Troy Worsley of Warspeed Industries in Western Sydney is one of the true masters of the LS platform, having built all kinds of super-rad combos from sweet street engines to six-second strip warriors.
First published in the March 2023 issue of Street Machine
One of his latest creations is this 388-cube Dart LS, built for customer Grant Pollard and his drag ’n’ drive VC Commodore.
“Grant originally bought the block and heads off me for the combo, and then I ended up building the engine for him,” Troy says.
The Dart LS is going to be fed by a pair of Proboost G42 mirror-image turbos, which played a big part in Troy choosing the smaller 388ci capacity for the mill. “Turbo technology has come a long way, and we’ve found that running a bigger 427-cube capacity or similar creates back pressure issues,” he says. “That’s why we go with the smaller capacity for stuff like this; it just works better and is more than enough for what this customer wants.”
What Grant wanted was a combo capable of running decent numbers at events like Drag Challenge but that could also handle the road miles, and Troy has no concerns about that. “This engine will do 1600-1700rwhp on pump E85 with no problems. It’ll be reliable, and we’ve gone six seconds before with engines at the same cubes,” he says.
The combo has been built around a Dart SHP Pro block, which has been fitted with a Callies 3.625 crank, Wiseco Boostline conrods and a set of CP Bullet pistons. The stick is a Kelford hydraulic-roller, which has been custom-ground according to Troy’s secret-sauce specs to suit a juicy amount of boost. The heads are Higgins-made, CNC-treated, six-bolt LS3 items containing Ferrea lifters, PAC valve springs, Kelford retainers, Manton pushrods and all the LS CHE trunnion upgrade gear. The compression ratio is a boost-appropriate 10.6:1, and Troy says it’ll spin to 8000rpm with no issues.
Topping off the combo is a sexy Shaun’s Custom Alloy billet intake manifold fronted by a Motion Raceworks ICON 102mm throttlebody. Troy also put his personal touch on the Moroso front wet sump, extending it to add a bit more capacity while also improving the baffling. “Obviously dry sump is always a good option, but for what this engine needs to do, a good wet sump set-up will be just fine,” says Troy.
The accessory system features an ATI balancer – which only has to crank the alternator and a/c compressor thanks to the absence of power steering – and a Meziere electric water pump. “The owner wanted a nice creature comfort for the street, so we’ve got the air con compressor in the typical LS location,” says Troy.
Controlling the whole deal will be a Haltech Nexus R5, and Troy says that Grant plans to have the car ready fairly soon. “The engine will be leaving my shop shortly, and the owner aims to get it running in the car by the end of the year and ready for the weekend Drag Challenge event you guys do,” he says.
The engine is capable of taking 40psi of boost, and with a VC Commodore being a relative featherweight by modern standards, Grant’s sure to have one spicy first-gen Commodore to tackle Drag Challenge in.
ONE-MAN BAND
Troy is known Australia-wide for his killer LS engines, but what you may not know is that, unlike most engine workshops, he tackles the whole lot solo. Despite this, he still manages to pump out storming donks at an impressive rate, and we’ve featured plenty of his creations over the years.
Comments