A friend asked me the other day about an engine I built back in the early ’90s using a 302ci small-block Chevy with AFR heads, 9:1 compression, and an Accel/DFI injection system with a Lingenfelter SuperRam manifold, boosted by a Vortech centrifugal supercharger. The idea was to build an engine that could make 550 hp and get 25 mpg on the highway. We chose a tiny Crane mechanical roller cam with very short duration and wide lobe-separation angle to take maximum advantage of the boost. It did what we asked it to do (just barely) at 449 hp and it hit 25 mpg in my ’65 Chevelle using an overdrive manual trans. Later, we added a bigger cam, and the engine was on its way to 650 hp with a water-to-water intercooler when a distributor gear broke. With gas prices near $5.00 a gallon, a turbo would make more power and help fuel mileage as well. What would be fun to try now is that engine with a Magnuson TVS blower.