Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598
Trick Flow Ford 598

The ATI Super Damper harmonic damper is up to 30-percent more effective at controlling damaging harmonic vibration at 5,000-plus RPM than an OE damper. ATI also says the damper can free up to 12 extra horsepower thanks to more stable valvetrain timing and reduced harmonics. The Super Damper is rebuildable and tunable by replacing the elastomer strips. The outer shell bolts to the crank hub, so the timing marks never change position. Since the exposed inertia weight is marked at TDC, you can tell the elastomer strips need to be replaced when the timing marks start moving.

Trick Flow engine builder and dyno master Todd Hodges fabricated the front motor plate from quarter-inch aluminum. All of the front-mounted accessories—vacuum pump, water pump, and oil pump—will bolt to this plate.

Todd also made tubing spacers to secure the plate to the accessory mounting holes in the block and on the Trick Flow PowerPort® cylinder heads. The water pump is a Meziere 100 Series electric pump. Rated at 35 gallons per minute, the pump features a CNC-machined aluminum housing, epoxy coated motor windings, an RF suppression circuit, and a one-piece, carbon-ceramic seal.

After installing the trigger wheel for the MSD Flying Magnet crank trigger system, Todd installs the drive mandrel and pulleys from the Moroso pump drive kit. Bolting the mandrel directly on the damper provides a more rigid mount for the pulleys, reducing the chance of pulley deflection or belt failure.

Todd checks the gap between the MSD crank trigger wheel and the pickup. MSD recommends a .060- to .080-inch gap between the pickup and wheel to generate the cleanest signal. A weak or scattered signal can cause ignition misfiring.

Todd checks the gap between the MSD crank trigger wheel and the pickup. MSD recommends a .060- to .080-inch gap between the pickup and wheel to generate the cleanest signal. A weak or scattered signal can cause ignition misfiring.

Todd made up several hose assemblies for the oiling system and the vacuum pump. This -12 AN assembly is connects the pump to the pickup inside the Moroso oil pan, and has a Moroso in-line filter to catch dirty and other gunk. There will be a return line connecting the pump to the adapter on the oil filter pad, and a line from the vacuum pump to the oil pump.

Our 598 Ford on Trick Flow’s Superflow dyno. The Holley Gen 3 Ultra Dominator carburetor sits on two 1 inch tall carburetor spacers. Initial dyno pulls with a single spacer showed there was more horsepower to be made. Adding the second spacer increases the intake manifold plenum volume (more air). That results in more top end horsepower, albeit at the expense of some low rpm torque. On a drag race engine like this, that’s a fair tradeoff—as you will soon see.

With extra carburetor spacer in place, the 598 made almost 1,026 peak horsepower at 7,100 RPM and 836 pounds-feet of peak torque at a lofty 6,000 RPM. The 598 made virtually the same numbers on subsequent dyno pulls, which shows the combination is pretty much optimized as Trick Flow can make it. Remember, this is an engine built with off-the-shelf parts that anyone can buy, with no fancy-schmancy custom work required. You can put this kind of power in a lightweight dragster and go have some fun!

Trick Flow Specialties is once again building the engine that will be part of the prize package awarded to the Summit Racing SuperSeries Top Class Champion. Last year, Trick Flow built the 565 cubic inch big block Chevy for the American Race Cars dragster that 2012 Top Class champion Tim Butler is campaigning this season.

This year, Trick Flow is going Blue Oval with a 598-cubic-inch big block Ford.

We’ve covered short block assembly in our first post and top-end installation in the second article of this series. That just left carburetion, ignition, and external accessories separating the engine from its date with Trick Flow’s Superflow dyno:

  • Holley Gen 3 Ultra Dominator carburetor
  • MSD Flying Magnet crank trigger kit and Pro-Billet distributor
  • Meziere electric water pump
  • Moroso vacuum pump, external oil pump, and drive kit
  • ATI Super harmonic damper and timing pointer

The Trick Flow guys fabricated a front motor plate from quarter- inch thick aluminum to hang the front-mounted accessories (water pump, vacuum pump, and oil pump). They also put together hose assemblies for the oil pump and vacuum pump using Summit Racing -12 AN fittings and Earl’s Pro-Lite 350 hose.

With the last bolt torqued, it was time to see what this collection was worth in the horsepower department. Trick Flow hooked the 598 to the dyno’s life support systems, filled the sump with Joe Gibbs Driven 15W50 oil, and made some break-in pulls to get the engine settled in and ready to make some power.

And boy, did it ever. After some minor fiddling with the timing and jetting (29 degrees total timing, #102 jets front and rear) and adding a second one-inch-tall carburetor spacer to get some extra intake plenum volume, they let the 598 rip.

After three pulls, the engine made its peak numbers—1,025 horsepower and 836 pounds-foot of torque—and hit those points on virtually every subsequent pull.

“This is a very strong, very consistent engine,” said Trick Flow’s Todd Hodges. “It’s even more impressive considering we built it with off-the-shelf parts. Anybody that’s put engines together can duplicate this one and get very similar numbers.”

That new owner, the 2013 Summit Racing SuperSeries Top Class champion, will be getting all that big block Ford power in a shiny new dragster built by Maddox Race Cars (along with a ton of other loot). Our word of advice for the champion-to-be? With great (horse)power comes great responsibility—for winning races, that is.

Parts List

Holley Gen 3 Ultra Dominator Carburetor, 1,250 cfm

MSD Pro-Billet Crank Trigger Distributor

MSD Flying Magnet Crank Trigger Kit

Meizere 100 Series Electric Water Pump

Moroso 4-Vane Vacuum Pump

Moroso Dry Sump Oil Pump

Moroso Pump Drive Kit

Moroso Inline Oil Filter

ATI Super Harmonic Damper

ATI Timing Pointer

MSD Super Conductor Ignition Wire Set

Trick Flow Phenolic Carburetor Spacer (2 used)

ARP Carburetor Studs

Fel-Pro Header Gaskets

Summit Racing -12 AN Fitting, 90° (two used)

Summit Racing -12 AN Fitting, straight (8 used)

Earl’s Performance Pro-Lite 350 Hose, 10 ft. section

Author: Alan Rebescher

Editor, author, PR man—Alan Rebescher has done it all in a 25 year career in the high performance industry. He has written and photographed many feature stories and tech articles for Summit Racing and various magazines including Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Popular Hot Rodding, and edited Summit Racing’s Street & Strip magazine in the 1990s. His garage is currently occupied by a 1965 Ford Mustang.