FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => The Road to Drag Week 2014 => Topic started by: jayb on May 04, 2014, 12:44:41 PM
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This week I put together a detailed schedule of what I have to do to get the engine finished up and on the dyno, and the car back together and running by the end of June. As usual, it looks do-able, and as usual the plan will probably go out the window as soon as something unexpected goes wrong. However, I'm going to try to hang with it as much as possible; this year I've just GOT to get to the track a few times before the event. This week I got the great news that my friend Steve, who went with me at Drag Weeks 2005 and 2006, was able to get his vacation for the week approved, so he is going with me this year for Drag Week #10. We plan to hit the track together several times before the event.
Back to the engine work, one of the upgrades this year is addition of a dry sump system, with the result that at all times when the engine is running, the pressure in the crankcase is going to be lower than atmospheric. This means that the seals will have to be in the engine backwards, because part of the way the seal works is to use the higher pressure in the crankcase to force the seal lip against the crankshaft. With the vacuum from the dry sump in the crankcase, the pressure differential is reversed, so the seal has to be reversed. So, on Saturday this week I got to work flipping the rear main seal around. On the Shelby blocks the fit between the caps and the block is really tight, so you have to use a slide hammer to get the caps loose. Here's a photo of the slide hammer attached to the rear main cap as I'm pulling it out of the block:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/rcapr.jpg)
After I got the cap off I tried without success to push on the end of the seal that was already installed, but it wouldn't budge. So, I ended up loosening the remaining four main caps so that I could pry the rear of the crank up just a little bit, and rotate the seal out of place. Then, I reversed it and stuck it back into the groove. It took me an hour to get all the caps loose, and 30 seconds to reverse the seal ::) I reset and retorqued caps 1-4, and now I just have to install the rear main cap later today (with its seal half reversed also), and then this little job is finished up. The front seal will be much easier, of course, because the timing cover is already removed from the engine.
During the week this week I had taken the few spare moments that I had and finished welding up the oil pan, to convert it to work with the dry sump system. This is undoubtably the world's ugliest dry sump pan:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/dsumppan.jpg)
This is actually the third iteration of this oil pan. I ran this originally in my Galaxie, where it was a rear sump pan to clear the front-steer rack that I have installed in that car. Then, when I swapped the motor into my Shelby clone, I had to modify the pan extensively, in order to fit around the rear-steer rack setup that is installed in that car. Both of those installations were wet sumps, so this time I had to cut the oil pan down while still keeping it set up to fit around the rack, and add the fittings and pickups for the dry sump lines. It was a major pain, and I'm definitely not happy with the appearance of this thing. Further, I haven't leaked checked it yet and I will still have to do that and weld up any problem areas, so its only going to get uglier. But if it works, and doesn't leak in the car, I guess I'll be satisfied with it.
After the seal swapping episode yesterday, today I tackled disassembly of the cylinder heads. As mentioned last week I wanted to get rid of the Ferrea valves and install the Manleys that flowed so much better. I've been doing my own cylinder head setup on these engines for several years now; here's a picture of the valve spring compressor set up on one of the heads:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/rsohcspring.jpg)
The spring compressor is a standard one that has been modified to fit in the tight confines of the SOHC heads. After getting all the valves removed I also had to remove the valve seals, spring seats, and shims, because the new springs I wanted to use with the new cams for this engine were a little heavier than the Comp 943 springs that these heads were originally set up with, and would require different shims. I was planning to use the Comp 26099 springs. I had gone to the trouble of sending an SOHC head with one of the new cams to Bill Conley last year, so that he could run it on his spintron machine and check for valvetrain stability. Bill ran it with both the 943 springs and the 26099 springs, and the 943 springs just couldn't hack it with the new cam. But the 26099 springs looked good. I have a set of new 26099 springs here that I purchased for use with another set of SOHC heads that were built by Dove (the 26099 springs fit on the Dove heads), so I grabbed those and started to get set up to install them. Right away, I discovered a problem. These heads, which are Coon heads, only have the valve pockets machined for a maximum spring diameter of 1.55", and the 26099 springs are 1.63" in diameter. So, my hopes for getting the heads completely assembled this weekend have gone out the window.
I have two options here. One is to take the heads in to my local shop and get the spring pockets opened up to 1.63". The other option is to buy a set of springs that will fit the heads, like the Comp 26115 springs, that have about the same specifications for open and closed load as the 26099 springs. The problem there is that I'll be out $800 to buy springs, retainers, and spring seats. Also, I have a couple of sets of the 26099 springs, plus extra retainers, and having spare valvetrain parts during Drag Week is a big plus. So, I think I'm going to see if I can get the heads cut for the 26099 springs quickly; if there is a delay on this, then I'll have to buy the new springs and retainers.
