Our search for 500 hp led...
Our search for 500 hp led us to Pro Power parts and final assembly at Carl McQuillen's Racing Engines. Here, the McQuillen's crew poses with Frank's affordable 506-horse small-block Ford.
When my longtime friend, Franky DiGiorgio, called last summer, he started telling me about his latest super Ford project. He's always wanted to build a Cobra kit car, and he had dreams of stuffing a stroked Windsor small-block into the thing. He was looking for 500 horses with a mild compression ratio so he could just pull up to a gas station and use pump gas. More importantly, Frank likes to stretch a dollar, especially since he's a young father with a family to support. So his small-block Ford wasn't going to have a limitless amount of money poured into it. Building 500 hp on a budget? It sounded like a great story for us to cover.
To get his project started, we suggested that Frank call our buddy Wild Bill Devine because he's the lead salesperson at Dale Metlika's Pro Power parts house. After a few questions about the goal of the project, Wild Bill prescribed exactly what Franky needed to make his dreams of pounding down the street in a Cobra stormer a reality. Pro Power has a seemingly limitless selection of stroker kits with crank, rod, and piston options that allow you to select the parts combination for your exact applications. More importantly, with the collective experience that Dale and Bill offer, you know you're getting just what you need without spending money on high-dollar "race parts" that provide no additional benefit to your goals.
This was far from Frank's first trip through a parts book with dreams of a hot small-block Ford in mind. He had lots of experience putting together Ford small-blocks, and as such he wanted to start with a production block. He found a Ford production 351 Windsor block that was manufactured in 1969.
"The desirable early model year 351 Windsor blocks are designated by the 'DOE' prefix on the casting number," Franky says. "These are good, old blocks that-as long as they aren't hurt-can save you a bunch of money. This block costs me $150-compare that to the $1,000 aftermarket Ford blocks that are out there. With the right parts inside, this will easily hold 500 horses."
With the block selected and sent off to the machine shop, it was time to pick the right parts from Pro Power. While you can get away with less, Frank just couldn't hold himself back. Having destroyed a stock 5.0 block a few years ago, he decided to err on the side of caution and went with an upgraded "racing" stroker kit from Pro Power. After the credit-card numbers had been cleared, we asked Dale to detail the kit he was supplying to our boy Franky.
 This is a 4.100-inch stroker...  This is a 4.100-inch stroker that, when combined with a 4.030-inch bore, will generate a really sweet 419 cubes. This is a 4340 piece of forged steel that will take all but the most abusive environments. Pro Power rates its Prime One crank to 1,200 hp. You can save some money by going with a cast crank, but Franky must be planning for some nitrous. |  All of our engine fasteners...  All of our engine fasteners came from ARP. They are the industry standard. |  Here's a look at the rods...  Here's a look at the rods and pistons of this combination. Again, Pro Power offers all sorts of different combinations, materials, and budget levels for its stroker kits. The 6.200-inch Prime One rod is an H-beam design that's CNC machined and rated to 1,200 hp. It also features 71/416-inch ARP rod bolts. |