ProCharged 540 Wedge Engine - Engine Builder Magazine

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Ken Lazzeri of Indy Cylinder Head got ahold of us at the 2024 PRI show and told us we needed to come check out what they had in the booth. We know Ken and the engine work Indy Cylinder Head does, so we knew it would be worth our time to stop over and gawk at some engines and chat with the Indy team.

Our jaws hit the floor when we saw the car and engine combo they had on display. Taking up half the booth space was Bruce Gaier’s 1958 Plymouth Fury featuring a ProCharged 540 cid Wedge engine built by Ken himself. The whole thing was expertly done, and we took our sweet time checking it out.

We were fortunate to have Bruce Geier himself walk us through some of the details of the drag car and the build up of that, as well as Ken walk us through the engine details. The project, which got completed the Monday prior to PRI 2024, had been something Bruce wanted to do for a long time as a lover of the Plymouth Fury.

Gaier owns and operates Gaier’s Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, a dealership that Bruce is the third-generation owner of. The dealership used to sell Plymouth before they got rid of the marquee.

“I’ve always been a motorhead,” Gaier admits. “I’ve always really liked the wing cars and just always wanted a ‘58 Fury. You don’t see very many of them, so that was another thing that drew me to building this thing. It’s also a long car and I’m a fan of long cars. I think they’re a little safer, personally.

“Back in the ‘90s was the first time I ever saw a Plymouth Fury – actually about when I met Chris and Charli Wheatcraft of Indy Cylinder Head. I fell in love with the car and it’s been a pipe dream for a long time. Years go by and millions of hours of overtime and finally financially you’re able to do it. I begged Dean Mcilvain (Mcilvain Racecars) to do the build for me and he accepted the challenge and obviously rose to the challenge. They did a wonderful job. It’s just unbelievable chassis work.”

According to Gaier, a true, ‘58 Plymouth Fury is so expensive that it was cheaper to build this car than to buy a real ‘58 Fury. While Mcilvain Racecars did the chassis work, Gaier did all the body work and paint work on the car. Ultimately, Gaier wanted something that was blisteringly fast, but still bracket raceable.

“I wanted something that could just go round after round after round after round and not hurt parts and Ken put an engine program together for us that is definitely going to accomplish that task,” Gaier says. “We race 18-20 times a year. We rarely sleep at home. We’re in the motor home most of the time. We’re excited to get it down a racetrack.”

Gaier says the Fury project was a total team effort and a lot of people were involved in order to accomplish the finished racecar.

“Just thanks to all everyone who helped with it,” Gaier says. “Of course, Dean and Amber Mcilvain for late hours. Mmy father-in-law, Tim, he did a lot of running around picking up parts and my wife for putting up with all this bologna all the time. Scott Foster, my crew chief, he’s a master of disaster when it comes to this stuff and he’s put in countless hours basically for free to help me out. Also, my kids, they’ve all worked on it. They all got sanding blocks and helped me paint it and all that stuff. Everyone at Indy Cylinder Head – just so many people. It would take me the rest of the day to tell you who all helped us out with this car, but special thanks to everyone who had hands on this car.”

While the chassis and paint of this Fury is truly breath-taking, the ProCharged 540 cid Wedge engine is equally eye-catching, and will make this Fury absolutely fly. Ken Lazzeri of Indy Cylinder Head knew from the start that this engine combo would be the right answer for Gaier’s car.

“This 540 ProCharged Wedge is made from pieces we have made for 30 years,” Lazzeri says. “It’s got an Indy Cylinder Head solid-aluminum block. It’s got 440-1 heads that we have used on bracket cars for over 30 years. It’s got a Callies billet crank, GRP boost rods, Diamond coated pistons, a COMP 55mm camshaft, T&D rockers, Manton pushrods, BAM lifters, an APD carburetor and fuel system, and an F3 ProCharger.

“This is one of our favorite combinations. It’s not the fastest, but it is unbelievably reliable. You could run this thing two or three seasons complete before you need to rebuild it. It’s 2,200 horsepower, which is enough for what Bruce wants to do. He’s going to run Top Sportsman, which means we need to get into high 3s, which shouldn’t be a problem. He’s also going to do a lot of Outlaw index racing, which is 4.50-4.70, so to be prepared, our owner Chris Wheatcraft, developed a restrictor plate that goes on front of the bell and by altering the size of this disc, we can instantly turn a 3.90 car into a 4.50 car, and then make it a little bigger disc right to a 4.70 car. Since it’s boost referenced, if we cut the air down and cut the boost down, it regulates its own fuel, which makes it a bracket car. You could run anywhere with it.”

Ken told us that the ProCharger should only need to run about 20-lbs. of boost to see 3-second passes. However, when Bruce is shooting for 4.50-4.70, he’ll only need about 7-lbs. of boost out of the ProCharger. And speaking of the ProCharger inlet, the guys got creative and even carved out an area of the tank in front of the car.

“Again, this is an engine that I was building in 1992 as just a simple bracket race engine – the same architecture,” Lazzeri says. “Now, we’re adding a ProCharger to it and tripling the horsepower of what we had in 1992, but we haven’t lost any reliability. That’s what makes this an attractive engine.”

There’s no denying that this ‘58 Plymouth Fury and ProCharged 540 Wedge engine look as good as the combo should perform.

Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade1 and Elring – Das Original. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected].