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Engine: This was originally a 340 car, but seeking more cubic inches, Ken removed that engine and replaced it with a 340X block bored to 4.125 inches. It houses a 4.00-inch Mopar Performance crankshaft, Eagle 6.125-inch rods, and CP 13.0:1 pistons. The cam is custom ground from Comp with 278/282 duration and 0.640/0.620 lift on a 108-degree lobe-separation angle. Indy oval-port aluminum cylinder heads are on top. Ken ported and assembled them himself with Ferrea 2.08/1.65-inch valves, K-Motion valvesprings, and T&D rocker arms. Comp solid roller lifters and Smith Bros. pushrods bridge the gap between block and heads.
Induction: Ken modified the Indy intake manifold, cutting about 1 1/2 inches of material off the carburetor flange, and made a four-hole carburetor spacer/adapter to mount a 1,050-cfm Dominator carburetor, packaging it all so it would fit under his car's AAR-style fiberglass hood. Said Dominator is kept supplied with a steady stream of Sunoco 110-octane race gas by a Barry Grant 280 fuel pump.
Ignition: The Mallory Unilite distributor is left over from Ken's first race car-a '70 Duster he owned in the '80s. It's controlled by an MSD Digital 7AL box with a two-step launch control.
Exhaust: The Hooker headers are also leftovers from Ken's Duster, and he says he only needed to modify a few of the tubes and notch the subframe in a couple of spots to get them to fit the E-Body chassis. They measure 17/8 inches at the primaries, and 31/2 inches at the collectors.
Transmission: A Pro-Trans-built 904 handles the shifting duties. Ken says he picked up 0.25 second when he swapped it in place of his 727 trans. Wheels-up launches come courtesy of the Turbo-Action transbrake and the steep, 5,700-stall Continental torque converter.
Rearend: A Strange 9-inch is out back, stuffed with 4.30 gears on a spool and Moser 35-spline axles.
Suspension: The torsion bars are stock, but the shocks are double-adjustable QA1s. In the rear, Rancho 1000 shocks are mounted to a Calvert leaf spring and CalTracs traction bar combination.
Brakes: Wilwood disc brakes are on all four corners.
Interior: The interior is surprisingly stock looking except for a few extra gauges and the 10-point chrome-moly rollcage built by Bob Miller at BMP in Prescott, Arizona. The 'cage is NHRA certified to 7.99 seconds.
Paint/Body: Ken bought this car about five years ago for about $3,000, so you can imagine it was a little trashed. No worries-he owns Mascar Autobody & Paint and has done a few high-quality restorations in his life. He did a full rotisserie job on the car, media-blasting and cutting away all the crap and replacing it with good sheetmetal. He sprayed the Plum Crazy and matte-black paint scheme using BASF basecoat/clearcoat and had the car up and running in a mere eight months.
Wheels/Tires: Fifteen-inch Weld wheels are all around. The front tires are Moroso 28x4.5, and the rear slicks are Phoenix 28.5x11.5.
It is stunning to watch Ken make a pass. With a transbrake and a two-step rev limiter, his Barracuda launches hard, pulling the front wheels a good 2 feet off the ground. He shifts at 7,200 rpm and the whole ordeal is over in about 9.5 seconds. He's going a blistering 140 mph through the traps. Though he has never had the engine on a dyno, Ken guesses that it makes in the neighborhood of 750 hp based on his e.t.'s versus the car's 3,400-pound race weight.
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