The humble Holden V8 has long been considered by many to be the poor cousin in the GM small-block family, especially when compared to the more widely favoured small-block Chev and LS platforms. But with the number of plastic fantastics that have landed on our Mill of the Month page of late, you could be excused for thinking they’re the hot new thing in performance engines!

First published in the July 2024 issue of Street Machine

This one is an absolute belter – a 400ci, twin-turbo Torque-Power Little Paw, buttoned up by the gurus at ProFlo Performance.

“I can’t wait for this one,” grins ProFlo’s Paul Sant. “It’s going into the SIKJIM LH Torana drag car, which has always had a Holden in it. It used to have a factory block and two older-style turbos, and it made plenty of power, but we were always too scared to race it, because we were worried the block would disintegrate! That’s why we built this engine.”

The Torque-Power Little Paw block is a far superior offering to the factory Holden casting and a much better option for what is effectively a full-effort race engine. Paul opted for a serious rotating assembly including a Crankshaft Rebuilders billet crank, Oliver rods and RaceTec pistons for a total of 400ci and 11:1 compression. The camshaft is a 50mm solid-roller item with a custom grind applied to it, spinning in roller bearings.

The cylinder heads are Torque-Power’s TP230 cast-alloy units wearing titanium intake and Inconel exhaust valves, and T&D rockers. The Shaun’s Custom Alloy inlet manifold is loaded with a monstrous set of 8000cc injectors tasked with delivering a bulk supply of methanol.

ProFlo-fabricated headers support a matching pair of Precision ProMod 88 turbochargers and Precision 60mm gates.

“It’s cool, because it’s something different to the norm,” Paul says. “We all know a Chev, a Hemi, or a 481X will work, but this isn’t run-of-the-mill; it’s a bit of a challenge. It’ll hopefully make somewhere north of 2000hp, and the car should run in the sixes. It’s fairly light, and it’s on big tyres, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t go fast; it’ll be cool if it ends up the quickest Holden-powered sedan out there.”

THE GOOD OIL

Holden V8s are renowned for their oiling issues, and while the Torque-Power block design goes a long way to rectifying those, the ASR pan and Peterson R4 external pump used here are good insurance.

ProFlo Performance
Campbelltown, NSW
profloperformance.com.au