[W. MITTY]

As some may know, I have just completed Kirkham #313. I hired Mike LeFevres to build my engine after I heard him speak at the Kirkham Summit. As some may recall, Mike was instrumental in the development of the Shelby aluminum block. He has since left Shelby and gone full time into building and testing engines of many types at his business, Mitech Racing Engines, located in Placentia, California.

I recently took delivery of my engine after travelling to Cali to observe as Mike dynoed it for me there at his shop. Mike, one of the most honest and straightforward guys I have met, had told me to expect somewhere around 525-550 horsepower when he was done. While these numbers seemed low in comparison to some of the, ahem, wild engine numbers I have seen posted, I was so impressed with Mike that I didn't worry about it. He knew that I wanted street driveability and bullet proof reliability, and he seemed capable of delivering it.

Well, at the shop, the engine outperformed my expectations. Peak h.p., corrected, was 592 at 6200, while Torque maxed at 559 at 4000. I could tell that even though Mike did not want to blow his own horn, he was pleased.

Particulars of the engine are as follows:

Shelby Block
Shelby Intake
Edelbrock heads
4.25 Stroke and Bore (488")
Velesco Crank, knife edged, rifled
Oliver rods
Holley 800 carb
10.3:1 Compression
Jetted for 4300 feet elevation
Flat tappet hyd cam

My thanks to Mike - I felt like he was the builder to go with because of his vast Shelby experience, and my confidence was well placed.

By the way, the engine idles at 900 rpm, starts every time I turn the key, and MAN-- DOES IT PULL. As one NASCAR driver of old once gushed -- "My car is all ate up with motor". I would highly recommend Mike to anyone in the market for a no- nonsense engine building experience.