You can probably use this case to house a regular battery. Then it would be cheaper to look period correct.

https://www.virginiaclassicmustang.com/Autolite-Battery-Case-Only-Group-24-P482620.aspx

I read NASCAR did outlaw overhead cams because Chrysler threatened to leave. When Ford got NASCAR to reverse their decision, it came with the weight penalty that would have made the cars too slow to be competitive. By this time Ford already had the FE developed into a competitive engine so they focused on that.

I never doubted that, because Chrysler threatening to leave would have been a big enough problem. By the time Chrysler made the threat, the SOHC had been developed. Remember, it only took a few months to create the SOHC. That would have all been in secret too.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/nascar-bans-426-hemi-sohc-ford-launch-wild-1965-racing-season/amp/

Here is a PDF of that article from HR. You should be able to download a copy in the upper right.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XnaSK1KeiNPgaosDDv1xhQSBBdGG4sGP/view

I didn't see this as having been shared yet. A SOHC crate engine was auctioned off on Bring a Trailer. It sold for $140,000.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/ford-427ci-sohc-cammer-v8-crate-engine/

BBM lists their iron FE blocks as weighing ~250 lbs and their aluminum FE blocks as weighing ~125 lbs. So half the weight.

I think it might be 40 hp at the 1000 hp level.  I think it might be more like 20 at the 500 hp level.  I believe it is linear like that with everything else a constant. 

The math on that, would mean an iron block makes 4% more power over an aluminum block. Considering aluminum expands more than iron when heated up, that could be a reasonable approximation. A tad more blow by due to aluminum having roughly twice the thermal expansion coefficient. A 4% difference in power when you're running carbs is somewhat negligible. It would be more noticeable on EFI builds. If you really wanted to prove this, don't just look at the dyno numbers. Connect a pressure gauge to a PCV system on two almost identical engines. Or maybe a MAF sensor would be better than a pressure gauge? I'm sure you all get the idea. If aluminum blocks make less power, it would be due to more blow by. This would eliminate the need to have identical spec engines, just two that are close enough.

My 0.00002 cents on the CR issue, the static CR is mostly meaningless when looking at pump gas or race gas, because that number doesn't take the cam or altitude or boost into account. It's the dynamic CR and dynamic cylinder pressures that will matter. I'm not nearly as experienced with engines as some of the guys on here, but I know the static CR is not what really matters. You could have a 10.5:1 CR but the wrong cam could turn that into a dynamic CR of 8.7. Similarly, you could have an 11:1 CR but wind up with a dynamic CR of 7.8. Heck, the static could be 9:1 but running a lot of boost could require race gas regardless of what even the dynamic CR shows. Even a little reading on dynamic CR will bring up roughly 8.5 is around the upper limit of pump gas, for N/A.

What that video didn't cover, is the girdle that was designed to cap the mains. No need for cross bolting. It's worth it to follow the Kirkham FB page, as David Kirkham will often dive into the engineering they do and responds to questions too. I'm pretty sure the block would have been fine from an engineering standpoint. The cost is probably why not many of these have been made, but I wouldn't be surprised if they've made a few for customers. Once in a blue moon, they'll get a customer that wants a truly custom vehicle. The cost of the billet Cobra would have been insane for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbHRInu7Z5U

And the rocker spacers and timing chain are too. Sadly I think that motor has never been ran.

Awesome article though, thanks for sharing it. Some very cool pics in it. The series 1 cammer is neat.