PROJECT WHITE WAGON; DART AFTERMARKET BLOCKS POISED TO FLY IN SS/STK
For the last two decades, Dart Engineering’s reputation has been in supplying cylinder heads, intake manifolds and engine blocks for fast doorslammers. Richard Maskin’s company isn’t changing that focus – just diversifying to include the Stock and Super Stock markets.
In this latest installment of our Project White Wagon, we will focus on the engine block for our anticipated 800-horse, 292-inch screaming small block engine. We will use a modified version of Dart’s popular Iron Eagle block to serve as the foundation for what will eventually be a Pro Stock Truck engine trapped between the fenders of a classic Super Stock/Modified entry.
Recently Maskin conveyed his company is treading into more of the class racing waters with the recent approval of at least three Dart product lines as acceptable aftermarket replacement blocks. Those product lines are the popular Big M, Iron Eagle and SHP.
The popular Big M, which has recently exceeded 20,000 in sales, has been modified over the course of the last year where it can replace any big block that GM ever made from 1965 to date.
For the last two decades, Dart Engineering’s reputation has been in supplying cylinder heads, intake manifolds and engine blocks for fast doorslammers.
Richard Maskin’s company isn’t changing that focus – just diversifying to include the Stock and Super Stock markets.
In this latest installment of our Project White Wagon, we will focus on the engine block for our anticipated 800-horse, 292-inch screaming small block engine. We will use a modified version of Dart’s popular Iron Eagle block to serve as the foundation for what will eventually be a Pro Stock Truck engine trapped between the fenders of a classic Super Stock/Modified entry.
Recently Maskin conveyed his company is treading into more of the class racing waters with the recent approval of at least three Dart product lines as acceptable aftermarket replacement blocks. Those product lines are the popular Big M, Iron Eagle and SHP.
The popular Big M, which has recently exceeded 20,000 in sales, has been modified over the course of the last year where it can replace any big block that GM ever made from 1965 to date.
Essentially if you have a 396, the NHRA’s new ruling made it possible for you to replace the “tired” OEM block with a stronger version from Dart for your Super Stocker. Or for that matter, a 427, 454 or a Siamese bore, a 10.200, or a 9.800 which the M started life as, Dart can go as far as make a Mark 5 out of them with one piece seal crank. Even better, Maskin adds, a myriad of options can be machined into the blocks.
“Well the stuff just got approved for Super Stock so we’re just seeing the beginning of it,” Maskin confirmed. “I’m not saying it’s a homerun but its additional sales for our company and for sure it’s a better product than the customer has ever had to work with. So it’s a win-win for everybody.”
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The first aspect the customer will notice will be in cost.
“The cost of the block is going to be significantly less than what they are spending now because if you ever could come out with a real 396 block and you had the right serial numbers which is worth a fortune so why would you put it in a race car,” Maskin conveyed. “The guys that have to do what they have to do are taking 454 blocks and putting 8 sleeves in them. That’s prohibitively expensive for one thing and number two it’s not near as good and or going to last as long as a Big M one.
“So the benefits of the past production stuff that GM is now not because they structured their company after bankruptcy to make money. In order to make money they can’t be messing around with stuff that we are talking about right now. I mean that’s just not part of the deal. In the past it was promotional and they just wrote it off. Now they just can’t do it.”
Because his Big M blocks are available in aftermarket production, Maskin believes those who chose this route will find that the material is better than what they are accustomed with the OEM version. In addition, Maskin believes the casting are very accurately made with weight not being a huge consideration to save money and likewise under the same federal regulations to get better gas mileage.
“We built a racing version of an OE designed block with lined head bolts, big decks, thick cylinder walls, the ability to move lifters around, put aftermarket lifters in them, better oiling, all priority main oiling with the ability to restrict oil to parts of the engine that don’t need as much as a stock engine would have without going into a lot of machine work, much better main caps, and our machining is very accurate,” added Maskin.
The SHP product line as Maskin puts it “is an affordable product line for these same class racers.”
Designed for high performance and heavy duty applications, the SHP block is a starter block for incoming Super Stock racers. It is available with both a 305 and 350 bore and accepts up to a 50 mm roller camshaft with the big lifters.
“This is our entry level block,” Maskin explained. “It has Siamese bores with thick walls. The block is light, and while it might not be as light as a [stock] Chevy block but it has thicker walls. It’s made out of better materials. It’s machined like every one of our blocks. It’s a pretty darn good block.”
Maskin confirmed that Dart has moved 6000 of these blocks in less three years.
