Charged with making this rig vanish as fast as its West Coast counterpart, Auto Shop of Wichita Falls, Texas, took a 540ci tall-deck big-block Chevrolet motor that exists only in some of our dreams and found a place to corral 700 horses. The 4.50 bore Dart Big M block houses an arsenal of high-quality components. A 4.250 stroke Callies Stealth crankshaft moves the Oliver 6.535 length rods and JE custom-designed pistons, rings, and pins up and down inside the polished cylinders. Ported and polished Dart Pro 1 345 Runner heads are seamed to the block via ARP 12-point head studs and main studs. Completing the top end of the engine is a Bullit Brand hydraulic roller camshaft, a double-roller Cloyes timing chain, 2.30-1.88 stainless Manley valves, and Crower stainless steel rocker arms. Custom CV chrome-moly pushrods also take refuge inside the powerplant.
A CSI high-output starter in conjunction with an MSD Pro Billet distributor carries the necessary current to the MSD wires and electronics for perfect start-ups every time. Prior to lift-off, the fuel flows from a Triangle Engineering custom-built 20-gallon fuel cell through Aeromotive fuel pumps and filters into the 1,600-cfm port-injected, throttle-bodied, Electro Automotive EFI unit with a custom-fabricated CSI throttle linkage. A custom-built, combination four-core C&R Racing radiator with integrated oil cooler complete with dual 13-inch SPAL fans keeps the remaining fluids at acceptable operating temperatures. The engine oil is cooled further by an aluminum high-capacity Steffs oil pan.
To be honest, 700 hp never sounded or felt so good thanks to the 2-1/8-inch-diameter custom-built headers and 3-1/2-inch lead pipe that transitions into a massive Flowmaster big-block muffler and 3-inch tailpipes. All ceramic header coating was applied by Airborne Coatings of Oklahoma City.
With such a tremendous amount of horsepower on tap (did we already mention 700 hp?), the rest of the drivetrain had to be bulletproof.A GM Turbo 400 transmission with a manual valvebody and a 10-inch Coan converter, and an 8-inch Fluidampr harmonic balancer was selected as the leader of any forward charges that the truck takes. An Art Carr partial shifter allocates the gears for both the transfer case and the transmission. An aluminum TCI transmission pan and Fluidyne Enduro HD transmission cooler keeps the fluid flowing with no interruptions between the sudden gear shifts. Once again borrowing from other motorsports technologies, such as monster trucks and tractor-pulling, Bryan bolted an SCS quick-change transfer case rated at 3,000 hp to the Turbo 400. His reasoning behind the quick-change setup was so that he could alter the gear ratios as he went from normal everyday street driving to slow rockcrawling territory. The front and rear driveshafts emanating from the transfer case are custom-balanced and -fabricated 3-1/2x0.120-inch-thick steel units that house 1410 Spicer U-joints built by Longhorn Truck and Trailer of Wichita Falls. Front and rear axles were prepped by Dynatrac. The matching center pinion-situated Dana 70 HD units with 4-inch tubes were stuffed with 5.60 ratio Dana Power Lock units and covered up with finned aluminum Off Road Unlimited covers. Hardened 35-spline outer shafts were appropriately installed. At the end of each Dana 70 is a set of 35-spline Warn Premium locking hubs. A Borgeson offset steering box and joints along with dual hydraulic steering cylinders assist in pointing the massive 16.5x14-inch Weld Super Single Racing wheels with 39.5x18x16.5 Interco Super Swamper TSL Boggers wherever they must go.