Here’s a comparison of what to expect from an optimized solid roller, hydraulic roller with hydraulic lifters and a solid flat-tappet cam. You can easily see the merits of each. The hydraulic roller is much stronger to about 5,700 rpm. But if you’re willing to rev it a little, just look at what you can get with either the solid flat tappet or the solid roller. If you think the smaller cams were being limited by the smaller intake and carb, just think what it’s doing to the solid roller!

solid-roller intake swap:

Since we know the Vic Jr intake was struggling to feed the “555” even with the smaller cams, there was no reason to think it wasn’t seriously affecting the solid roller setup, too. Next up was an intake we hadn’t tested yet, a Reher-Morrison/Edelbrock CNC Victor 454-R. This intake is slightly smaller than the Super Victor we had been using, and we wanted to see if it might just be the perfect setup. We also pressed our Holley 1150 CFM Ultra HP Dominator back into service. It definitely turned out to be a good move, because we added 17.5hp to the peak and were now at 822.2hp at 6,800 rpm. It’s kind of hard to say where peak torque occurred because from 4,900-5,700 rpm, it only moved about 6 lbs-ft! Talk about flat! If you grab a gear and fall back anywhere around that sweet spot, you better hang on! As long as I’m making nearly 700 lbs-ft of torque, I’ll gladly trade 5 lbs-ft down low for 15-20hp at the top end. It’s hard enough to hook up a small, tired car anyway!

This custom-built Braswell Dominator carb and Wilson CNC Edelbrock Super Victor intake make a killer combination! More power everywhere! The most eye-opening part of this test was the increased torque and the fact that the peak horsepower rpm actually dropped to 6,700 rpm where it made 849.2hp! That’s a 22hp increase at 300 less rpm.

Next up was a back-to-back intake test, as we brought out the excellent Wilson CNC-ported Edelbrock Super Victor again. Here’s where we start seeing the point of diminishing returns, but the larger CNC Edelbrock Super Victor overtook the CNC Edelbrock Victor 454-R at 4,900 rpm and was up 4-6hp at almost every data point. In addition to making slightly more power down low, the larger Super Victor uncorked the airflow wall we were hitting at 6,800 rpm. The peak horsepower now occurred at 7.000 rpm, and we were making 826.9hp. At 7,200 rpm, we were hanging on and making an additional 14hp over what the Victor 454-R could manage. Now, to put all of this in perspective, unless you spin this engine into the 7,500 rpm range, the Super Victor isn’t going to make you much faster. But it’s not going to make you any slower either, if your gearing was correct in the first place for the Victor 454-R. You can easily tune the Super Victor to drive nice on the street, but if you have an automatic and a converter that doesn’t flash real high, the Reher-Morrison CNC Edelbrock Victor 454-R could be just right for you. A stick car will be happy with either one.

Our last test was another eye opener. Remember that first test between an out-of-the-box Demon 850 and a Holley HP 1000 that had the same actual dimensions? Well, here’s another one, but with a twist. The Holley 1150 CFM Ultra HP Dominator uses a throttle plate diameter of 2.00 inches and a venturi of 1.81 inches. The custom-built Braswell Dominator we’ve been using has a larger throttle plate diameter of 2.04 inches and a smaller venturi of 1.7 inches. This test would pit the out-of-the-box Holley against the custom Braswell. Now, as you can expect, there is a huge price difference between these two carburetors, but this would allow us to see what it would take to beat the stock Holley. Considering the previous pulls, it was going to be a good race! The most eye-opening part of the test was the increased torque and the fact that the peak horsepower rpm actually dropped to 6,700 rpm, where it made 849.2hp! That’s a 22hp increase at 300 less rpm. We were still holding 834hp at 7,200 rpm, which was still 11hp better than the last test. Peak torque still occurred at 5,000 rpm and was up 16 lbs-ft! This is a slightly unfair test, since we put an out-of-the-box carb against a custom built one. That’s sort of like putting a stock intake or a set of stock heads against parts with full porting, but it gives you an idea of what’s possible. Anything you can do to improve airflow and/or mixture quality is going to make more power across the board.

the bottom line:

When the dyno cell finally went silent, we all knew it was time for Doug to start analyzing all the combinations and pick the best setup for Bruiser. That was a pretty tough call with all that wonderful horsepower staring you in the face and your ears still ringing with the sweet sounds of a screaming big-inch motor. If heaven is 355 inches at 7,000 rpm, then pure bliss is 555 inches at 7,500! It surely didn’t help that even the baddest version was downright street friendly at low rpm, too. Doug slept on it overnight, and we reviewed the requirements for Bruiser one more time. Being one of the most sensible members of our group. Doug was able to clearly go back to the original plan and make the decision. We wanted killer power, great street manners and no hassles with maintenance. The other big factor was hood clearance. The big intakes that really brought up the power on the top end just aren’t going under a stock C3 L-88 Hood. So that established the Wilson-modified Edelbrock Victor Jr. and the Holley HP 1000. After that was settled, we struggled with the solid flat tappet vs. the hydraulic roller. Considering the 3.73 gears were already in the car and we had a double O/D six-speed trans., PS, PB and A/C, it just makes sense to select the hydraulic roller, due to its low maintenance and increased low-end power. So when all is done, Bruiser will hit the streets with about 775hp using the Royal Purple oil and with the knowledge that 800+ horsepower is just an intake/carb swap away! Doug will be able to pound the gears at 6,500 rpm and never break a sweat!

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