FWIW, the Annual Engine Masters dyno-contest sponsored every year by Popular Hot Rodding magazine had three Cleveland builds in the event back in Ohio. Mark McEwan (MMC.com) in DE had one of his first aluminum block Clevelands there, running reworked edelbrock aluminum heads and dual 4bbls feeding the 444-cubic inch "smallblock". Placed 4th in 'Extreme Street' (powerband 4000-8000 rpms, 932 peak bhp).
Another was entered by Shelby Engines in Regular Street class (2500-6500 rpms) who apparently purchased the rights to Arias Engineering's aluminum hemi heads for small blocks. They had the showy heads on a 428-cube 'small block Cleveland' also with dual-quads. Qualified well (over 700 bhp), but the same problem that plagued such conversions in the '60s popped up in the Finals: broken exhaust rocker arm. A 3rd was a 410 'small block' Cleveland that was probably closerv to affordable than any of the others. 566 peak bhp. Still, not bad for all the entrants IMHO, and far better than I could have done.
This event is a gearhead's delight- this year's entries ranged from early & late Chrysler Hemis to big-block Buicks, SB Fords, two SOHC BB Fords from the '60s, a BB Ford 'Shotgun', AMC V-8s, Chevys of all sizes and one medium-block Pontiac. Last year, there was a full-race '62 Ford Y-block that put out over 500 bhp at 7500 rpms and stayed together! Full story in Popular Hot Rodding's February issue.
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