PowerHouse Engines

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PowerHouse Engines Powerhouse Engines — precision performance in Warragul, VIC 🇦🇺 Engine machining, custom builds & dyno tuning. Street, V8, Diesel & race builds.

Real workshop knowledge. Subscribe for tips & builds. Power isn’t guessed, it’s engineered. 📞 (03) 5623 3447 We have a state of the art facility and are one of the few shops who:
- Machine
- Assemble
- Dyno Tune
- All in-house
- Petrol or Diesel
- Road or Track

26/10/2026

UPPER OR LOWER? DON’T ALWAYS TRUST THE LABEL! 🔧⚠️

While assembling Jamie’s 351 Cleveland, we picked up something interesting with a set of Clevite CB-927HN conrod bearings.

These bearings have an offset designed to provide maximum clearance for the crankshaft journal radius.

But when we fitted the bearing marked UPPER into the upper rod position, the shell sat more centrally than it should.

Swap in the bearing marked LOWER, and the offset sits exactly where we’d expect it!

Nothing complicated here, just another example of why you should always check your parts rather than relying on what’s stamped on them.

The lesson? Just because it says UPPER doesn’t mean it’s right!

It’s the little details that matter when building engines. 💪

23/10/2026

🔍 FORD CLEVELAND CRACKS – SOME YOU KNOW, SOME YOU DON’T!

Anyone who’s worked on Ford Clevelands will know about the common cracks at the back of the cylinder heads.

But here’s a couple you don’t see every day! 👀

Most cylinder head cracks are found around the combustion chambers, where the heat is concentrated. But this one had cracked right along the head gasket sealing line, near the outside edge of the deck face!

Using magnetic particle inspection, fluorescent particles and UV light, we can expose cracks that are almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

Then there’s another nasty one — cracking right at the bottom of the Cleveland block!

This thin section of casting can corrode away over time, eventually weakening enough to crack. We’ve seen it a few times, and it requires a plug repair to save the block.

Just goes to show why proper crack-testing is so important before you start building an engine! 🔧

21/10/2026

2 THOU OF TAPER… IN THE WRONG DIRECTION! 🤦‍♂️

This one would have Daniel Powell from Powell Cams shaking his head!

We’re building Andrew Kemp’s 350 Chev speedway engine, which runs a flat-tappet camshaft.

While checking lifter rotation, we noticed the lifters were spinning anti-clockwise instead of clockwise!

After measuring the lobes, we found 0.002” of taper — ground in the wrong direction!

Instead of pushing the camshaft back into the block, it was forcing it forward. Luckily, this engine has a front cam thrust to control end float.

Without it, the cam could have been loading up the timing chain, potentially leading to a failure.

Just goes to show, never assume a brand-new camshaft is right! 🔧

19/10/2026

22 YEARS LOCKED AWAY… NOW THE RACE IS ON TO MAKE SUMMERNATS! 🔥

We’ve just picked up this VL Calais, and the story behind how we ended up with it is pretty wild!

The car had been sitting in storage for an incredible 22 years after its owner sadly passed away.

When the family eventually went to collect it, they discovered there was a substantial storage bill owing. Nobody wanted to foot the bill, and even after the storage company offered to negotiate, the family decided to walk away from the car altogether.

The storage company then had to wait another two years before they could legally take ownership and eventually put it up for sale.

Fast-forward to Friday, and Jay spotted it on Facebook Marketplace just SIX MINUTES after it was listed! We jumped straight on it, struck a deal, and brought it home! 👌

But this isn’t just another project car!

We’ve got some big plans for the old Calais. It’s going to become our PowerHouse Engines P355 development and drag racing test bed, where we’ll be putting our Holden V8 engine packages through their paces and seeing exactly what numbers we can run at the track.

And the first goal? Get it ready for Summernats! 🔥

The boys haven’t experienced Summernats properly since they were little tackers, so we’re looking forward to getting down there with the Calais and having some fun!

From 22 years sitting in storage to a new life at PowerHouse Engines. This should be one hell of a project!

What would you do with it? Keep the classic Calais look or turn it into a proper drag car? 👇

16/10/2026

ENGINE BUILDERS DEVELOPING ENGINE PARTS – THERE’S A DIFFERENCE! 🔧💪

We recently dropped into Competition Engines to catch up with Zoran and check out his expanding range of AFD performance products.

From cylinder heads and intake manifolds to transmission pans, alternator brackets, extractors, radiators and plenty more, there’s a lot happening under the AFD banner.

What I really like about this is the experience behind the products.

Zoran isn’t just selling performance parts. He’s an engine builder with his own machine shop and engine dyno, developing products with a genuine understanding of what makes an engine work.

That hands-on experience matters when you’re designing and developing performance components.

Back at PowerHouse Engines, we’ve also got Andrew Kemp’s 350ci SDAV Hot Rod Speedway engine on the SuperFlow dyno.

These are tightly restricted engines running flat-top pistons, flat-tappet camshafts, 23-degree cylinder heads and factory stroke, all on methanol.

