TSP LQ9 Based 402

Steve and Jason

For years I was telling everybody this was a 408. The motor was an LQ9 iron block with a 4.010 inch bore and a 4 inch stroke making it mostly a 402. The internals were an Eagle Crank, Eagle H-Beam Rods, and Diamond -28cc dished pistons. The entire assembly was ESP Armour Coated by Eagle. This was a fabulous build. I understand Texas Speed and Performance had built it for a pro team that did not make it and left them stuck with the block so we got a good deal on it. We initially tried PRC heads but the Harrop 2300 blower would not sit on the top end. We switched to 6 bolt ETP 245 Cathedral Port heads and opened the bolt holes on the Harrop and it sat fine. The shortblock and a ported oil pump and we used a double roller timing chain with an SNL custom FI grind camshaft. We started out with the Harrop 2.3 liter blower then later went to the 4.0 Liter Whipple. The Whipple used a custom fabricated Cog drive and that raped the crankshaft. We didn’t now how much until we put the twin turbos on it. When we pulled the engine out we had already melted an Innovative West pulley and had backed off an ATi Super damper. The second time the super damper backed off it welded itself to the crank and ruined the snout.