Hughes 426 stroker kit

Hughes Engines small-block "426 stroker"

  • Yay

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Nay

    Votes: 3 75.0%

  • Total voters
    4

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Yeret

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Hey folks, I'm posting this as a general discussion on Hughes Engines' "426 small block" stroker kit. Here's the link...

Hughes Engines

Years back when I first got my truck, I thought that this was totally the ****. Knowing now what I didn't know then, I don't think that this is a very good way to stroke a Mopar small block.

The main thing that bugs me is the terrible rod to stroke ratio of 1.46:1. I suppose that this would be okay in a very low RPM application, but I don't see this working, or rather wearing, very well in a general road application. This setup would seem to work much better with 7+ inch connecting rods, but I've yet to find anything other than the (very good) 6.123 inch length rods.

I'm curious if anyone here has ever run such a setup in their small-block engine and if so, how well it works. As I said, I'm making this as a general discussion as I'm sure that I'm not the only person that has thought about such a build, let alone in a truck application.
 

dapepper9

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I wouldn't run that simply because Hughes. The reviews i have seen haven't been good either.

Standard stroker crank from scat or similar with a .030 over bore would be better suited to most applications
 

Bexar

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Can anyone fill me in generally on why Hughes in general is bad? Man I used to think they were the ****, and had awesome products such as the Airgap and other Magnum specific kits.

Are they shady? Overpriced? Dishonest?
 
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Yeret

Yeret

The Village Drunk
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I'm curious as well. This isn't the only forum that I've read bad things about Hughes. Everyone only says stuff along the lines like "I'd never buy one of their products again," but I've never read anything specific. Hey, you gotta give em credit, their AirGap is pretty much the only practical aftermarket fuel-injected intake manifold available for the Magnum engines (M1 is almost impossible to find and Indy manifolds are mucho dinero).
 

dapepper9

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Can anyone fill me in generally on why Hughes in general is bad? Man I used to think they were the ****, and had awesome products such as the Airgap and other Magnum specific kits.

Are they shady? Overpriced? Dishonest?

All of the above.
 

dapepper9

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I'm curious as well. This isn't the only forum that I've read bad things about Hughes. Everyone only says stuff along the lines like "I'd never buy one of their products again," but I've never read anything specific. Hey, you gotta give em credit, their AirGap is pretty much the only practical aftermarket fuel-injected intake manifold available for the Magnum engines (M1 is almost impossible to find and Indy manifolds are mucho dinero).

I've listed reasons several times but threads get buried pretty easily.

For starters, his BigGulp doesn't foe 1007cfm like he claims. It's pure ********. F&B is another company that makes billet throttle bodies and they Make 50mm, 52mm, 52x55mm and 58mm sizes. Their claims of glue have also been proven accurate within +/- 20cfm that can be simple differences in test equipment and environmental conditions.
The kicker is their 52mm flows 860cfm and their oval bore 52x55, which has the same area of 56mm round bores, flows 980cfm. Hughes BigGulp claims 1007cfm but the problem is it's a factory core....factory core bore wall will rupture past 53mm. Numbers don't match up with those of a larger piece from a proven company. 2 years ago it was also shown that the bottom of his tb was still a factory 48mm. I'm unaware of any changes to that.

Ok so not off to a great start but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Airgap: great intake manifold, just an edlebrock carb intake with injector bungs. Same intake that is hugely popular for many carb applications in the small block world whether it's Chevy ford or Mopar. Being very popular it's very well documented. He claims 270cfm/runner vs 255cfm/runner for a 2bbl m1. 3rd party groups have since disproven that years ago and it's in fact the other way around. Claims it makes more hp and more tq anywhere below like 5500rpm or something like that when in fact they act virtually the same as proven by tuners Ryan Hogan, Marty Fletcher and Sean at Hemifever. His intake also comes without any porting or runner work done and all tests on the un-drilled versions show 250-260 regardless of platform.

Not looking great. But wait, there's more.

He has a partnership with another company, PerformanceInjectionEquipment or PIE for short. It's where he gets his custom tuning through and they sell his airgap and big gulp. The head of PIE, Chris, has been well documented as being a crap tuner and engine builder who's final products knock, blow headgaskets, punch holes in pistons and any number of horrible things. Ryan and Marty both make more peak power and power below the curve while being more drivable and smoother. Chris has often refused to honor his warranties as well yet Hughes promotes his tuning still.

I do have good things to say as well about Hughes though, I'll give credit where credit is due. He has a large listing of parts. Parts with part numbers that can be cross referenced elsewhere for possible better deals. His airgap is still a good intake considering his way of business and is readily available even if it'll cost you your left nut.
 
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I wasn't aware that Hughes was this bad, lol. I'm still planning on getting my plenum kit from them, as they are pretty much the only one's I know that offer it for the V6.
 
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