Barrett-Jackson‘s upcoming Scottsdale event later this month is shaping up to be an exciting affair, with all sorts of classic and modern hardware crossing the block. One of the latest to join the party is the SMS-Bondurant Camaro.
Presented by Steve Saleen and Bob Bondurant, the special SMS supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 Camaro gets a rating of 620 horsepower, 570 lb-ft of torque, a six-speed manual transmission, Borla exhaust, “Red Butterfly” hood, Eibach S suspension, custom 20-inch SMS wheels, and the autographs of both Saleen and Bondurant on the dash.
It’s production car #001 of the new collaboration, and it’ll be auctioned to benefit the Make A Wish and COX Charities foundations.
Well, I’m officially depressed. No it’s not because of the holidays, or the rapidly approaching June when I’ll move too far into the 50’s to be able to fool myself that I’m just barely 50, nope none of those things.
I’m looking at GM’s (bastards!!) Performance Catalog and all the shiny things in it. Like the ported LS3 heads, and the LS376 – 525…yes 525 hp in a crate engine, drop in and drive. I realize two things, I need an older Chevy to play with (or upgrade the C6 Vette) and that I’ll need a second job if I even want to touch any of this stuff and where will I live when the better half finds this stuff laying around the garage? (Tell me you aren’t depressed now?!?!!…It’s ok…admin it!!!)
Note: It’s gonna get worse… I have the Ford performance parts catalog as well…all I can say is thank GOD!!! I don’t have a Morpar to drive around….oh….the therapy…bills….!!! Why, OH Why didn’t I drink the family KoolAide when I was a kid..I would have been able to shun the Fords and Mopars and just be a normal one brand car guy??
There is some awesome stuff the Chevrolet Performance Team is put out, everything from small block crates to LSX monsters, to circle track crate engines.
Over the next few post I’m going to cover a few highlights and a couple unexpected – like engines for the Chevy Cobalt and some V6 engines. (Have just read some specs for the upcoming 2013 Mustang V6 – I want to see what Chevy’s got.)
In fact let’s start with something off the wall. Like the 900 V6 Intake for a 4 barrel carb!! What???!!!! It’s an aluminum high-performance for the 3.8 or 4.3 liter V6. So go ahead bolt on that 390 cfm carb..oh heck….grab that 600 cfm 4150 and drop it on top.
That is not a bad price. Of course it’s not for all heads, like it won’t fit the 3800 V6 or the 18 degree heads and you might have add a bump to your hood for clearance!!!
If you read any of my pieces on Engines, you’ll know that I enjoy learning all I can about the various makers’ details on their features. I thought that I might start a series that took a year by year approach to what the US automaker build and used in the cars they produced.
So here is the engine line up for the 1971 Chevys.
Of course Chevy had the V8’s in 1971, not yet strangled by smog control, as well as 6 cylinders and 4 cylinders.
All of the 6’s were inline (often referred to as straight 6 – for the pistons all being in a straight line configuration) these were 250 cubic inch displacements – (very similar to the Ford 250, with the exception of the Blue upping the compression to 9.1:1 vs Chevy’s 8.5:1). These were cast iron with hp running about 145 with hydraulic lifter, and normally topped with a Rochester one barrel carb. Any car that had a 6 in it had this engine and it was an option with most any Chevy model.
1971 Chev Inline Six (this one is in a Chevy Nova)
Next up is the 4 cylinder used exclusively in the Vega (remember those?). They were inline 4’s with Over head Cams, aluminum block (not iron) and managed to displace 140 cubic inches. The compression ratio was less than they 6 at 8.0:1 with hydraulic lifters and a one barrel carb.
Vega Four Cylinder
There were 3 basic V8 that year the 350, 400 and the 307.
The 350 cid was cast iron with overhead valves and compression ratio of 8.5:1 with an hp of 245 hp when it was topped with a 2 barrel Rochester carb. These were widely used in the Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala, and Monte Carlo.
The 400 was cast iron as well with matching stats. However due to the larger bore (4.125 vs the 4.00 for the 350) and longer stroke (3.75 inches compare to the 350’s 3.48) it was able to push the hp’s up to 255 (umm..seems like a lot of work for 5 hps) when it was topped with the same 2 barrel carb.
The 307 rounds this out with its cast iron block and over head valves, it to had the compression ratio of 8.5:1 but with a smaller bore and shorter stroke (3.875 and 3.5 inch)it bu down roughly 200 hp. The 307 was used in Chevelle, Malibu, Nova and the Camaro.
January 6th, 2012 
aunik_aronno
