Homegrown Horsepower: Garage-Built BBC Teaches Enthusiast The Basics

leadBuilding an engine for the first time is a daunting task for many – and it’s even more challenging when you live in the Netherlands and have to purchase most, if not all, of your race-oriented products from the US. In the latest edition of EngineLabs‘ Homegrown Horsepower segment, we find out what makes this European racer tick.

“I have been interested in drag racing since 1996 when I went to Hockenheim and viewed top fuel dragsters. Before that I visited a few strips in the USA when I visited some of my family there,” says Ibo van der Haven.

The challenges of products manufactured far away didn’t stop van der Haven from pursuing his interest of becoming a drag racer. Thanks to his uncle, who lives in Pennsylvania, van der Haven was able to procure a sweet G-body Malibu for shipment to the Netherlands, then work with a local machinist to put together a sweet big-block Chevrolet engine for motivation.

“At that time I couldn’t even adjust the valves. By reading, looking at fellow racers and by trial and error I learned quickly and this winter I built the engine I’m going to race with this season,” he says.

An Eagle forged crankshaft, Eagle H-beam connecting rods, and CP pistons come together to make 496 cubic inches of big-block Chevy music on the track.

The engine is based around a Mark IV four bolt main big-block Chevrolet that uses 34cc domed CP pistons to fill the 4.310-inch cylinder bores. An Eagle Specialty Products 4340 forged steel 4.250-inch stroker crankshaft combines with the Eagle 6.385-inch forged H-beam connecting rods to finalize displacement at 496 cubic inches. To ensure proper oiling at high RPM, van der Haven installed a Melling high-volume oil pump.

Ibo van der Haven on the right. The horsepower bug bit him late in life, but he's making the most of it now!

Ibo van der Haven on the right. The horsepower bug bit him late in life, but he’s making the most of it now!

Airflow requirements are met through the use of a 4-7 swap solid roller camshaft from Comp Cams, and the company also got the nod for their solid roller lifters and pushrods, while Crane‘s 1.7:1 gold race rocker arms sit atop the cast-iron rectangular-port cylinder heads. Intake ports measure 325 cc, while the combustion chambers are 106cc. Cometic head gaskets seal the chambers, while Fel-Pro gaskets seal the rest of the engine up.

“The owner of the machine shop honed the cylinders for me and balanced the crankshaft. With his help I flowed the heads and polished the chambers. I assembled the entire engine myself at my own garage,” says van der Haven.

Home-ported cylinder heads, E85 fuel, a honkin' Dominator carburetor..what more does one need?!

van der Haven’s porting skills came back into the picture when it came time to finalize the Edelbrock 2927 Super Victor intake manifold for competition; after scribing the intake gasket dimensions onto the port surface, van der Haven fired up the grinder and port-matched the intake to the cylinder heads to ensure smooth flow with no unwanted interruptions.

If you think fuel is expensive here in the US, it’s incrementally more expensive across the pond, where taxes increase the price of fuel to stratospheric levels. With this in mind, van der Haven made the smart choice to use E85 to fuel his new engine; a 1050cfm Holley Dominator modified by AED Performance supplies the fuel mixture to the cylinders.

On the top side of the engine, van der Haven put his newfound skills with the grinder to work to tune up the cylinder heads and intake manifold. Valvetrain components are from Comp Cams, while Crane's gold race rocker arms are used.

On the top side of the engine, van der Haven put his newfound skills with the grinder to work to tune up the cylinder heads and intake manifold. Valvetrain components are from Comp Cams, while Crane’s gold race rocker arms are used.

The car – emblazoned with van der Haven’s “Cheap Thrills” moniker on the side – will race in the Dutch Hot Rod Association‘s events this year.

“Drag racing is not equally big like in the USA but there are a lot of strips in the UK, Germany, Sweden and in the Netherlands. We race at an airport in Drachten, which is my local strip. The DHRA has organised races for 40 years in the Netherlands,” says van der Haven.

Cheap Thrills indeed.

Cheap Thrills indeed.

Two years ago he couldn’t set the valves on an internal combustion engine; today he’s a drag racer that’s put his fingers and mind to work and constructed a solid beast of a bullet that will be a heck of a lot of fun to race with on the track.

If you’re interested in submitting your garage-built engine to Homegrown Horsepower, send a few quality photos and the details to [email protected].

About the author

Jason Reiss

Jason draws on over 15 years of experience in the automotive publishing industry, and collaborates with many of the industry's movers and shakers to create compelling technical articles and high-quality race coverage.
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