By the end of last summer, it was pretty clear that something had to be done with the existing power plant in my trusty Buford T Justice 1987 9C1 Chevy Caprice. The thing was literally pumping oil out of the breather in the valve cover, it was banging away pretty hard at idle, and to be honest the oil pressure was doing some bizarre stuff when the engine was pushed hard. Being that the thing was making about 320hp at the flywheel, we were always pushing it hard. So the question then became what to do next. There are lots of awesome crate engine options out there that are literal plug and play deals which have warranties and the works. I have long harbored the desire to punch a big block into the front of this barge, and then there is the ever present threat of an LS-swap, right?
There was also one last option and that was to take what we had and make it better. Basic real world hot rodding, so that’s what we decided to do. We’re going to build a 388ci stroker based off of the block that was in the car while reusing as much of the stuff that was in the old engine as we can. This engine will not be on a dumpster diving budget because there are some pieces in here that aren’t dime store finds, but we’re going to spend smart and maximize the value so that we have an engine that’ll make the car a true bomber and one that’ll take what we are planning to dish out at it. We’ve already been at the machine shop where the engine is coming together blasting photos and all. We want this sucker done so that when the snow melts we can melt the tires off the back of the car.
We are working with our longtime friend Dana Hard of Camco Racing Engines on this build. Dana campaigns the Hard Guys nostalgia nitro funny car all over the eastern half of the USA and he’s been building high performance and racing engines in this area for decades. He’s got all kinds of great advice and tips that we’ll be sharing along the way. CLICK HERE TO VISIT CAMCO RACING’S FB PAGE AND GIVE THEM A LIKE.
Tomorrow we’re going to take you through the parts list from top to bottom (literally) but to give you an idea of how much stuff we’re saving from the previous iteration to this one, here goes:
Trick Flow Street Burner dual plane intake
MSD Atomic EFI
COMP roller rockers
COMP pushrods
MSD Ignition system (box, distributor, wires)
Flowtech headers
Flowmaster Exhaust system
That’s the list of stuff that’s staying so obviously there’s a list of stuff that’s coming and you’ll learn all about it tomorrow. From the heads to the oil pan, we’re going to get this thing dressed up and warmed up for success. Here’s a teaser photo or two below –
THIS IS THE OPENING TEASER ROUND ON THIS ENGINE BUILD – TOMORROW WILL BE BACK WITH THE PARTS THAT’LL MAKE BUFORD T JUSTICE REALLY JUMP UGLY!
Good luck on the build
my 383 is going on 8 yrs and still strong
and glad it isn’t an LS swap
Michael
Considering Buford was the build that introduced me to this site, I’m always happy to see the old 9C1 get some love!
Good luck, I’m looking forward to the updates!
I think I would like to build a copy of this for my Monte.
lumpity cam… 🙂
It’s about freaking time…slacker!
I’m in shock. I didn’t expect to see an update until at least after Thanksgiving.
Tease!!
that cam isnt gonna be big enough… you should go full roller and just be done with it
That is a hydraulic roller.
Looking forward to see what heads you’re going to use.
Anyone else want to see a resurrected Buford square off against a resurrected Raven?
Don’t forget the forged slugs to handle all the “nawz” that you’ll eventually throw at it!
Wow a “388”. How do you go about building one of those?
Ummm….tell me what a 4.06 bore and a 3.75 stroke comes out to?
Don’t bring math into this.
looks like trick flow 215’s in the picture
Come a LONG ways from ported stockers/intake & cam!!!
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Got any power estimates?
I hear all the LS hate and understand it….but dang it, hp is awful easy to make with them!!
Sounds like it’s going to be a runner. Don’t be wimping out on the compression.
Pretty stout cam. Should make some suds.
My guess for HP is 475.
Been planning on building a new engine for my 55′ Chevy, this is right along the lines of what I want to do. Look forward to seeing the outcome.
I am using a very similar cam from comp in my gen 1 421 small block with 10.5:1 compression, and I am extremely happy with it. It builds great vacuum, makes great power throughout the range, and sounds great.
The dual plane intake is a little on the weak side.
Is this build dead or what?
One would almost think so…