The Legends Series of cars by Mr. Norm’s Garage was designed to be at the top end of the food chain when it came to streetable muscle cars. It succeeded.
Here’s how Modern Milestones described it:
What prompted this project? Bill Sefton, owner of Mr. Norm’s Garage and a veteran car collector, explains, “It all started with the 625-horse Challenger we built (featured in a previous issue of Mopar Milestones). That car was a lot of fun, but we began to wonder, ‘Okay, what can we really get out of this car if we put our minds to it?”‘ Well, putting it simply, the Legends
Edition takes the Challenger production car to an unreal level of performance. Even more remarkable, it can still be driven on public roads. “It had to be streetable,” Sefton emphasizes.
Starting with a stock 6.1 L Hemi, Mr. Norms’ power-hungry crew of technicians, headed up by Mike Staveski, give the stock lump a complete personality transplant. The block is fitted with a Callies crank and H-beamrods, which extend the stroke from 3.795 inches to 4.050 inches, increasing the displacement to 6.9 liters, or 417 cubes. Since the engine will be subjected to outrageous levels of boost, the bore is left untouched, in order to preserve cylinder-wall integrity. (Otherwise, the displacement would increase to 7.0 liters.) ARP bolts also help to hold the block together under severe loads.
A custom-grind cam with radically different specs for overlap and lift replaces the stock bumpstick. “It’s a bitch to tune,” admits one of Mr. Norm’s engine builders. “But fortunately, we have one of the best tuners in the business.” The 10.5: 1 compression ratio is fairly high for a blown engine, so the flat-top Diamond pistons have deep flycuts in order to provide clearance for the large intake valves of the Hemi heads. Arrington ported heads allow for substantially higher airflow, since this menacing mill is topped by Kenne Bell’s new, Mr. Norm’s Signature 3.6-liter, Liquid-Cooled, twin-screw supercharger.
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