While the block work was being tended to, cylinder head technician Logan Streckler took command of the set of 200cc cast-iron heads supplied by RHS. We decided to go with cast-iron heads instead of aluminum because the cost of the same heads in cast iron is much less, and probably will provide more power in the end. Streckler started out by port matching the heads to the new Weiand Stealth intake manifold. The manifold selected for the Timber Wolf C2 is a low-profile, dual-plane manifold. The port match was only the beginning of the fully finished ports, short turns, and bowls. No part was left unattended, including recutting the seats to double-check guide clearances and rehoning the valve guides. The valve work on the RHS heads is a special part of this build up and one of the important machine operations at JD Machine. This is where horsepower is found or lost. When building any engine, one always has a horsepower figure in mind as a goal. In this case, we had a set goal of 500 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque. We felt this would make a perfect street machine with a sensible compression ratio of 9.5:1. This way, the car could easily run on pump gas available anywhere in the U.S.
From there, the engine block was set up for stroke relieving for the Eagle 4340 stroker crank and their awesome Eagle H-beam 6.0-inch rods. JD Machine has used Eagle products for years and swears by them. The stroke on the crank is 3.875-inches, which required close attention at the bottom of the cylinder bores so not to grind through the water jackets. After all grinding was completed, the block was pressure tested to make certain the water jackets hadn't been breached. After the rotating assembly cleared the crank case area, the block was completely deburred, and all threaded holes were tapped and checked over for any damage. This engine work was accomplished by engine assembler Billy Medley. At this point, the engine was laid together for a dry assembly to check piston-to-valve clearance, pushrod length, and all clearances. Once we were certain everything cleared in the engine, the rotating assembly was balanced on the Winona balancer, where the finished balance job was less than 1 gram max out of balance. ATI Performance Products provided a Super Racing Damper, timing pointer, and one of their trick crank bolts to help balance the assembly.
 Let's Get Married Due to the...  Let's Get MarriedDue to the tight clearances, we put the Classic Chevy 5-speed Tremec transmission in the car first, and then installed the McLeod flywheel, clutch, and scattershield on the engine; then married the two assemblies together in the car. |  Settle Down It's a little...  Settle Down
It's a little tricky to get the transmission input shaft into the McLeod clutch assembly and also line up the motor mounts, but with a little patience and some careful persuasion, everything settled in correctly. |  Let's Bolt Now we can bolt...  Let's Bolt
Now we can bolt the transmission to the McLeod scatter shield, install the engine mounting bolts, and the engine is securely in place. |
Once all machine work was completed, the block and all its parts received a final wash and were readied for assembly. For high-horse insurance, a set of ARP main studs were used to mount the crankshaft into the block. We also ordered a set of custom-built Diamond 18cc dish pistons for our rotating assembly. MAHLE Clevite high-performance main and rod bearings were used along with a Weiand Team G Hi-Flow waterpump.
We ordered the RHS 200cc (64cc chamber) 2.02/1.60 straight plug cast-iron heads as a complete assembly; they came equipped with the latest and greatest from Comp Cams, including their Pro Magnum rocker arms. We also used ARP head bolts to mount the cylinder heads. We decided to go with a Comp Cams custom-grind hydraulic roller cam that Comp delivered within a few days. Comp also shipped us their adjustable billet timing set, a steel timing cover, and a set of ZEX high-performance spark plugs to round out the valvetrain.
After the engine was assembled, and we had our cylinder head data, Comp shipped us our custom-length Magnum pushrods. To button up the bottom end, we used a Champ road race oil pan and pickup in conjunction with a Melling Select Performance high-volume oil pump and chrome-moly shaft.the dual-plane Weiand intake and a custom-built, dyno-tested, Willy's Carburetor Shop 650 DP Holley was then installed. Holley provided the carb and Willy's performed the magic. For fire control, MSD provided one of their jammin' Pro-Billet tach drive distributors, a 6AL ignition control box, a Blaster coil, an APS billet starter, and spark plug wires for our monster mouse motor.