In a hobby where individuality is king, is there anything more harsh than being branded common? Is there anything worse than carrying the “belly-button” label?
Hardly. Which is why so many of us spend so much time figuring out all the details that will make our rod truly unique. We lay awake at night, assembling our dream project in our mind’s eye right down to the smallest detail, from the arc of a spreader bar to the pinstriping around the taillights.
That being the case, why do so many people choose the single most common engine—the Chevy small-block—when it comes time to motivate their street rods? Sure, you can dress it up with all kinds of accessories, from beer-keg-size blowers to zoomy exhaust pipes, but underneath all the doodads, there still beats the heart of the same engine that has powered millions of cars and trucks for almost half a century. Is that really what you want for your one-of-a-kind project?
Now, the arguments for Chevy small-block power are pretty strong. Those engines are plentiful and cheap. So are replacement and performance parts for them. They make good power. When looking for an alternative to the Chevy, you usually have to give up at least one, if not many more, of those traits. Flathead? Can be expensive to build properly. Early Hemi? Ditto. Nailhead? Four-banger? Caddy? Not exactly plentiful, and parts can be scarce.
So let us suggest an alternative motor that is also plentiful and cheap, and is backed by a wealth of easy-to-find parts: a Ford small-block. Not just any Ford small-block, though—a stroker. You see, stroking a 302-inch Ford solves a couple of its inherent problems. Displacement goes up, and the longer arm is a sure-fire cure for the 302’s lack of bottom-end power.
Plus, it can be done inexpensively. The folks at JMS Racing Engines in Monrovia, California, have scienced out a 327-inch stroker (designed originally by JMS machinist Howard Allen) so that they can offer it in long-block form for about $3,000. Since there are about as many definitions of “long-block” as there are engine builders, here’s what three large will get you from JMS: the block, reciprocating assembly, timing set, cam, heads, and valvetrain. You provide the rest, custom-tailored to your application.
The key to building this motor cost-effectively is in the choice of parts. “There’s nothing expensive here. Everything is off the shelf,” says JMS’s Mike Johnson. Instead of a brand-new block and fancy aluminum heads, JMS uses refurbished blocks and lightly massaged cast-iron heads. The cam grind is streetable; the rocker arms are good old-fashioned stamped steel.
Not quite everything is “off the shelf.” The crankshaft starts out as a stock piece from an early 302 (the most desirable as they’re the most resistant to bending), but, before it’s set into the mains, it’s welded with enough material to add ¼-inch to the stroke, it’s polished, and then it’s dynamically balanced with the rest of the reciprocating assembly.
That assembly, by the way, is an unusual combination of Ford connecting rods and Chevy 350 pistons to get the piston pin height right for the increased stroke. Using the Chevy pistons requires some special machining: The pin hole is enlarged, some material is taken off of the piston top and skirts, and the valve relief pockets are recut. JMS is a machine shop as well as an engine building/testing facility, however, so all this work can be done without the motor ever leaving the premises.
Cheap is one thing, but does it make power? Says Johnson, “All of these motors put out right around 300 horsepower and never less than 300 lb-ft of torque.” Put that kind of power in a lightweight street rod and you’ll have a real goer—not a race car, but one that’s certainly fun between the stoplights. Since the JMS engine dyno is just a few footsteps away from the machining and assembly facilities, we thought a couple of pulls would be a good idea to see how close Johnson was with his estimates. For the testing, the long-block was fitted with an out-of-the-box Edelbrock Performer intake mani * fold, a 600-cfm Holley four-barrel carburetor, MSD 6AL ignition, and 1½-inch four-into-one headers. Timing was set at a conservative 33 degrees, and 87-octane pump gas fueled the fire.
With barely any fiddling with the tune, the motor churned out 293 peak horses at 5,500 rpm and over 321 lb-ft of torque. Even better, the motor delivered over 310 lb-ft of torque between 2,500 and 4,600 rpm. You’d definitely feel that in the seat of your pants.
Good as this motor is as-tested, it’s also a great starting point for further power gains. JMS tested a similar engine with a 700-cfm carb and made 307 horses and just under 340 lb-ft of torque. If you played with any of a number of factors—cam grind, carb size and/or jetting, octane, header-pipe diameter, timing, and so on—you’re bound to find more power.
Even so, in its most basic configuration, the JMS 327-inch stroker would be a healthy addition to any low-dollar project car, and it would never carry the belly-button stigma.
