Turbocharged 363 Stroker Engine Build - 200-MPH Takedown

With our short-block covered, we started in on power producers, namely the heads, cam, and induction. Early on, we decided that having extra engine speed might help us with our gearing, so we elected to run a solid-roller cam to extend the effective operating range to 7,000 rpm. The intake and heads were given the same consideration, as we were looking for a power peak slightly below 7,000 rpm, while maintaining the ability to rev that high to improve acceleration and average power production once we made the necessary shifts. Proper cam timing for our boosted stroker was provided by the Ford cam experts at Cam Research Corp. We once again relied on them for cam timing for the turbo motor. Cam Research Corp supplied what we thought was a pretty mild profile, at least in terms of duration. Taking full advantage of our high-flowing AFR 225 heads, the solid-roller cam supplied for our 363 checked in with a healthy 0.736/0.727-lift split, a 254/252 duration split, and a boost-friendly 112-degree lobe separation. Though the 254/252 duration split seemed tame, the results were nothing short of amazing, both normally aspirated and turbocharged. The Cam Research Corp cam was combined with roller lifters, a double-roller timing chain, and hardened pushrods all from Comp Cams. The final touch of valvetrain hardware was a set of 1.7-ratio gold roller rockers.

Given the displacement and use of flat-top pistons, the static compression ratio was a tad high for a boosted application with your typical 60cc combustion chambers. Though we've successfully run turbo motors with 11.0:1 compression (or higher), this was not a dedicated race motor-it would see plenty of street driving in addition to the standing-mile competition. For this reason, we elected to run a set of AFR 225 aluminum heads that offered not only impressive flow numbers (325/258 cfm at 0.700 lift), but also a great many other features. The AFR 225 heads featured lightweight 8mm (2.08/1.60) valves to improve effective rpm, ultra-thick (0.750-inch) deck surfaces to minimize distortion and improve sealing under high-boost applications and a raised exhaust port to maximize exhaust flow. Another nice feature of the AFR 225 heads we selected was the 72cc combustion chamber size, which brought the static compression ratio down to a more streetable 10.0:1. The AFR 225 heads were set up with a valvespring package suitable for our 0.736-lift roller cam.