What’s terrific about the Karr family is that they are bound together by a common love of things automotive. In fact, Dave Karr of Atlanta, Georgia says that he and his dad Steve and wife Tiffany like to go to all of their favorite motoring venues together.
When it comes to pursuing performance build projects, the Karr family stays equally close, as seen in our featured video of Dave and Steve as they try to fine-tune Dave’s 350 small-block in their front yard. The 350 mill is from a ’69 ‘Vette that Dave and Tiffany bought last September, and by the time that this story is published Dave and Steve should already have the motor dropped into Dave’s ‘Vette.
This is a project that the father and son duo have been hacking at for a while now, and the motor itself is a small-block jigsaw puzzle that makes it hard to label but easy to squeeze streetable power out of. That’s because Dave’s 350 is built with a factory correct crank with a serial number that points to a ’70 LT1, while the factory block casting number contains a date pointing toward a ’73 motor.
But Dave also had a unique philosophy in mind when installing the motor’s Weiand “Stealth” intake, as he did so in hopes of bolting on a high-rise manifold while maintaining a factory small-block appearance. In order to do this, he ground off the intake’s “Weiand” logo and painted the whole piece in Chevy Orange while the Stealth manifold’s dimensions allowed for the maintaining of an original, small-block Corvette hood.
Dave’s motor also features a set of Brodix IK series aluminum heads with 2.02/1.60 valves, is bored 0.030 over to 355 cubes and features a solid lifter cam from COMP in order to bring the early ‘Vette pump to a respectable output of between 425-30 brake horsepower.
It’s so awesome to watch father and son bond over the mechanical music of a 350, and we’re sure that once finished, Dave’s ‘Vette will bring years of enjoyment and satisfaction, along with a strong sense of personal pride to the entire Karr family!