“It gives you an idea just how popular it is,” Maskin added. “The SHP has all the features of a good old racing block without the weight or cost. It’s not as strong as a Little M but it doesn’t need to be where it’s going in the 500 – 700 horsepower range. We do advertise 600-horses to be on the conservative side but 900 isn’t out of the question.”
For our application, since our wagon’s engine will essentially be a hybrid between a Comp eliminator and a Pro Stock Truck powerplant, we plan to fly with the Iron Eagle. Because of our cylinder head/intake configuration from CFE, our engine block will require an 8.200 deck height similar to those run with the old Oldsmobile [GM Aurora] Rocket blocks.
Maskin was one of the leading engine builders during the NHRA’s Pro Stock Truck era of the 1990s and early 2000s. In the early days, the Aurora block was the one of choice but then limited availability inspired the Rocket. Dart’s Iron Eagle is an aftermarket upgrade of the Rocket.
“We took the Rocket Block and modified the tooling in such a way that we could make a block the way it wanted to look with the short deck height and longer barrels,” Maskin explained. “It already had a raised up cam and we moved the materials to wherever we wanted and whatever other features that weren’t added to the block we added to it. Over the course of the past ten years we kept those features and added them to the tooling so we can continue to make an 8.200 deck block with all the features the way we want them to be.
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“Yeah you could say that knowledge came out of the Pro Stock Truck program of how to build a short deck small block and to do it correctly. We’ve built quite a few of them for other people and in fact we make that block in both 4.400 spacing, which is stock, and now we make it in 4.500 spacing, which is very popular in Comp Eliminator nowadays.”
And as excited as Maskin gets about the Big M’s inclusion within the Stock and Super Stock, he’s equally excited about the Iron Eagle.
“It’s got everything,” Maskin said. “Number one it was way ahead of its time because it goes back to 1988. That’s 22 years now that it’s been around. It was way ahead of its time with all of its capabilities. The wide pan rail, the raised cam, it basically took on the Pro Stock technology of the Gen. II stuff at that point in time. At this point for a conventional style small block over the past 20 something years nothing better has really been built so that’s what I believe. I can say with conviction that it’s way ahead of its time.”
Timing means everything in drag racing and for Maskin, these moves by the NHRA while great now, should have happened years ago.
“This is something that should’ve happened a long time ago and the sanctioning bodies were so hoodwinked by the car companies that they pretty much didn’t pay attention to who their customers were,” said Maskin. “And their customers are the racers and the aftermarket. Well now we have a much more level playing field, I believe our product is much better than anything the car companies can make.”
Maskin believes this quality will be the factor to taking class racing to the next level.
PART 11, WE ARE ROLLING AGAIN
PAST INSTALLMENTS
* Part 1, Outlining The Project
* Part 2, Getting The Car on The Jig
* Part 3, Preparing for the Four-Link
* Part 4, Preparing the Cylinder Heads
* Part 5, Project Gains A Purpose
* Part 6, Shocking the Wagon
* Part 7, A Real Clutch Player
* Part 8, Nova Body Parts Done Right
* Part 9, Space Age Intake Meets The Basket Case
* Part 10, Dart Aftermarket Blocks Poised to Fly in Stk/SS
* Part 11, We Are Rolling Again
PROJECT WHITE WAGON SUPPORTERS
TL Race Cars (864) 427-5269
Fluid Power Specialties (864) 599-1118
Minton's Wrecker Service (864) 474-2581
Fulton Competition
PART SUPPLIERS
A.E.D. Motorsports Products (tubing)
Applied Racing Technologies (A.R.T)
Aeromotive Inc. (fuel system)
Autometer Guages (tech, engine gauges)
Bill Miller Engineering (rods, pistons)
Browell Bellhousings (bellhousing)
CFE Heads (cylinder heads, intake)
CFM Composites (seats)
Carson's Nut-Bolt and Tool
Comp Cams (camshaft)
Dart Engineering (Engine Block)
Flatout Gaskets (engine gaskets)
Hedman Headers (headers)
I.R.C. (wheelie bar wheels, bracketry)
Jegs Mail Order (misc.)
J&W Nova Parts (body panels and body sheetmetal)
Liberty's Transmissions (Transmission, Gears)
Matco Tools - (tools, tool box)
Mickey Thompson Tires & Wheels (front tires, slicks)
Moroso Performance (valve covers)
QA-1 (Rod Ends)
Quartermax Racing & Chassis Components (suspension, chassis components, axles)
Ram Clutches
Santhuff Shocks (front, rear shocks)
Simpson Safety - (Helmet, Firesuit)
Strange Engineering (Axles, Rearend companents)
Weld Racing (front, rear wheels)
Winberg Crankshafts (crankshaft)