With the heads completely bare I went to the next task, which I have to say required some intestinal fortitude. Here is a picture:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/drillsohc.jpg)
You kind of hate to drill a big hole in a set of heads that you've got $7500 in between the price of the castings and all the porting work! But my dry sump setup is a six stage, and it needs a scavenge line connected to the back of each cylinder head. So, after drilling the hole, I tapped it for a 3/8" pipe thread. Here's a picture showing the fitting temporarily screwed into place:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/sohcvacfit.jpg)
After that was done I thoroughly cleaned each head to get rid of all the old sealer and any remaining traces of metal shavings; here they are, ready for a quick trip to the machine shop:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/sohcbarehds.jpg)
I'll find out Monday if I can get the valve pockets cut in time, or if I need to go to the other set of springs.
Saturday night was my daughter's junior prom, and last night while at the dance she texted me asking for photos of my Shelby clone. Obviously, she was trying to impress some young man at the dance LOL!. I dug up some pictures from Drag Week 2011 and sent them to her. I had forgotten how nice the car looked back then; I will post the pictures below, and come back to this thread for motivational purposes when my enthusiasm for the project starts to flag ;D All the pictures below were taken by Kyle Loftis at 1320 Video:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/69 at DW11.jpg)
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/1320vid_2.jpg)
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/1320vid_6.jpg)
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/1320vid_8.jpg)
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/1320vid_9.jpg)
Now, its back to a little custom intake adapter work...
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When I grow up ....................... :)
Meanwhile, I'll just hang on every word.
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Thats a realy beautyful car 8) 8) 8)
I hope you make it to dragweek this
year and win
P.s If you ever run out of trunkmonkeys
just pm me and i bee there ;D ;D ;D D.s
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you could have done worse on the welding :P
(http://bangshift.bangshiftllc.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/tank-welding.jpeg)
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Hmmm, I guess so ;D You know what I like about seeing that kind of stuff, though? It means that somebody is doing it themselves, rather than paying somebody else to do it for them. That is part of the hot rodding mentality that I can really respect.
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Super nice car and great photos too. Hope things go smoothly for you this year.
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If that kid has any brains, he would marry your daughter! ;D ;D
As for the lackluster welding, I don't think anybody will ever see it. When the car has a Cammer in it, the only time somebody will be on their knees is when they're bowing :)
So how do you turn the front seal around? The rear crank seal is easy enough, but the front seal is different, at least on conventional FEs, and I think the Cammer uses the same type pressed in metal/rubber seal doesn't it?
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Gotta love the sight of that Cammer sitting in there! What color is it painted? Is it a Ford color, say Acapulco blue? I'm sure the car will clean up and look every bit as good in the winners circle this year.
Bruce
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So how do you turn the front seal around? The rear crank seal is easy enough, but the front seal is different, at least on conventional FEs, and I think the Cammer uses the same type pressed in metal/rubber seal doesn't it?
Same front seal for the SOHC. You just take a new seal and pound it in there backwards. Just got to be careful you don't bend it...
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Gotta love the sight of that Cammer sitting in there! What color is it painted? Is it a Ford color, say Acapulco blue? I'm sure the car will clean up and look every bit as good in the winners circle this year.
Bruce
The color is Gulfstream Aqua, which was a factory color for Mustangs in 1969. Unfortunately, the paint I used (PPG Omni) is a low solids paint, and the color isn't as deep as I wanted it. It wasn't clear that was the case until the car came out of the booth. I should have put on at least another couple of base coats. Here's a picture of a car showing what it should look like:
(http://fepower.net/Photos/Road to Drag Week 2014/69_Shelby_95_Sands_Trailer_004.jpg)
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Gulfstream Aqua is what my car was originally also. It is a BEAUTIFUL color, but very hard to get "just right"! And pictures rarely do it justice. It has to be seen in person and in the sun to get the real beauty of it.
I chose an "off brand" color that was very very close to the original Ford color because Gulfstream Aqua was not available in the Deltron base/clear when I did my car. It has a bunch of pearl in it and in pictures looks very blue and darkish. But when it's in the sun it really lightens and "pops" like the original Aqua, but in pictures still looks blue and dark.
