10 Series oil pump for its Street Stock engines. The pump is a stock replacement part but has a thicker body to eliminate cracking under stress.

Once everything is determined to be correct, the oil pump pickup is welded to the body of the pump.

Here, you can see the completed welding job.

RCE went with a complete front drive kit from KRC. All the components are designed to work together, which should ensure efficiency and no thrown belts during a race.

Here, you can see how the entire system bolts up cleanly and with minimum fuss.

The completed engine ready for the dyno. That's a Brzezinski dual-plane intake painted up to make it look a little more like stock. On top of that is the Wilson carb adaptor that will allow the regulated two-barrel carburetor to work on the square-bore intake. In back is a DUI HEI unit from Performance Distributors that will provide plenty of spark well past this engine's redline. You can also see the rocker and beehive valvesprings from Comp Cams.