Well, sort of. Except that by "green" we mean "saving a buck by tearing into a blown-up crate motor and using it as the basis for a Super Stock race engine build."
Yes, that is a mouthful, but it's the truth. And it's one of the more fun race engine builds we've undertaken. We started this project by purchasing a no-longer-running Chevrolet 604 crate engine that had been pulled after blowing a head gasket. In the first installment we machined the block and installed the rotating assembly. Last month we moved on to the cylinder heads and started on the valvetrain.
We hit a bit of a speed bump in the last installment when we discovered the 1.7 ratio rocker arms from Comp Cams caused the pushrods to contact the inside of the pushrod guideplates. This month we'll correct that little oversight and finish up the valvetrain.
It's the valvetrain, along with the lightweight rotating assembly, that should give this engine a leg up on the competition. If you remember, the idea behind this project is to reuse as many components as possible from the discarded 604 crate engine we purchased on the cheap and invest the money saved in places where we can find an advantage. Next month we'll finish buttoning up the engine and put our ideas to the test on the engine dyno.