Funny story, while looking for the right color for my car, a lady drove by in a then new car and the color immediately hit me that THATS the one. So I took off after her in my beat up F-250 Highboy. I chased her for about 4 miles before she eventually stopped in a parking lot where she worked. I pulled up and said "This is going to sound very strange....but can I look inside your trunk?" She just stared at me not knowing how to react and I'm actually surprised she did not turn screaming and run to call the police...lol But I then explained to her about my car and told her that her paint code was in the trunk. She was happy to help then and we had a laugh about it. Turned out she only lived 1 mile from me.
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;D ;D Me to have chased a car to get the paint code Dough ;D ;D
Feels fine to not bee the only one ;D ;D
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Now your going to have some goof sniffing around for two things Dad.
Neither one will make you happy. ::)
Stick to the plan, Stick to the plan, that's what I keep telling myself, then self changes the plan and it all goes for a crap. ;)
Good luck Jay.
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Last time I asked to see inside a woman's trunk, I got a black eye! Of course she wasn't driving at the time. Maybe that where I went wrong :o
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Jay, It's good see the Shelby getting some TLC. Are you gong to put the stripes on it?
It's good that your daughter is showing your car to the guys, maybe she will find a motor head to date. My son is dating a chick from Buffalo, so he had prom Saturday too. I was working on my hot rod all day, the rushed over to the school to see the grand march, but due to parking and getting lost, I missed it.
Let me know when you are going to the track, I'll try to make it as well. If my hot rod is ready.
This is going to be an awesome Drag week,
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Well at least she didn't ask for pics of the back seat. :o
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There is no back seat LOL! There is, however, a SHOTGUN rack...
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Hey Jay,
With the Pond 427 SOHC block bored to 4.250'', there will be no valve clearance issues right? I saw that discussion on the start of this thread under Projects. When I was having the valve job done with Mr. Craft, he said that I may have to notch the cylinder walls for the valves. Is it only 390 blocks that this is needed?
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I think so, the factory bore was 4.23 and there were no valve clearance issues, so 4.25" shouldn't be a problem. Only smaller diameter bores would have to worry about the notching issue.
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Thanks Jay. Gave me a chill thinking about doing that to the block (the block that literally costs 200 x what my first car cost- Not an exaggeration) LOL
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That is one of the most striking cars we've seen at DW. I noticed in the pictures that there did not seem to be an upper core support member? On my '71 I made that part removable to aid in engine/trans swaps but the fenders/ engine compartment actually squeeze in by about 1/4" when it's removed so I've been careful to keep it structural. Did you see any evidence of movement from the drives or is there reinforcement you can't see? Otherwise it would seem that the radiator is a stressed member?
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That's correct Bill, there is no bracket across the radiator. So far it has been pretty rigid but I have had thoughts of adding a brace anyway, in anticipation of a McConnell wheelie Lol! The radiator has not been a stressed member so far...
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Jay, Having a son and two daughters I always remembered this; When you have a son, you have to worry about 1 penis, with a daughter you have to worry about ALL the penises! I kept my girls in 3 pair of long overalls and my 12ga. close at hand. Met all the potential Beau's at the door in full police uniform! LOL Bobhttp://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/Smileys/default/angry.gif
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Geez Bob, I've got enough things to worry about LOL!
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Hey Jay,
What would you say the compression ratio will be on this set up? And do you remember what the compression ratio was on the 519" SOHC?
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The compression on this motor is 13.4:1, and on the 519" engine it was 13.0:1.
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And your over the road fuel of choice is?
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That's correct Bill, there is no bracket across the radiator. So far it has been pretty rigid but I have had thoughts of adding a brace anyway, in anticipation of a McConnell wheelie Lol! The radiator has not been a stressed member so far...
Back about a zillion years (actually the Summer of '67), when we put the GT 40-based 427 TP in Brother Lon's '67 Mustang, we cut the center out of the 'horse-collar' in order to facilitate the swap. When everything else was complete, we made a simple round-tube filler piece. Nothing ever moved. We did install an engine-compartment 'Monte-Carlo' bar as well. Stainless tubing was formed to go ahead of the front carb.
KS
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And your over the road fuel of choice is?
92 Octane unleaded premium.
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13.4:1 runs on 92 Pump?????? I'd have thought you'd turn it off, go have lunch, come back 30min later and it would still be clunking away with run on.
I guess w/ digital Fuel Inj and controls you can turn down the tune?
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Its all about dynamic compression ratio, BB. Even though the static compression ratio is high, the dynamic is down in a reasonable range. On my big SOHC DCR is about 9:1. This is pretty high for pump gas, but with the EFI system I can run a street tune that is a little richer and back the timing off somewhat, and that makes the engine completely livable on the street. Then I can change tunes at the track, fill up with 110 octane race gas, and get the performance back.