The Iso's V8 engine gets rebuilt by Red Victor 1 Racing.

Okay so the picture at the top of this article is not actually Dad’s Iso Grifo (the keen-eyed amongst you will notice that this is one of the big block versions), but I wanted a picture that gave some idea of what the finished car will look like, although it almost certainly won’t be red.

Work on Dad’s car is progressing and the metalwork will hopefully be finished in the next month or so. When it comes to the engine, I last reported that the engine might be replaced with a fresh crate motor and the two-speed GM Powerglide automatic transmission would be replaced with a manual unit. There has been a rethink on this and in order to preserve the originality of the car both units are being rebuilt.

Information about the Grifo available on the internet indicates that the three-speed GM Turbo-Hydramatic was the automatic gearbox used. In fact the two speed Powerglide was available as an option on the Grifo (and its sister car the Iso Rivolta), and is listed in the Grifo's handbook. I'm curious to know how many Grifo's actually were fitted with the Powerglide from new, though?

To carry out the mechanical work on both the transmission and engine, Dad has turned to Red Victor 1 Racing, run by Andy Frost. If you’re at all familiar with drag racing in the UK, then you'll almost certainly have heard of Andy and his Vauxhall Victor Red Victor 2. With its twin-turbo 572 big block V8 producing 2,200 bhp, it is considered (in acceleration terms) to be the world’s fastest street legal car. Andy has a huge reputation for building the best automatic transmissions for drag racing, but also for rebuilds, V8 engines and auto transmissions for road applications, under the name Penn Autos.

Despite Andy’s offer to rebuild the engine and tune it to produce up to 1,000bhp, Dad requested the 327 be rebuilt to a stock specification. Smoothness and economy are the biggest priorities, as the vehicle will be used as it was originally intended, as a GT car.

Andy indicated that most stock 327s make around 280bhp on the dyno, but with his team rebuilding the engine to much finer tolerances than when it was first produced by GM, the newly rebuilt engine made a nice round 300bhp at 5,500rpm. Torque peaked at 350ft lb at 4400rpm but perhaps more importantly, produced over 300 ft lb from 2,000rpm to 5,000rpm. This should gift the relatively lightweight Iso with excellent acceleration, especially when hooked up to the drag racer's favourite Powerglide transmission. Andy will also fit an Edelbrock carburettor which should also give decent fuel economy and throttle response.

Head to the Red Victor 1 Racing website for more information on both his engine and gearbox rebuilds, and of course his mighty Red Victor 2. Andy is currently in the midst of building his new creation, Red Victor 3, a new 3,000bhp street legal dragster (yes, you read that correctly!)  that will race in the Pro Modified drag racing class as well as being used for driving to the shops! Drive Cult hopes to be at one of the events in the summer where this new car will be running, but in the meantime below is some YouTube footage (posted by Boostbyslinky) of Andy and Red Victor 2 in action.

Many thanks to Andy for providing the engine pictures.

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