We’ve just completed a back-to-back ignition comparison between an MSD 7AL-3 and an MSD Pro Mag 12LT to see what difference the ignition system makes on the dyno.

Two very different ignition systems, same engine, same dyno. Let’s see what the numbers tell us! 🔥

07/10/2026

🔧 A HANDY FEATURE… EVEN IF SNAP-ON DIDN’T PLAN IT!

While setting the tappets on Greg Shepherd’s 355 Holden, we tried our new Snap-on FB336 feeler gauge set.

The gauge clips into the handle, but we discovered that if the tappet is adjusted too tight, the handle pulls straight off the gauge. We’re not sure that’s how Snap-on designed it—but it works as a handy warning that the clearance is too tight!

We’re also using Smoil in this engine for the first time, and the difference was immediately noticeable. The feeler gauge glided smoothly between the valve tip and rocker, without the galling and scratching we’ve experienced with nearly every other oil we’ve used.

Sometimes it’s the small things you notice during assembly that tell the biggest story.

02/10/2026

🔥 ONE HEAD WAS 40°C HOTTER — HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND…

We’ve got Peter from Newry Motors’ 364ci Windsor on the dyno, and during the initial fire-up I had the thermo gun on it checking temperatures.

Straight away, something wasn’t right.

🌡️ One cylinder head was around 40°C hotter than the other.

We shut it down and started investigating. Pretty quickly we found there was basically no coolant flow coming out of one cylinder head.

At first we suspected something like a head gasket fitted incorrectly, but after doing some flow testing we eventually found the real problem.

This engine had previously been in a boat, and someone had modified the intake manifold cooling system. Hidden behind the thermostat was a small metal divider siliconed into the manifold, designed to force coolant out through AN fittings on top of the intake.

We were running a conventional front cooling arrangement, so instead of flowing evenly through both sides, the coolant was simply taking the easiest path through one side of the engine.

It wasn’t until I got in behind the thermostat, dug around and flicked that little piece of metal out that we found it.

⚠️ Moral of the story: when you’re dealing with second-hand or previously modified engine parts, never assume they’re still configured the way they left the factory.

One tiny hidden modification could have turned into a very expensive problem if we hadn’t caught it on the initial fire-up.

30/09/2026

🚨 OIL LEAK WAITING TO HAPPEN?

Today we're fitting the sump to Greg Shepherd's 355 Holden using a Permaseal one-piece rubber sump gasket, and we've found something worth showing you!

The front seal fits perfectly, but the rear is a different story. There's simply too much rubber around the rear main cap, leaving the gasket loose and floppy instead of sitting snugly where it should.

We've come across this before, but this time we've caught it on camera so you can see exactly what we're talking about.

We're ditching the rubber gasket and going back to cork on this one.

⚠️ If you're using one of these gaskets, check the fit before you bolt the sump on. It's a potential oil leak you don't need!

28/09/2026

50,000 FOLLOWERS! 🍻🎉

We cracked 50,000 Facebook followers over the weekend, and number 50,000 was Ollie Olston from WA! Mate, if you see this, message the page and we’ll hook you up with a PowerHouse T-shirt or something for getting us over the line. 👊

Pretty bloody cool timing too — Emma turns 50 this Wednesday, October 1st, so it’s 50,000 followers for her 50th! 🎂

We’re heading overseas for a family holiday to celebrate, but PowerHouse is business as usual. Adam will be back from Korea, the boys will be keeping everything moving, and the posts will keep coming. I just might be a little harder to get hold of personally for a couple of weeks.

And as for the cows behind us in the video… 🐄🐄🐄
Three of those poor bastards may have just been volunteered for the PowerHouse street party in December. 😂🥩🔥

Dates for the street party coming soon.

Massive thanks to every one of you who follows, watches, comments and shares our stuff. 50K is a bloody big milestone for us.

Next stop… keep it growing. 👊

25/09/2026

🔥 265 HEMI + TRIPLE WEBERS AT FULL NOISE! 🔥

There’s just something about the look and sound of a set of side-draft Webers at full noise. 👌

This 265 Hemi belongs to Adam Kokic, built by Peter Lindhe, and it’s just finished up on our engine dyno.

⚙️ 265 Hemi
⚙️ Ported 245 head
⚙️ 10.8:1 compression
⚙️ Solid flat tappet cam — 261/262 @ .050”, .596” lift, 109 LSA
⚙️ Roller rockers
⚙️ Triple 45mm DCOE Webers with 40mm chokes
⚙️ 1¾” extractors

📈 340 HP
💪 339 FT-LB

Something I mentioned in the video — from what I’ve seen, a 45mm Weber is generally good for around 120 HP per carb. Two on a four-cylinder puts you around the 240 HP mark, and three on a six around 360 HP before they start becoming the restriction.

I’m sure someone out there reckons they’ve made 500 HP through three of them 😂 so if you’ve seen different, throw the numbers in the comments. We’re interested to hear it.

Numbers aside, you just can’t beat the sound of a Hemi screaming through triple Webers. 🔥

Address

6 Lindy Court
Warragul, VIC
3820

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+61356233447

Website

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