Engine Building - Top Shop Challenge - Editorial

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As you might have seen in last month's Castrol Syntec Top Shop Challenge update, we're building a small-block engine and are now full throttle on the build. With this build needing to be completed by August, we only had a few weeks to complete the engine from top to bottom. With us trying to psyche out the competition, it was only natural for us to play some head games. The top end of an engine is where all of the horsepower comes from, so with two Comp turbos being custom made, we started preparing the CNC Trick Flow heads to take everything that we throw at it.

The Trick Flow heads are the Super 23 Race CNC cylinder heads for small-block Chevrolet engines with 18-degree performance. These ported heads are the closest thing that you can get to 18-degree cylinder head performance in a 23-degree head. Designed to use standard small-block Chevy valvetrain components and headers, they're designed specifically for 400-c.i.d. and larger engines.

We used a brand new set of Trick Flow Super 23 Race CNC ported heads
With so much to do and such a short time frame, Jerry at Ace Machine decided to start off the build tuning and going over the heads to ensure that they will be able to handle the horsepower that we're seeking to accomplish.
With so much to do and such a short time frame, Jerry at Ace Machine decided to start off
Jerry broke out a custom-made heavy duty spring compressor that was able to collapse the valve springs.
Jerry broke out a custom-made heavy duty spring compressor that was able to collapse the v

As you can see, these heads received a lot of machine work before even being modified by us.
As you can see, these heads received a lot of machine work before even being modified by u
Once the valve clips were loosened, the compression springs were removed from the heads.
With nothing holding the heads, the stainless valves were removed.

The valve gaskets were removed using a set of specialty pliers.
These brand new Trick Flow heads were ready to be customized to handle our desired 1,000-plus horsepower engine.
These brand new Trick Flow heads were ready to be customized to handle our desired 1,000-p
Each port needs to be checked to see if the valve will fit properly or if the port needs to be honed out to allow the valve to travel without any binding that can cause a valve to bend.
Each port needs to be checked to see if the valve will fit properly or if the port needs t

The surfacing machine will deck the head and make sure that it's flat, increasing the tolerances between the heads and the engine block.
The surfacing machine will deck the head and make sure that it's flat, increasing the tole
You can see all of the detail on the heads as they were machined to allow the air to flow through to the intake.
You can see all of the detail on the heads as they were machined to allow the air to flow
These metal valve seals (or valve "seats" as they're sometimes referred to) were the last items removed on the heads.
These metal valve seals (or valve "seats" as they're sometimes referred to) were the last