I recently bought a 347 SBF engine, that a friend had built, then "went in a different direction", and I bought it for less than 50 cents on the dollar. It has a Dart block and a Lunati hyd. roller cam with a Jesel belt drive and shaft rockers, seems like overkill with a hyd. roller, but thats what he wanted. Anyhow, it has Morel "Hi Rev" hydraulic roller lifters,PN 5879, and the instructions say to use oil no heavier than 5-40, I had planned on using 10-30 Brad Penn oil, has anybody had issues using these lifters with 10-30 oil, and if so, what was the problem? Also, are these a short travel lifter, or do they need 1/2-3/4 turn of preload? Frankly, I would have used a solid if I was building the engine myself, (and more compression),but as it is, even with the smaller hyd. roller cam, it made 40 HP on the dyno than my old 331 did, and was still pulling above 7000 RPM, so  I may as well try whats already there, since it is all new except for a few dyno pulls. Also, my old 331 had AFR 185 heads, the new one has AFR 185s as well, but these heads say "Renegade" on them. Anybody know what makes a Renegade any different than my old heads?

Upfront, I want to state that I am not a "pro" engine builder, but I have been building and racing my own FEs since the mid 70s, and have never been very concerned about pushrod length, since the rocker arm geometry is pretty much fixed by design of the FEs rocker arm stands height, so as long as the pushrod was long enough to span the distance between the lifter and the rocker adjusting screws, I figured that was "good enough". I have used nothing but factory cast iron heads, and flat tappet cams, and even with pretty agressive flat tappet solid cams, well over .650" lift, 7000 RPM shifts, and the valve springs needed to work with them, I never had any issues with rocker or pushrod life, although I did have periodic shaft breakage, before I started using end supports , actually mostly the Oregon Cam rocker support system , since the early 80s. Over the past several years, many here, and on other FE groups, said that the rocker screws should have no more than 2 or 3 threads showing below the bottom of the rocker arm body. So, when I put the mild 428 CJ together for my 59, I was somewhat concerned that with the standard length ball & cup pushrods that I have been using for decades on various FEs , would require the adjusting screws on my factory iron adjustable rockers to be cranked down so far that only a couple of threads would be above the rocker body. So for the initial cam break in and dyno pulls, I installed my Erson roller rockers, as they fit with the rocker screws about 1/2 way, and I had been driving the first 500 miles with the Ersons, although since the cam in this 428 is a mild solid flat tappet (.518" lift, 228 @ .050 dur), I wanted to put the iron rockers on. I ordered a set of custom pushrods from Smith Brothers, that are 9.450", which is .100" longer than what I had with the Ersons, and installed the iron rockers on new shafts and another Oregon Cam support assembly. Put it all together, the adjusting screws had the supposed ideal 2 threads showing below the rocker bodies, and took it for a drive. Ran great, and seemed noticeably quieter that the aluminum Ersons, so I decided to head out for a local cruise night. About 10 miles from home, all of a sudden, there was a louding ticking noise, and it started running a bit rough, so I turned around, and headed for home. As I drove , it started getting louder, and started backfiring thru the carb,  & running very jerky, about 2 miles from home, it got so bad I couldn`t make it up a moderate hill, so pulled over, and had my wife tow me home with my truck and a tow strap. I pulled the valve covers, and found 4 broken rocker arms, 3 exhaust. 1 intake, all were split at the threaded section, and all still had the adjusting screws threaded into the broken pieces. Also I found 2 bent pushrods on the adjacent rocker for cylinder # 3 & 7. I replaced all the rockers , with another set of iron rockers, retaining the same Oregon Cam supports, and reinstalled the 9.350" Comp pushrods. I had to crank the adjusting screws almost all the way down, and since, I have driven the car another 300 miles, including a few 5500 RPM blasts thru the gears. (When the other rockers broke, I had yet to go over 3000 RPM). So did having the longer pushrods cause this, or did I possibly have 1 fluke rocker break, and the resulting cylinder pressure from the exhaust unable to escape, cross thru the intake manifold, and somehow cause the other rockers to fail? All I know at this point is, the shorter "wrong" pushrods seem to be working fine, with the rocker screws cranked way down, and the more ideal length pushrods gave me grief. Any thoughts? The only time I ever had a iron rocker break before, was when a connecting rod broke, and the piston whacked the head hard enough to bend a valve.

