Good morning all,
Doug - thanks for the info on the exhaust bolt pattern, didn't know this. Right now, mock up is just to physically locate the engine/heads/covers in the bay to ensure there's room and for the engine mounts/cradle positioning. This is a '72 Mustang (never came with an FE) and MTF will be removing the shock towers (installing a late-model Corvette-based suspension/brakes) and cross brace so there should be plenty of room on the passenger side and front, but will need to see where the driver's side components (manual brakes, power rack/pinion steering and clutch components) shake out. Final "fitting" and custom (assuming) headers will be after I have the Pond heads and aluminum block (and intake).

Jack - I'll give you a call in the next week or 2 and see if you can help me any. On that front, I got a message from Pond (Chris) that they now expect the heads to be available in June-July timeframe so I'm going to pass on the ebay heads and wait for the good stuff :-) No word on whether they will have any blocks available yet, so I need to call Shelby (they show "standard bore" and "big bore" blocks) to see what they have.

If anyone is interested in the ebay heads, the auction is #297554839585, as far as I know they're still up, though there's about 40 people watching them. Auction says you can make an offer, so may take less than the $9900 asking price.

Again, thank you all for taking the time to educate and help me with this! I'm sure there will be many more opportunities to do so coming up!

Mark

Hbstang - the ones I’m looking at are the “Greg-Shelton” ones, eBay #297554839585.

Stangman - I’d like to re-sell them after the shop is done mocking up the engine, but if they’re not repairable then I won’t get nearly as much (if anything) vs. if they are repairable, so I don’t want to pay what a “good” set of heads is worth then lose several thousand $$ trying to sell them. I have no plans to fix them myself. As a note, the auction is very clear on the condition of the heads with great photos and the seller appears to be completely honest in the description.

Jacksfordparts - I’m in Florida , but the work is being done by Mustangs To Fear in Rochester, Indiana, which is where I’ll be shipping the block, heads and a set of valve covers so they can mock it all up in the car.

Thanks all for reading and commenting!

Mark

Leny and ToddK - thanks for the info and thoughts! Leny - good comments on the dry sump. Space to the side of the engine (and for the oil reservoir) has been a concern when I looked at dry sump systems. I'll be running AC as well (and power rack & pinion). Ultimately, I'll probably mock up the engine in the bay and see what fits best. I won't have shock towers as I'll be installing a coilover suspension, so that helps with room, but I know the cammer is a big beast. I'm a big fan of not making things overly complicated or crowded, so if an oil pan works, it works.
ToddK - Regarding power output - 800 is kind of just a number in my head. From everything I've read, I believe an all aluminum big cube cammer running on 93 octane can make north of 700 with decent idle and road characteristics. At the end of the day, I want day-to-day reliability, some level of every day driveability (note that the Mustang currently is a 3800 lb 5-speed 302-2V with manual drum brakes and no A/C in Florida, so I'm kind of used to living with few modern amenities). It needs to start up (pretty much) every time, drive in traffic without embarrassing me, and run hard when the time and place presents itself. Yeah, 500HP is probably more than enough and 600HP is perhaps silly, but 700+ will put a grin on my face for years to come (and 800 would be amazing) and I just want to see what is possible, then try to build it.  I do plan to do some autocrossing/road-course and dragstrip work (for fun).

Howdy all! I've been lurking here for a few years, ever since I decided that putting a SOHC in a '72 Mustang and then driving it every day would be a good idea...
So, I'm finally ready to get serious about spec'ing/buying parts and trying to build one (great timing with parts/labor/shop shortages, I know). I'm hoping to get a discussion started on "the art of the possible" - what would it take to build a relatively high-horsepower (around 800?) SOHC engine that could/would live in a true street environment.

Some of my thoughts/needs:
1. Daily driver - 30 minute commute to work over "suburb" streets. Not inner-city stop-and-go, but a few stop lights mixed in with 30mph to 55mph runs. I would probably drive this car 3-5 times a week like this.
2. Able to idle in central Florida 90-100* heat in the summers for 10-15 minutes at a time, and able to run at highway speeds (80mph) at around 2000-2500 RPM until the gas tank goes dry.
3. It probably seems crazy/stupid to build a cammer to do generic street duty like this, but it would be way more fun (at least in my dreams) than something like a Cleveland or 429/460 build).

Car will be a '72 Mustang convertible, Pro Touring build: 5 or 6 speed manual, lowered over either a full frame (like a Schwartz chassis) or with custom-built frame/subframe.
Suspension will be 4-link 9" in back, 4-wheel manual discs, rack-and-pinion, 17" or 18" wheels, mini-tubbed in rear.
I'm talking about true daily-driver status, plus the ability to maybe do some amateur autocrossing or hit the drag-strip occasionally.

So, my current thoughts on a build are:
1. Fuel injected - either individual stacks or a dual-quad style setup. Would prefer a "learning" EFI system due to the wide variety of weather conditions over the year. Not interested in any kind of forced induction/power adders.
2. Thinking a dry-sump maybe? What are the pros/cons of running one on the street in terms of reliability of the sump system itself and the engine
3. Thinking big-cube bore/stroke to make it easier to get (at least close to) the HP I'd like to see.
4. From the reading I've done here, it seems like upper end oiling is a big issue with street-driven cammers. Is there a way to better oil the top end? It sounds like Jay's rocker system (if available?) is the best out there.
5. Kind of a stretch, but also thinking a coil-on-plug setup might be cool - thoughts?
6. Block - I've read good things about both the Pond and Shelby blocks. Assuming both were available, what would be the better choice? I saw a post saying that the Shelby block can be over-bored more and has head studs that go deeper; would that matter in this type of build?
7. What about cams - what would be a good grind that gives relatively decent idle (don't need much vacuum as my brakes will be manual) on the street but could hit the 800HP range?

I'm not opposed to farming out the build, but like doing things myself, so would prefer to do as much as possible (barring machine-work) and learn as I go :-) Though I am hoping to avoid some of the heart-ache CobraCammer went through on his Saleen build (if you're reading this - I seriously admire what you built and how you persevered!)

Thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions/warnings.

Mark