I needed to call AFR boss Rick Sperling to give him the great results I had just seen with a pair of his company's small-block Chevy heads on a 350. In a way, I was just bragging, because our combination had exceeded his predicted numbers by almost 30 hp. After we were done on that subject, Rick asked if I would like to test the latest version of their street as-cast 325cc run-ner big-block heads. Sure, but there was a problem. I was on deadline, and time was not on my side. But I had an idea. My co-conspirator on many engine build projects over the last four years, UNC Charlotte engineering student Dusty Kennett, had accrued much expe-rience with pretty racy small-block Chevy and Ford engines. But his big-block experience was minimal, and I had a suspicion he was hot to trot on something bigger than just a regular 350 or 383 small-block. So I asked Dusty, "You wanna build a 500-inch big-block Chevy to test AFR's new heads?"
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