ON THE BLOWER
> NORMAN BARRY’S MONSTER BLOWN SBC TICKS ALL THE BOXES
WHILE the street car scene is currently consumed by the turbo revolution, when it comes to making 1500hp and above, the turbo-versus-supercharging debate is not so cut-and-dried. Head towards the 2000plus mark and the mechanical supercharger still reigns supreme as the weapon of choice.
And Queenslander Norman Barry has for some time now been piecing together probably one of the most impressive supercharged engines to grace these pages. If you were looking to build a blown small-block Chev, this bad boy ticks all the boxes. To hear this thing belting down the track at wide open throttle would be just awesome.
The motor was originally built for a big-revving blown-alcohol-displacement boat in the Unlimited Class, with no engine restrictions. To keep it safe, the motor was loaded with a 1500hp tune, backed with around 1200lb-ft of torque. Since purchasing the motor, Norman has been customising the combo for drag-strip duties in his big-tyre S10 Chevy pick-up.
The engine weighs in at 420 cubes, with a Dart Iron Eagle block, custom-made steel crank, Oliver conrods, and CP pistons with the usual big gudgeon-pin deal. Heads are the latest Cnc-ported 13-degree All Pro custom items, with T&D shaft-mounted rockers, PSI springs, 7/16-inch pushrods and Morel lifters. Alcohol Racing Components fabricated the manifold and custom-grind blower cam.
The blower itself is a full-race 14/71 Littlefield with billet insert bearing plates to ensure stability and strength, with the benefit of no dowel-ins to locate the bearing plates, and 120-degree rotors with a 10.5inch top opening to provide maximum boost and efficiency.
Induction is courtesy of a PSI low-profile magnesium injector hat with stainless shafts and CNC throttle plates to suit the Roots-style blower, as well as a Fisher riser plate.
As much as blown motors are all about a strong bottom end, they also need an equally good fuel system, and this one boasts 18 nozzles and a Waterman Li’l Bertha 13gpm fuel pump.
Other jewellery on the front of the motor includes a Jesel belt drive and a custom ATI balancer with a Joe Blo crank support. A custom-machined crank and fuel extensions, RCD drive, billet clamps and a 20A Pro Mag are more ‘wow’ bits that complete this masterpiece.
To survive the high-revving torture tests, the
oiling system has all the bells and whistles, with a Stock Car Products dry-sump external oil pump and a Petersen dry-sump tank with a Moroso oil pan contained in an Aero Spec engine nappy.
This combo looks so good it would make a great living room feature, or you could just sit it on a test stand in the shed and fire it up with open headers on a Friday night after a few Bundies. But it seems Norman has his heart set on wedging it in his cool S10 Chevy pick-up, whose previous donk was nowhere near as powerful or glamorous as this thing.
“I’m not sure what this motor would make if we wound it up, and to be honest I don’t know what kind of power we should dial into the S10 to start with,” Norman says. “As it only needs to run over the quarter we can put a sharper tune in. Some of the boat oval circuits are 750m long and they run about six kilometres per race. When you stack that up against a 400m squirt, we have a bigger window of opportunity.” Does it scare him? “Yes, it does,” he admits. “When you see how big this is on the engine stand and consider every part is designed to make you go faster, it’s like – wow. Kick it in the guts and the vibration just goes straight through your body.
“I got sick of my last combination, which only ran a best of 8.40 racing in Super Sedan after the old Pro Street scene died in Queensland. To be honest I don’t know what class I will run in with this deal, but I’m probably steering toward Supercharged Outlaws and maybe some radial action.
“Like everyone, money will control the limits and possibilities,” Norman concludes. “I’m not looking at setting the world on fire; I just want to run fast enough to be respected.”