I went down to the shop where I normally dyno my engines yesterday to help turn some wrenches on an older Tunnel Port engine. A customer of theirs brought it in to dyno, as they had just bought a car with this engine in it.
My buddy had put a pull on it and it didn't sound right at the top of the pull, so he shut it down. After he started snooping around, he found that one side of the remote oil filter adapter was hot and the other side wasn't... Never good when there's no oil pressure going to the engine. Just to clear things up out of the gate, the engine was brought there with it in the current state that it's in. It was just bolted to the dyno and fired up.
We drained the oil, dropped the pan, and then flipped the engine over on an engine stand. It was advertised to be 474ci, so I was expecting to see a newer stroker crankshaft and a SBC/BBC rod journal of some sort. Instead, it had a neutral balance 428 crankshaft, with some Ford 400 connecting rods, and some old-school custom Venolia pistons. The crank had been offset ground to a .010" under 400/Cleveland journal diameter, which put it at a 4.100" stroke.
After we finished scratching our heads, the owner showed up with the build sheet, from Jim Kuntz in 1995. I know 1995 wasn't really that long ago, but after we sit down and think about it, it was 27 years ago.......
That engine "supposedly" made 775 hp back in the day and it cost $17500 back in 1995. Back before stroker cranks, this was the only way to get cubic inches.
The rest of the combo is an older Comp Cams solid roller, along with a set of 660's on top.
One of the guys is running up today to my shop to pick up some bearings. The only thing that really saved the engine was that someone had put standard bearings in, on a .020"/.010" crankshaft. Otherwise, it would have ate itself alive.
Just to clear things up, it didn't come from Kuntz's shop this way, there had been a few owners in between the dyno time and the time the current owner bought it. Hopefully they'll get it lit off this week and we can see what it makes on the dyno down there, but I doubt they'll try and stretch it out, considering the factory 400 connecting rods......
Some pics...