How To Get 1,740 HP On Pump Gas

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 01-16-2008, 04:40 PM

How To Get 1,740 HP On Pump Gas

"There's something wrong with a guy who wants 1,600 hp in a street car." This is coming from a guy who has a Chevy Caprice wagon running around with 1,740 hp. Yes, you read it right: 1,740 hp-on pump gas. Clearly, there is something wrong with Steve Morris, and we mean that in a good way.
Not that you'd know it by looking at him or his shop. Sure, he's got a certain mad-scientist gleam in his eyes that any good engine builder should have, but otherwise, Morris comes off as a quiet, average guy. He's certainly not as cocky as you'd expect for someone developing power numbers once considered impossible. His shop is tidy and spacious, but there's no secret room where he mysteriously creates extra power.
It all started when Morris set out to make a mere 1,000hp engine for his '93 Caprice. "Everybody wants to make 1,000 hp on pump gas, so that's what I started originally building this car for. And then we started making 1,300. So we said if we can make 1,300, we've got to figure this thing out. I actually broke that motor five times developing it figuring out how to keep making that horsepower. The actual number that we got to on the first one was 1,690, and that was on pump gas with a big water-to-air intercooler. But we ate up a lot of parts. It took two years to figure this out, really, how to make it all happen. So it's been a long, drawn-out ordeal.
"It was 100 percent trial and error. When we started making it, nobody thought you could make more than 1,200 hp with a blow-through carburetor, and now we make 1,700 to 1,800 on a blow-through carburetor. Everybody thought it wasn't do-able, and I just kind of looked at it and thought, well, I'm already here, I'm going to try it, I'm going to keep working at this and figure it out."
So, how does he make that much power? Morris puts it down to the right combination of camshaft, carburetor, and compression. Clearly it's not that simple, and because he sells engines, not advice, he's pretty tightlipped about some of the details, but we did manage to get some information from him. The big-block engines, which range from 1,000 to 1,600 hp, start with a Dart Big M block that Morris bores to any displacement (but usually 572 ci) with a three-axis CNC mill. He also builds a 372ci small-block ranging from 600 to 1,200 hp. All the balancing, honing, and finish work is done in-house. The pistons are custom-designed by JE and hooked to Oliver billet connecting rods and a Lunati Pro Blower crankshaft. On the top end are Dart Pro 1 CNC 355 aluminum heads fed by a ported Dart intake manifold. Morris uses a CSU Dominator carburetor with dual needle-and-seat bowls on his wagon, but customer engines have the option of either a CSU or Pro Systems carburetor or electronic fuel injection.
Morris is silent about the profile on the custom-ground camshafts and with good reason. "I like to be as nice as possible, but I kind of do this for a living, not to help everybody out to save money and do it themselves." Enquiring minds will have to buy a Steve Morris engine to find out-or at least one of his kits.
The real magic, of course, comes from the ProCharger centrifugal supercharger. Which specific blower used depends on how fast you want to go. The high-power engines use an F-2, the 1,000- to 1,200hp engines are fed by an F-1R unit, and the 600-800hp small-blocks use a D-1SC. Boost levels start at around 8 psi and run all the way up to 32 psi; the wagon currently tops out at 37 psi.
As we mentioned, Morris sells EFI engines as well, but he said the carbureted engines work a little better due to an intake temperature drop from the fuel atomization. Whatever induction system is used, anytime you put big boost into an engine, a cooling medium of some sort is called for-Morris uses either a traditional intercooler or a water-injection system spraying straight into the blower. "It not only helps seal up clearances in the supercharger and makes it tighter and more efficient," Morris told us, "but also cools the air temperature down. And water acts as a detonation suppressant. So we effectively raise the octane rating of the fuel by spraying water." About half of Morris' combinations use the water injection and the other half use a traditional intercooler. "The intercooler is the safer deal," Morris said, but packaging nightmares are an obvious problem.
The most popular engine Morris sells is the 572-inch, 1,200hp unit. It's a bit tame compared with the 1,600hp monster, but it's plenty for most of his customers. "I've got some customers with 1,200s, and they love them, but you can't control 1,200 hp on the street."
All the engines can be run on alcohol as well, and according to Morris, it's an increasingly popular choice. "I think it's going to overtake the pump-gas stuff. People are really interested in converting these things into alcohol motors because you can make a lot of power with no cooling problems, no other issues like that."
Besides the Chevy engines, Morris also sells supercharged Ford small-blocks, pulling-truck engines, and marine engines. He's currently working on a Super Stock Hemi as well. With so much going on in his shop, Morris doesn't have a lot of spare time, but he claims he can still deliver an engine in six to eight weeks. And when he finally gets caught up this winter, he plans to find some more power in the big-block. "My goal is 2,000 hp on 93. That's the ultimate target, I think."
Below are the dyno results on a typical 572ci, 1,600hp-level enginecombo. This one used Brodix BA2X heads, a "very mild roller cam that'seasy on valvesprings," and 8.5:1 compression. The blower is an F3 and itfeeds an intercooler.
DYNO RESULTSRPM HPLB-FTBSFCBOOST
(PSI)4,6008891,0150.57284,8009701,0610.53095,0001,0411, 0940.523105,2001,1231,1340.505115,4001,2051,1720.5 04125,6001,2831,2030.494135,8001,3581,2290.477136, 0001,4371,2570.466146,2001,4831,2560.484166,4001,5 421,2650.480176,6001,5891,2640.478186,8001,6251,2550.482197,0001,6321,2250.49820
The Wagon
There is a difference between street legal and actually driveable, and Steve Morris' '93 Caprice wagon definitely walks that line. He claims the wagon is easy to drive but admits he can't get even close to full-throttle on public roads. Other than the engine, the Caprice is incredibly close to stock. Morris explained as we drove out to the gas station, "The radio still works, power windows still work. It is a little loud though." That would be an understatement-the Caprice is so loud it's hard to think. And though the giant cowl hood gives a good view of the humongous ProCharger blower sitting inches from the windshield, it blocks a sizeable portion of the view forward.
The dash is still stock, as are the side doors, but everything behind the seats was thrown out in an effort to save weight. As of now, the Caprice tips the scales at 4,580 pounds with Morris on board. But with 1,740 hp to play with, it's still plenty fast. Before tearing the rearend off at the mounts recently, Morris ran a 9.57 at 163 mph.
The Wagon
The wagon is an odd choice, but we like it, especially with the new two-tone paint, and Morris agrees: "Oh, I could go a lot faster. That whole motor combination is a 6-second motor in a normal 2,500- to 2,700-pound drag car. But we just wanted to be different. It gets a lot of attention; people love to look at it."

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