515CI BLOWN BIG-BLOCK CHEV
> BG ENGINES, NORTH RICHMOND, NSW
ROD Waters’s KRANKY HQ Holden is, among other things, a Youtube sensation. The car burst into flames in the opening seconds of its finals skid at Kandos 2012, torching the vegetation surrounding the pad in the process. It is perhaps the most virile viral video to emerge from the Aussie car scene, with views in the millions, so if you’ve somehow missed it, do yourself a favour and check it out!
With the blokes at BG Engines having pieced together a fresh combo for Rod’s Quey, we thought we’d drop by the workshop for a look. Aside from the sheer enormity of it, the first thing that strikes you about the engine is just how shiny it is. The willingness of burnout competitors like Rod to go to this extent with their builds and then punish them into submission out on the pad never ceases to amaze us.
“I hurt the engine last year at Brashernats and BG Engines has built me a whole new deal,” Rod says. “It’s 515ci now; blown and injected. It’s ready to be put back in KRANKY and smash some tyres.”
As you’d expect, it’s built from quality gear. “It’s a 24-degree big-block Chev with a Dart block, Manley crank, Callies rods and JE pistons,” says Damien from BG. “The engine has a Blower Shop 8/71 on it and we’ll put a minimum of 15psi into it. It’s made 1422hp before, and this time around Rod’s looking for that magic 1500hp number.”
BG has been looking after Rod’s engines for around a decade, and KRANKY’S combo has evolved during that time. Its first ‘big’ engine was a 509-cuber with an Enderle hat that ran 10psi of boost and made circa 1200hp. “From there he wanted to step it up, so we did a different camshaft and some more cylinder head work to it and put it back on the dyno with a JBR carbonfibre hat,” Damien says. “We wound the boost up and it made 1420hp. Hell knows why he needs any more, but he does!”
Aside from a slight jump in cubic capacity, the biggest change this time is the move to a dry sump system. With the sort of sustained high revs and g-forces Rod subjects the engine to, it’ll do wonders for reliability and longevity. The system will utilise a Peterson pump, housemodified Milodon pan and boot-mounted tank.
The camshaft is a solid-roller that’s been ground to BG’S specifications, packing around
265/275 degrees duration at 50thou, and a hefty 0.750-inch lift. The valvetrain comprises weapons-grade hardware such as Crower severe-duty roller lifters, Trend pushrods, stainless valves, PAC springs and titanium PAC retainers with Harland Sharp roller rockers and a stud girdle.
An engine like this is a big-dollar proposition, so helping it live is critical.
“The oiling system is key,” Damien says. “And the tune-up is critical; trying not to mix the oil to death and turn it to pus every time. Keeping it off the limiter is also important – the limiter is the enemy – and Rod is pretty good at that.
“Apart from that we spend a fair bit of dyno time on engines like this and I think that’s pretty crucial, rather than just putting them in the car and having a crack.”
So what’s it like to have a 1400-plus horsepower engine connected to your right boot? “It’s insane,” Rod reckons. “You get behind the wheel and you’re five-up and it doesn’t matter how fast you’re going. It can be 100 or 120km/h and you stand on it and it just smashes the tyres. It’s a whole lot of fun; there’s nothing like it. I usually get two laps of Eastern Creek out of 63 litres of methanol and one set of tyres. Then I come in, throw another set on, fuel up and away you go”