Although Rutland’s piece visually grabs you by the cheeks and makes you look, it is prodded by something a little less powerful than the Alien. While he could have blown the budget over preferred-label forgings, he put his juice motor together with high-strength fortitude that wouldn’t crumple a working man’s budget. He bopped the motor with good internals in ’94, including a hot hydraulic cam, and prepped the drivetrain with 4.10 cogs and a higher stall speed torque converter.
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“I tuned and then tuned some more on this car until it wouldn’t go any better than a mid-11 on the motor; still that’s not bad for a two-ton sled.” Then Kim made him very happy with a very thoughtful gift: a 150-250hp NOS Cheater system. A 150 shot has since zinged the black wedge to the high 10’s. Is it over? With a little more tuning, Alan expects mid- to low-tens.
And what of the younger Rutland? “I just let Bradlee drive it around the church parking lot. He was the most responsible he has ever been in his life. I guess he realized how important the car is and that he wants to get his hands on it. Don’t get me wrong, either. I definitely have the need for speed and my next motor will produce 800-850hp on pump gas. I never forget that there is always someone out there faster than I am.”
Alan has plans for the immediate future, too. He’ll bag the stock drum brakes and instill the car with some repeatable stopping power via Wilwood discs at every corner. Kim’ssexy ’06 Charger has some black-center alloys (American Racing RTS) thelikes of which he will apply to his ’68 Charger. Alan’s last stand will be that ferocious juice motor, one he thinks will put the Charger in the nines.
POWERTRAIN
Talk about a seasoned cylinder block, Alan lifted his 440 from a Disco Era motorhome and cleaned it up with a 0.030-inch overbore. He needed good forged internals as a hedge against the fire and cylinder pressures that would come. He’s practical as well as patient and knew that the steel (10/10 under) crank, those Six Pack steel rods caressed a little, and TRW forged flat-tops would serve his purpose just as well as designer-label stuff. The dynamic balancing and machine work was completed at Lunati. Alan joined pistons and rods with full-floating pins and assigned Sealed Power ring packs. He capped the bottom end with a Melling oil pump and an OE pan with a deep sump, ala the Super Stockers of the day.
