It makes one wonder what would happen if there was an aftermarket that supported these engines.
With a bit of effort (read $$$) you can get all the parts to do one.
To get the aftermarket to pay attention - it takes people asking for the parts.
If 200 (I know its a pipe dream)people called say Comp cam on the same day asking for cams it just might get their attention. This is big hole that needs to get filled. Sure billet blanks are available - this is how anyone gets cams for this engine now - but they are not cheap.
Kooks is coming onboard with headers - hopefully not so expensive that folks choke on the price.
I'm convinced that by:
- porting the head
- headers
- cams
- good tune
This is a 375HP (crank) engine NA. That's 396 BBC output in the late 60's.
With reduced compression (2 points from stock) and a stock exhaust manifold, I made 350ish crank with cams and a ported head/1mm os valves.
Ignore the OS valves and keep the stock compression with headers and cams and you have a fun engine to go play with. The one thing with these engines is you don;t need a lot of duration (200* @ 050) would be a real nice set of street cams. Once the head flow is balanced it really works well.
The window to get parts demand up is now - wait 5 years and the engines will start to be harder to come by. Production stopped in 2009. The 2002 engines are now 11 years old. Peak production was I think 2004/2005. The main update was 2006 with tweaks in 2008 to the crank and timing wheels.
