Crate Engines in NHRA?

[Alan Roehrich]

Blast away if it makes you feel good, I could care less.

If you can't find parts to build a 396/375, or a 255/350, you just aren't looking. Sorry, I'm not buying that line. It's a crock. I can go out and drag up all of the heads, cranks, intakes and carburetors to build either in a couple of days. Anyone that can't just isn't looking.

When we had the G/S car, I ended up with an extra set of the good 441 heads, an intake, and 3 carburetors, almost by accident. I passed on 2-3 steel cranks. We didn't even have the car for more than a year, and I had enough stuff I found just fooling around AFTER the car was bought to build another complete engine. I didn't even have $300 in all of the castings and carburetors, and could have had the cranks for $100 each.

You don't even have to hunt for anything to build a 396 now, GM sells the new replacement heads and intakes, Quickfuel sells the carburetors, Dart is even making a run of 396 blocks. There are 3-4 companies that have all of the 6223 cranks you can use, or call Bullet, they have them prepped and ready to go. So the whine about finding parts for a 396 is a complete joke. You can buy it all over the counter just like a crate motor. So, yeah, if you want to take the easy route, and be sure you have a place to race, you can do it. There's you a "crate motor" that fits in a regular class, so you're just clean out of excuses snow. You don't even have to get your hands dirty, open the classifieds, or do anything but pick up the phone. Jeg's or Summit will deliver most of it to your door, and you can take it to the machine shop just like your 330-350.

And if you DON'T want to build one all aftermarket, 454 blocks are everywhere, have one sleeved, it's been done that way for years. You can buy an original 163 intake on ebay for $200 or less. A 3310 Holley you can buy new, or buy one of the old ones off ebay. You can find 840 heads on ebay for under $1k, all you have to do is open your eyes and look. The same pieces will build you a 427, just don't sleeve the block down.

I was working on crate motors before they ever GOT to IHRA, for other racing series, you ain't telling me anything about crate motors I don't already know.

If it makes you feel better, go ahead and blast some more, I can take it just fine. Some of us DO care about class eliminations and heads up racing. And most of us with any common sense at all see that NHRA is not at all likely to put crate motors in their own classes. They just took the fuel injected cars OUT of their own classes, and put them in the original classes. And they put the new Ford crate motor cars in the regular classes, too.

Think outside the box? Are we going to find a new paradigm too? I just love cliches, they're so useful. How about we fix what is INSIDE the box FIRST, before we go outside the box or dump a bunch more stuff in it? There's a new paradigm for you.