On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:10:16 -0800, "Ron Webb"
wrote:

Yea, I know. That's why I threw that in there.

It's not what Blanton did though. He ported his own heads, and had his own
cam custom ground. I don't remember what he used for a carb, but I'll bet it
was bigger than a 300 CFM 2 barrel. He also made his own headers (parts are
available now from northwest aero).

All that adds up to substantiating Blanton's claims, and simultaneously
explaining why others have not done as well.

Blanton used (originally) a 500 CFM version of the Holley two barrel
carburetor. He experimented with the 300 CFM model and decided
unequivally that the only one to use was the 500 CFM unit. Blanton
was given to unequivical pronounciations... frequently. When you read
his newsletter, it's full of figuritively loud statements about how
this works, how that works and what idiots everyone else in the world
is for not listening to him.

The cam is nothing special, it's what everyone who converts a 3.8
uses. As I mentioned, it's one of the few things he got right right
out of the box and he did not design it himself. He had a cam guru he
was acquainted with do it for him and that guy managed to get it
right.

When you limit the 3.8 to a maximum of 4,800 rpm and have it breathing
through a 300 cfm carb, it doesn't matter what kind of cam you have in
it, it's simply not enough engine to produce more than about 200
horsepower. The engine speeds and compression ratio and breathing
just don't allow it.

I know of no individual other than Blanton who claims their engine saw
260 horsepower on a dyno. All others range from 160 (virtually stock
and without the cam and pistons) to 235 hp (higher compression pistons
than Blanton specified, after market rods and at 5,300 rpm).

For all his machining expertise, Blanton just got the figures on his
dyno runs wrong. Doesn't it bother you that no one else on earth was
able to duplicate Blanton's dyno runs? Isn't that the acid test:
Being able to duplicate test results?

Corky Scott