Building a ride to match: 1000HP

The silence is deafening.

The high-decibel roaring, screaming, vibrating and wall shaking ended only moments before. Happily, there’s no gushing fluid, no smoke and no parts spit onto the floor or slung into the walls, parts that are supposed to stay on the inside of the engine.

And happily, the dynamometer — the horsepower-o-meter — shows 915 ponies and 830 lb-ft. of torque, with plenty of tuning left to do.

“It’s still got lots left in it,” reassures the man at the controls of this fuel-injected and supercharged 7.3-liter Chrysler V8.

“Probably 200 more horsepower.”

If you love adrenaline, this is your place.

One thousand horsepower is the goal of this experiment and not just a one-shot, freak-of-nature-thing that uses rocket fuel or nuclear fission: we have off-the-shelf parts; pump gas from the corner store and it all had to fit under the stock hood of an under-construction 1970 Plymouth.

This is no race engine. It’s for the street and therefore needs to be dependable: fire up right away and be docile enough to idle through downtown traffic.

The 1,000-horsepower goal seems impossible, yes. In fact it sounds downright insane, but as is usually the case, you just need the expertise to put together a viable plan and the bucks to make it happen.

“Before you go out and buy one bolt, you need a plan,” says long-time performance-engine builder Paul Arsenault, the mastermind behind this engine. Without a goal and plan to get there, he says, all you’ll be doing is throwing away money on parts that do nothing, maybe even on parts that take you backward.

“You wouldn’t start building a house without a set of blueprints.”

That’s especially the case when you’re venturing into this power range. It’s not for the faint of heart or the faint of wallet: expect $30,000-$50,000 or more.

The point is this: five years ago, building a 1,000-horsepower engine for a street car was next to impossible. Today, it’s not exactly common but it is relatively easy to do.

“We’re seeing more of this kind of thing every day,” says Arsenault.

The most obvious question is why . . . as in why does anyone need this much horsepower. There’s no justification of any sort, other than it’s the new benchmark and a nice round number that makes people’s eyes bug out. It makes for great bragging rights.

The assumption, however, is that if this power level is being contemplated (or anything remotely close to it), that the vehicle and the driver are up to the task of handling it. As fun as it is to make the big numbers, it’s more important not to be a fool about it or the consequences of misusing it.

Of great concern is that the vast majority of vehicles that will receive this type of engine upgrade are classic or muscle cars that, in their stock form, were ridiculously antiquated, even when new, when it came to braking and cornering. Sober second thought and a mortality check are your best friends before proceeding down a seemingly innocent path.

One thousand horsepower is a handful in a car that’s actually designed from the factory to use it, a million-dollar Bugatti Veyron, for example. But a 1970 Plymouth with torsion bars and drum brakes?

As they say in New York, forget about it.

Upping the power levels in such a car has John Buscema, president of New York-based XV Motorsports, on edge and quick to comment.

“(Even) six- to 700 horsepower is out there,” he says.

“(The car) has to be designed as a package,” Buscema adds, not just to be safe, but to make the car enjoyable to drive. And that means thinking way, way, way beyond the engine. Even with stock power levels, Buscema insists on bringing an old car up to modern standards. He says the technology is out there, no matter the make, and an owner would be crazy not to take full advantage of it, unless the vehicle needs to remain completely original for historic reasons.

Basically, there’s much more than the engine and the rest of the drivetrain to think about: there’s your life.

“(The whole car) has got to be thought through.”

To that end, XV was contracted to outfit the Plymouth with modern — and not just new — brakes, suspension and chassis stiffening components, all tested together and configured for this particular car.

XV Motorsports specializes in making old Chrysler muscle cars handle like new Corvettes. Ultimately, there are other benefits.

“The whole safety thing is something we think a lot about.”

The total upgrade, including power rack-and-pinion steering, cost about $14,000, plus labor, beyond the engine, plus the large, low-profile wheels and tires, but the end result is, according to Buscema, nothing short of amazing. In independent testing, the company’s engineering vehicle, a 1970 Dodge Challenger, needed 35 percent less distance — about 100 feet less — to stop from 70 m.p.h. than a stock vehicle, while its cornering limits approached 1.0 g of lateral acceleration, on par with many modern sports cars.

“Control of the vehicle goes in two ways: accelerating; and decelerating.”

“It’s very common to see cars with all the money in the motor.”

Jeff Melnychuk is Wheelbase Communications’ managing editor. Wheelbase is a world-wide supplier of automobile news, reviews and features. Drop them a line on the Web at www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html.