Over 3,000 Horsepower With a Carburetor? Jon Bitler Makes History With ProCharged Big Block Chevy
On a cool fall afternoon, Jon Bitler rolled his ’69 Chevrolet Nova out of the trailer at FuelTech’s Georgia location, and proceeded to make history.
Sporting a big block Chevrolet with conventional 24-degree cylinder heads, a ProCharger, and a blow-through carburetor, the FuelTech hub dyno was bullied to produce 3,093 horsepower on the graph, all in a car Bitler has owned since he was 13.
This not only marks a record for the most powerful conventional cylinder head centrifugal supercharger engine, but also the most power from a blow-through single carburetor engine, according to Cameron Lohrmann at FuelTech.
The engine checks in at 557 cubic inches, built around an Energy Manufacturing billet block that houses a Callies crankshaft, Diamond pistons, and GRP aluminum rods. A prototype set of 24-degree cylinder heads created for IRD Racing by Lee Latozke Racing Heads get the mixture from an Edelbrock intake, and a F3-136 ProCharger on a CDS gear drive from Chris Alston provides the additional atmosphere. A one-off Dominator 4500 cfm-based carburetor from IRD Racing mixes the air and fuel. The record was done on 39 pounds of boost.
The results of a near two-year build, Bitler was ready to hit the track fresh from the dyno visit.
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“There was nothing more that I wanted than to be the first to a three-second eighth-mile time on leaf springs,” said Bitler. But after conversations with several racers and companies about his power levels and goals, a conversion from the existing leaf spring set-up to a four-link is being done in the interest of safety.
Steve Miller Fabrications in Lecato, Florida was tapped to handle the rear suspension changes, and Applied Racing Technology got the nod for the additional tubing, sheetmetal and carbon materials needed for Bitler’s ride.
Written by Derek Putnam