Easy Engine Block Upgrades

It's no secret that one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get into racing is a Strictly Stock class. It's where you can pull a car out of a junkyard or find a steal on a used-car lot and hit the racetrack with very little effort.

Usually, the allowed performance upgrades in these classes are minimal, and the only major changes allowed include stripping out everything unnecessary to racing and adding the standard required safety features (aluminum racing seat, rollcage, fuel cell, and so on). But just because you haven't added a ton of power, or even traction, that doesn't mean that your car, which can go 100,000 miles over the road without a whimper, can make more than a handful of races on the racetrack without breaking down.

A good example of this is the engine. Many of the components in a good old American V-8 are quite capable of handling the stresses of racing, but they won't do so if they remain in the same state as when they arrived from the factory. In Strictly Stock classes, an engine in good shape has a block, crank, heads, connecting rods, and sometimes even pistons that are usable in the final racing product. But the little things will cause trouble.

Take the block, the foundation of any race engine, for example. A good Chevy or Ford small-block can handle several hundred horsepower dependably when properly prepared. But the nickel-and-dime parts, such as oil gallery plugs, can be the death of an engine. The increased and sustained oil pressure that comes from extended periods of racing at high rpm levels can cause those plugs to work loose and leak. When that happens, the oil pressure drops and bearing damage is soon to follow.

There are several other areas on most engine blocks that require similar attention. The good news is most of these upgrades are easily accomplished and do not require specialized machining equipment. These are steps you can take to not only improve the durability of your race engine, but also save some money versus paying an engine builder to do it. This applies any time you use a stock block as the foundation for any race engine.

For more tips, we paid a visit to KT Engine Development while shop owner Ken Troutman prepared a Chevy small-block for a Strictly Stock engine build. Troutman used a Chevrolet for this build, but these tips are also applicable with Ford blocks. The only difference may be the number and locations of the oil gallery plugs. We aren't discussing every step required when it comes to block machining and prep before assembly can begin, just some of the more common areas that are often missed.

Here's a shot of the press-in oil plugs as they arrive in a stock block. If they aren't removed, it is impossible to properly wash out the oil galleries. Any grit or slag left in the galleries after assembly may cause a painful death to one, or several, of the bearings.

Once the plug is out, Ken Troutman, owner of KT Engine Development, recommends threading this hole with a 1/4-18 tap. You want to avoid accidentally running the plug in too deep, so only run the tap down about half an inch.