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When the topic is high-quality, high-horsepower, high-performance engines, Bullet Racing Engines is a shop that’s always in the conversation. It also doesn’t hurt that the House Springs, MO-based engine and machine shop is affiliated with Larry Jeffers Race Cars (LJRC), which is well-known for building amazing race cars and chassis. Head engine builder, Nick Bacalis, is always churning out impressive engine builds, and as such, we caught up with Nick at the 2023 PRI show to talk through a ProCharged 5.000” bore space billet big block Chevy engine he had built that was on display inside Michael Rieck’s 1971 C10 truck.
Rieck races his C10 truck in both No Time and No Prep classes. The new LJRC-built machine is a 6.0 double framerail design, and is set it up so Rieck can run both big tires as well as radials. According to Bacalis, Rieck runs five to eight races a year, and is often among the fastest coimpetitors out there, but he wanted to be even faster. Who can blame him? That’s how this ProCharged billet big block Chevy engine build came about.
“This engine was a complete in-house build,” Bacalis says. “It features a Visner block, Visner heads, and Visner intake, plus Visner rocker arms and a Visner oil pan. The engine has a Winberg crank, R&R connecting rods, Ross pistons, Clevite bearings, Total Seal rings, Manton pushrods, Jesel 1.092” keyway lifters, Manley hardware, PSI springs, and a ProCharger F-4X-140. It’s a Pro Mod-style ProCharger.
“We also run a five-stage dry sump system from Dailey Engineering on it. We run a Performance EFI with one of their carbon fiber crank trigger wheels on it with an Innovators West balancer, an Aeromotive fuel system, and XRP crimp hoses. The truck was built over at Larry Jeffers.”
To help control the big block Chevy engine, Nick and Michael opted for a Haltech system with MSD coil-on-plug and a Pro Ignition system box. Other aspects of the engine are being kept under wraps, but Nick was willing to divulge a few more details.
“Since this is for a No Time class, the customer doesn’t want to really say cubic inches to anybody, but it’s over 500 cubic inch,” Bacalis says. “The bore is between a 4.650”-4.700” and then it’s between a 4.000”-4.500” stroke, so somewhere between 500-650 cubic inches. We have to try to keep it down for the customer so nobody knows what he’s really running. You know how those grudge guys are, they don’t want anybody knowing what the real specs are on the motor. But, anybody who wants to build one, we can build one no problem.”
As expected with some secrecy surrounding the bore and stroke, the engine’s cam specs couldn’t be revealed either, but Bacalis did tell us the big block Chevy has a big 70mm camshaft that was custom made by Bullet. It has well over 1” of lift.
Just like the big cam, the engine is running a big ProCharger, which Bacalis says sees over 50-lbs. of boost, which equates to between 4,200-4,500 horsepower.
“It hasn’t been on a dyno at all, but for the times it runs, the weight of the vehicle and the amount of boost, the peak horsepower is over 4,000 hp.”
As mentioned earlier, a lot of this engine came from Dave Visner at Visner Engine Development (VED) in Michigan. This engine is one of the first ones that he’s come out with on this design.
“Due to that, we’ve been working with him on it and waiting for another person to want to build another one so we can try some new stuff on it,” Bacalis says.
It’s an awesome big block Chevy build, and it’ll likely be seen at Lights Out 15, February 22-25, 2024.
Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade1, Elring – Das Original and NPW Companies. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected].
