Most people are under the impression—including us—that’s it’s an expensive proposition to make big-block horsepower. Normally, that’s the case, but Bret Bowers and Jason Gonzalez of Racing Engine Design (RED) of Fort Collins, Colorado have shown us old dogs a new trick this week with their carb’ed LS entry. Their iron-block 6-liter mill makes use of a carbureted CNC-ported Performance Induction intake manifold, a QFT 1,060-cfm carb, GM LS7 heads (ported by RED), and an .810-inch lift Bullet solid roller cam. A GMPP distributor conversion kit is also part of the deal. Other than some Eagle H-beam rods and some box-stock Mahle forged pistons, this short-block is all stock—even to the original 60,000-mile rod and main bearings from the original truck short-block. Bret and Jason say they’ve got about $6,500 into their engine. On the dyno with 91 octane pump gas, it threw down 579 peak hp. That’s a lot of bang for the buck!