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ENGINE DEVELOPMENT
INSIDE MIKE MORAN’S
MOTOR CITY BILLET BULLET
GREG JONES | EDITORWhen you’re an innovator and a visionary such as an Edison, Franklin, Da Vinci, Gates or Jobs, the road to building something for the fi rst time isn’t
always an easy one. People doubt you, you have li le support, time is against you, and in many cases, the physical materials necessary aren’t even
available yet to achieve the end goals. Not many understand these barriers to innovation quite like Mike Moran of Moran Motorsports in Taylor, MI.
In 2009, Moran began down the path
of building an engine like none other
before it. It would require time. It
would require belief that it could be
done. It would require support from
others in the industry. And it would
require new products to be innovatedright along with it.
Moran was designing the rst-ever,
100-percent billet engine capable of
4,400 horsepower! Nicknamed the
Motor City Billet Bullet, the engine
would be for Moran’s personal use in an
Outlaw Pro Mod application. e buildaligned with Mike’s interest in being
rst to break industry barriers.
“I got an idea for this engine after
I had been running all the di erent
engine combinations and all the parts
out there,” Moran says. “ ey’re all
great combinations, but they all have
shortcomings and most of them are
because of what the rules organizations
will allow. I just took everything that
we’ve looked at, seen or done and
said, ‘Let’s start with a clean slate and
make an outlaw motor. I know we
can’t race it in NHRA, but I’m sick
of these combinations that have these
shortcomings and you can’t x them
because they won’t allow you to change
the architecture.’ at’s where this
engine came along. I wanted to draw
the perfect engine combination.”
Moran’s clean slate catchphrase was,
‘It’s got a little of three and some of me,’
meaning bits of Ford, Chrysler and
Chevy, and the best of Moran’s own
innovations.
“We wanted to have the rst
all-billet engine because there wasn’t
such a thing back in 2009 when I
started,” he says. “You had billet engines
as far as blocks and heads and thatInitially started in 2009, Moran’s Motor City Billet Bullet required a lot of
innovation to churn out 5,295 horsepower. But Mike isn’t stopping there. He’s
looking to possibly hit 6,000 horsepower this summer.
08-12 eb.aug20 Engine Development.indd 8 8/7/20 8:37 AM
Naresh Jariwala