Yea, George, Great Article. This is one of the few moves Chevy did that was responsible for alot of the NASCAR Madness in the Mid to Late 60's. Talking about awesome!
We we are looking at the BigBlueMotorRepairManuals, see what all pieces/parts could be switched around to beat the other guys. One of the fastest, best running motors WAS the 427! There were a few others that didn't catch on as well, but they were out there giving them hell, too.
One particular motor had the crank changed along with the rods. The stock motors block and pistons were used, and it had like a -0.200 deck to piston edge. Yes, it was down on compression, so we threw in the 14 to 1 popups (don't remember exactly, but it WAS higher than 12.5 to 1. It Screamed around the track, Got Black flagged at a bunch of races. But those 427's were pure Hell! One of the drivers paid for a teardown of the motor, AFTER he spun 2 guys out, he had come down the back straightaway, looked over to his left and saw the guys just starting to get underway.
After coming outta the #1 turn, he looked over and both these cars was coming outta the back turn with a full head of steam! One was a 427, and the other was this Hybrid destroker....
By the end of that straightaway, these 2 guys were well into turn 1....the guy know it wasn't right when he was run down from behind after about 3 laps by those cars he spun out.
After 1/2 the field protested, and they did a teardown of both, 1 was a stock motor that was put together right, and the other one they surmised by all the mismatched pistons and deck and stuff....it was some kinda destroked 454....
Anyway....things really got to cooking out on the track as the 427's were blasting past folks, then the 426's/428's of various mfg'ers popped up.
Then the Hemi with the 2x4's popped up smoking everyones ass, the the Ford Boss got on the scene, the SlugFest Began, Back and forth they went. Then Ford came out with the Cammer, and Chevy blew everyones mind with a cammed 427....then NASCAR steps in and outlaws them....too much, too soon, too fast, and not by their rules.
Hell, they were pushing full bodied 2 ton Cars around the track at 160 to 180 mph! You had the Pontiac SD 421's , The Hemi Cudas were on the NASCAR Tracks/ strips/ streets, The Ford BOSS was right behind, Chevy felt left out and they stepped up with the Hemi Headed 427 with the dual cams to the answer for the Ford Cammer motor with the 1 overhead cam.
Things were wild. They were crazy. On the street you had solid lifter rough idling motors from the factory with 12.5 to 1 compression, low gears. You could get a Hemi 'Cuda, throw some slicks on it, some slapper bars, and a little knowhow running 12 flat or in the high 11's all night long, then afterwords put your street tires back on and go cruise the the Sonic And A&W with the White Shoe polish #'s still on the Windshield.
I Loved that period in our history. On any given day, you'd see Camaro's/Nova's/Chevelle's/'Cuda's/Challanger's/Chargers/Mustang's/Fairlanes/Pinto's/GTO's/Catalina's.....all mixing it up on the Street, at the Strips.
Does anybody ever think we'll see that agian? I really feel sorry for the younger generation....they really missed out on a helluva time. But These Articles that are published....keep those days and memories alive.
Those BBCamaros and Chevelles you could hear blocks away, pounding out over 450 horses tuned from the factory....on pump gas.
Those were the days....
