Extended Family Affair

BY JOHN GILBERT Images by the Author

he corniest and most overused story title in the book for a car magazine is “It’s a Family Affair” but sometimes you just have to go with it … or maybe not. The saga of 15-year-old Hunter Hay and his dad, Ron, building a 408ci stroker LS engine to run in a drive-and-drag 1966 Nova when Hunter turns 16 years old is really a story about Hunter and Ron’s help and support from their extended race car family.

At age 11 Hunter was helping his dad service and prep a Fox-body drag racer. At that early age Hunter learned how to cut the lights when Adam Burkholder and his son, Abe, invited Ron and Hunter to check out RC drag racing. It was an awesome hobby with a full-scale Christmas tree, a real timing system, and running the quarter-mile at scale. Hunter and dad traveled from Oklahoma to Texas, Kansas, and Nevada scoring several NPDR no-prep RC drag racing championships.

At age 13, thanks to Chris Maybriar at Mid America Dragway in Kansas, Hunter went through the process and gained his NHRA license followed with a WDRA license. Hunter borrowed Ron’s hopped-up 2003 GMC shortbed, running it at the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Series and WDRA Summit Racing Equipment Bracket Finals and did quite well. Now, several seasons into it with a long list of wins and championships, Hunter and Ron’s focus is having the 1966 Nova ready for Hunter to drive to high school during the week and race on the weekends.

Sourcing everything needed to build the LS engine, Hunter and Ron looked to Summit Racing Equipment to teach Hunter how to build a race engine. They ordered a Summit Racing Pro LS 6.0L rotating assembly (PN SUM-R24400308) with a cam (PN SUM-822R1) and pair of Trick Flow heads (PN TFS-3061T002). For precision machining (blueprinting) and dyno testing, thanks go to Gary Dunsworth at Dunsworth Machine in Enid, Oklahoma.

For part 1 of the story, we used the dyno just to break in the cam and make sure the engine didn’t have any problems. With only 21 degrees advance and a four-barrel carb, the results were 580.9 hp and 545.1 lb-ft of torque.

In part 2, we’ll show building the top-end and install a Procharger supercharger and show the results.

1. The heart and soul for Hunter Hay’s street/strip Nova is Summit Racing’s Pro LS 6.0 4340 forged steel crank rotating assembly that takes the LS-based 6.0L iron-block engine from 364 out to 408 ci.

3. The OE GM main bearing studs were replaced with an ARP 8740 chromoly steel main bearing stud kit that far lessens the chances of “main cap walk” and fretting.

5. Installing new ARP main studs and the Summit forged steel stroker crank dictated “line honing” the main bearing bores to ensure maintaining the crank-to-cam centerline.

8. Buzzing off a fraction of metal at a time from the connecting rods until the weight matches the other seven connecting rods is a procedural function of static balancing.

10. Static balancing the pistons, Gary Dunsworth said Summit Racing’s forged pistons were almost exactly the same weight right out of the box, requiring only a few tiny passes on the Bridgeport mill to match weight.

12. Spin the crankshaft until it’s just a blur, then repeat the process until the dials read 0-0. Even a slightly out-of-balance crank can contribute to parasitic loss.

14. Summit Racing’s 32-ounce vinyl dead-blow hammer is specifically made for gently tapping pistons down from a ring compressor into the cylinder bore, but it also works to gently remove main caps without marring.

16. Ron taught Hunter how he prefers Lubriplate No.105 as an engine assembly grease because it provides a lubricating film that protects until oil pressure builds and circulates engine oil and dissipates without clogging oil galleries as it dissolves.

18. Cam bearing oiling holes must align with block gallery holes. It’s best to let an experienced person (Dunsworth) drive the cam bearings into the block. Holding the camshaft horizontal matching the horizontal angle of the block, Hunter carefully guided the camshaft home.

20. Just like installing the camshaft into the block, the main bearing inserts are liberally lubricated with Lubriplate No.105 and Hunter is keeping the crank perfectly horizontal with the block.

22. Torquing the main caps to specs while adhering to Summit’s tightening sequence chart is then followed by checking crankshaft end thrust using a large screwdriver to zero the dial indicator then pushing the crank forward to indicate thrust (endplay).

24. It is important to follow Summit’s included chart instructing correct piston ring endgap orientation. Hunter liberally bushed on ATF, noting motor oil works as well.

26. This tool makes the job go like clockwork. Summit’s exact bore size piston ring compressor eliminates the worry of using a universal adjustable piston ring compressor and having it cranked too tight or too loose.

29. With the timing chain on, align the cam sprocket timing mark at 6 o’clock with the crank sprocket timing mark at 12 o’clock, then slide assembly on evenly and torque to spec.