returned to the SCCA Trans-Am series with Dan Gurney’s AAR Barracuda and Ray Caldwell’s Challenger, both with 305-ci A-engines with a Holley 4-barrel carburetor. These specs (engine size and carburetor) were dictated by the SCCA. Chrysler’s Pete Hutchinson led the Trans-Am program.
Phase Three
This phase could be titled “the refocus era” because Chrysler shifted attention in performance from big-blocks to the small-block. This was a major adjustment. This refocus started in about 1972 and went until the Loan Guarantees in 1979–1980. During this era, sanctioning bodies such as NASCAR and NHRA began handicapping the big-block engines. At first it was factoring or adding weight and restrictor plates, but it grew into actual banning of specific engines by displacement or design.
The rules adjustments led to Richard Petty and other Chrysler racers switching from big-blocks to a 355-ci small-block A-engine. Petty won NASCAR championships in 1974 and 1975 using the race-developed 355 A-engine.
These NASCAR racers originally used 340 Trans-Am blocks but an even better X-block was developed for this program, along with the W2 cast-iron oval-port high-flow cylinder head that featured oval intake ports, high-flow exhaust ports, offset intake rocker arms, rocker shaft stands and modified pedestals, and no heat crossover. Chrysler’s John Wehrly and his team developed the 355 small-block; it made more than 600 hp with a 4-barrel carburetor in the mid-1970s!
In 1974, Chrysler production switched its performance engine from the 340 4-barrel to the 360 4-barrel. To promote this new engine package, Chrysler raced 360 4-barrel A-and E-Bodies in NHRA Super Stock led by Ted Flack and Judy Lilly. These new SS cars and engines were very competitive.
In 1975, Chrysler, through the Direct Connection program, introduced a circle-track race car parts program called the Kit Car Program. A racer could buy a complete short-track race car from Chrysler in kit form, which meant you had to put it together. The engine, drivetrain, and sheet metal all came disassembled. The frame and roll cage were welded together, but everything else had to be assembled.
Although the Kit Car featured the small-block, there were many variations. The sheet metal was originally based on E-Body cars (Challenger/Barracuda), then on A-Body cars (Dart/Duster), and finally on F-Body cars (Aspen/Volare). Chrysler’s Larry Rathgeb and Bill Hancock led the Kit Car Program. Many races were won across the country.
With the success of the NHRA Super Stock program, in 1976, Chrysler moved into NHRA Modified and Gasser classes in drag racing with the W2 head and generally destroked 340s, which were slightly smaller than the earlier 305 Trans-Am package, in the 288- to 295-ci area. These classes allowed two 4-barrel carburetors on tunnel ram intake manifolds.
Also in 1976, the A-engine small-block was used in the Formula 5000 and in the 1977–1978 Can-Am series with the UOP Shadow team. Engine development was led by Bob Tarozzi.
The NHRA Modified and Gasser successes, both in horsepower and durability, led Chrysler to support a 1978 340 Arrow in NHRA Pro Stock. The 340 Arrow was built and driven by Bob Glidden and coordinated by Chrysler’s Dave Koffel. Of the nine NHRA national events in 1978, the 340 won seven of them; Glidden won the championship.
Chrysler’s Tom Hoover and John Wehrly led much of the small-block engine development in this era. Everything ended in 1979–1980 with the loan guarantees.
Phase Four
For the next 5 to 10 years, not much new happened in Chrysler’s performance arena. Therefore, it is probably correct to label this phase as “the reawakening era.” It had very humble re-beginnings, and you could say that it evolved into “the return” era.
It started very slowly in about 1988, with sprint cars and short-track circle-track racing and continued to about 1994–1995. Even before this phase started, drag racing Stock and Super Stock class activity had continued but was somewhat below the radar. In the late 1980s, Mopar Performance (the revised and renamed Direct Connection program) began working on USAC Sprint Cars and ARCA circle-track cars as hard parts development programs for the small-block.
Chrysler/Mopar’s Larry Henry and Mark Reynolds led these programs, which featured racers including Jerry Churchill, Gary Stanton, and Bob Keselowski. Gary Stanton’s USAC Sprint Car won the Silver Crown championships in 1994 and 1996, driven by Jimmy Sills. Bob Keselowski in a Chrysler LeBaron with a small-block finished second in 1992 and third in 1993 in the ARCA championships.
Dodge and Mopar Performance returned to the Trans-Am series in 1992 with the Archer Brothers with Joey Arrington engines. Mopar Performance entered the World of Outlaws winged sprint car series in early 1997, which led to Mark Kinser and the all-aluminum Mopar small-block winning the World of Outlaws championship in 1999. Engine builder Gary Stanton and Chrysler’s Lee Carducci led this sprint car engine program.
Phase Five
Chrysler returned to NASCAR racing and entered the Craftsman Truck series in 1996. Chrysler and Mopar Performance raced in this truck series consistently using Arrington small-block engines and won the championship with Bobby Hamilton in 2004 and with Ted Musgrave in 2005. The development programs to support this racing series were led by Chrysler’s John Wehrly and Ted Flack.
In about 1998, the NHRA launched the new Pro Stock Truck class that was limited to small-blocks. Mopar’s small-block was heavily involved.
The big news came in 2001, when Dodge and Chrysler returned to NASCAR Sprint Cup racing with several teams, led by Ray Evernham and his number-one driver, Bill Elliott. Team Penske ended up winning the 2012 NASCAR championship, with driver Brad Keselowski.
To race, you have to have parts. In about 2005, Mopar Performance had about 23 small-block blocks and around 30 small-block cylinder heads to service the needs of all the Mopar A-engine small-block racers and the various racing categories in which they competed. Mopar Performance/Chrysler designed and manufactured all of these hard parts; this did not include parts made by Edelbrock, Indy Heads, or B1/Brodix.
Mopar Performance had always made hard parts for off-road use. However, beginning in 1996, Mopar Performance began developing high-performance parts for the Magnum small-block engines used in Ram and Dakota trucks that were emissions–exempt as certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Therefore, it was legal to sell and install them on street vehicles.
The Mopar small-block had been so successful in various sprint car racing venues that Mopar Performance developed a 4-cylinder race engine (half of the Mopar small-block) for use in midgets. Jim Szilagyi coordinated this Mopar midget engine program. It was very successful in the early 2000s with several series championships using one A-engine head. It continues today through Gary Stanton Racing Engines.
The engine’s cylinder block is the basic foundation for virtually everything in an engine project, and as such, it affects almost every part in the engine, either directly or indirectly. Improved performance is the typical goal of an engine project, and to accomplish this basic goal, all parts used in the engine must work together.
All parts need to be compatible, but they should also be complementary. You may take the engine apart and put it back together several times before you arrive at the final assembly steps to complete the engine. As you begin building your foundation, use a notebook to keep track of everything that you see and do, from casting numbers to bore sizes, etc., for every part that you use. Once the engine is together, it can be very difficult to gain this information and it may be helpful for any troubleshooting that is required.
Basic block design could be considered similar to architecture because it defines how the block is laid out. An engine family such as the LA-engine and the Magnum extension tend to share many