Not sure how many of you guys follow NHRA National events, but at last weeks Winternationals race in Pomona California, there were 2 FE powered cars in the final rounds on Sunday. Robert Pond lost a close heads up AA/SA race in his 64 Fairlane Thunderbolt 427 Hi Riser clone, to a 69 Camaro, but Gary Ericksen turned on the win light in the final round with his FE powered Ford Probe in the Super Street class. I have known Gary for over 40 years, and he is as hardcore of a FE guy as any of us. He built the Probe himself, and on the hood, it has "Merc FE" proudly lettered on it. Super Street is a 10.90 index class, with a minimum weight of 2800 pounds, but it has gone 9.20s "off the throttle stop". For about 35 years before he built his Probe, he ran the same S/ST class with his FE powered (Really!!) Chevy Vega station wagon, he also still has the 69 428 CJ Mustang that he bought brand new, and has been a race car for as long as I have known him. He also owns a 69 Torino Talladega. In the winners circle photos, Gary is wearing his fire jacket, with "FE" embroidered on the front. Congrats Gary!

Yesterday I went to check out a buddys complaint of noise from his 64 TBolt clones 427 Hi Riser engine. It has a moderate Bullet solid flat tappet cam , specs call for .018" lash, a quick check revealed several at well over .035", so I went ahead and reset them all, but I was suprised at how much slop was in the rockers, where they fit onto the shafts. You could noticeably twist the rocker arms on the shafts, as if the holes in the rocker arms was either severely oversized or possibly egg shaped. This engine has only seen limited street use, and he has reciepts for the rocker setup being new when the engine was assembled. The rocker setup is a Dove/ Comp Cams package, with the end supports that bolt down into special head bolts, similar to what my 427 has. My rocker arms are blue, with no logo, and really small Allen head adjusting screws, these ones have the Comp Cams logo, and have larger Allen head sizes, later design maybe? My rocker arms fit nicely onto the shafts, over 1/2 of his are very loose and sloppy. Suprisedly, I found no signs of aluminum shavings or debris in the bottom of the heads, I recommended to him cut his oil filter apart and inspect it for debris inside. Has anybody else had similar issues with Dove rocker arms? I know that the Hi Riser rocker stands are shorter than other FE engines, but are the rockers themselves any different? Do Doves use the standard shaft dimensions as factory Ford stuff? I told him if it was me, I would keep the Dove support setup, and replace the rockers with OE Ford, Isky or Crane iron rocker arms, but I am not sure if those would be compatible with the Dove shafts, and Hi Riser heads, as I have no previous experiance with Hi Riser stuff. I was kinda suprised that despite the sloppy rocker arms, the engine still had 75-80 psi of oil pressure cruising at 2500 RPM. Other than hi $$$$ TRD or Jessel stuff, what other rocker setups are available for the Hi Riser heads?

Well, I`m coming! I booked my flight and car rental (requested a Ford, hope I get one!). Now I`m looking at hotel/motel rooms. Seems like my closest choices are either Lewistown or Selinsgrove, how close are either to the track, any other towns to consider? Any recommendations or warnings? I am flying to Philidelphia on Tues April 24th, any suggestions of cool car related stuff between there and Lewistown or Selinsgrove? I have not booked a room yet, so I am free to do touristy stuff for a day or 2 on the way to the FE Re-union. Thanks, really looking foreward to this!

I thought that I would post a couple of photos that I took in the early 70s of dragsters at Mission Raceway, with FE power. I only saw these cars this one time, so I have no idea where they were from, but I imagine most likely the Pacific Northwest. Anybody ever seen these cars before? I also have a shot of a front engine drgaster with a stack injected 427 SOHC, but since it would need to be scanned, thats beyond my limited skills. Since I was a teenager with a cheap Kodak Brownie camera about 45 years ago, the photo quality is hardly magazine quality!

For decades I have always used regular old Mr. Gasket, and more recently, ARP black steel header bolts, never had any issues with them. However, my FPA headers came with a set of shiny stainless steel header bolts, but I am wondering if I should use them. I have heard some people say that stainless steel bolts tend to gall up and seize , especially in high heat applications. Any body know if thats true or an old wives tale? I`d hate to find out the hard way! This is with factory cast iron heads, if that makes a differance. Thanks.

Just wondering if anybody has had any issues using the regular FelPro 8554PT head gaskets on a mild build. I am putting together a nearly stock 428CJ I have had kicking around for 30 years. It is still std. bore, with the original "428 Super" cast pistons, and stock iron CJ heads. This engine will be going in my 59 Ford 2 door sedan with a Toploader  4 speed, mainly a weekend driver, will see the occasional 1/4 pass. I normally use the FelPro 1020 gaskets, but since I have several sets of the 8554s, I would kinda like to use some, plus since they are a bit thicker than the 1020s, hopefully with help with pump gas use. Any thoughts?
Also, are you guys with nearly stock 428 CJs getting by OK with modern pump gas? Up here we can still get Chevron 94 with no Ethanol added.