Next month, we'll continue our Summit Racing/MCE Engines 331 Stealth build in Part 2 with more details important to engine integrity, reliability, and power. Then we'll put this engine on Westech's dyno for a polygraphic look at how power is made, and how we can sometimes come up short for reasons not immediately apparent.
Summit Racing sent Marvin...
Summit Racing sent Marvin this 100-amp Powermaster alternator in satin black to keep everything adequately charged. Marvin installed the large pulley to reduce the turn ratio by 12 percent. This keeps alternator rpm down at high revs. The water pump is also underdriven by 10 percent to prevent hot spots at high rpm.
Marvin dynamic balances all...
Marvin dynamic balances all of his engine builds and you should too. Small-block Fords are externally balanced, which means the flywheel/flexplate and harmonic balancer must be included in the balancing. Marvin depends on his own Ford specialist, Rocky Bowen, at Automotive Balancing in South Gate, California, for an exceptional balancing job.
We're running a MSD billet...
We're running a MSD billet distributor with a vacuum advance for street use. Marvin curves the distributor timing to follow a logical street curve for crisp throttle response. The vacuum advance hands its duties off smoothly to the mechanical advance inside as rpms increase.
Who Is Marvin McAfee?
If you're familiar with the racing world around Los Angeles, you know Marvin McAfee. Marvin is outspoken and extraordinarily-talented with a mindset for engine science. Marvin's Competition Engines has been around since the '60s and has been building engines for a fortunate few ever since. When Boss 302 Mustangs and Z-28 Camaros were tearing up the SCCA Trans Am circuit in 1969-1970, Marvin was there building the powerful engines that made these cars and their drivers legendary. When the jet age was unfolding during the '50s and '60s, Marvin was building, installing, and testing jet engines and the aircraft they powered. His disciplined psyche was born of knowing when to forego the short cut. Marvin has never given in to a clock or a budget in his engine building philosophy. It's logic rooted in his aerospace and racing background. If he can't build it right, he doesn't build it.
Marvin maintains his shop in a quiet Los Angeles neighborhood where he's been building engines since the dawn of the baby boom. There, he passionately burns the midnight oil, learning and practicing everything he can toward engine building excellence. This may sound like a puff job, but Marvin has touched our knowledge of engines like no one else has in 20 years of automotive journalism. He has taught us much in the short time we've known him. Our experiences with him have been extraordinary, and he's become an extraordinary friend. Marvin is the teacher and we are the students. Let class begin. -Jim Smart