My 431 stroker Build and Dyno

[blykins]

Here's a couple of my engine results for comparison purposes...

*434 ci FE, 422 hp @ 5500, 467 lb-ft @ 4000.  4.165 x 3.980, factory CJ crankshaft, Scat H-beam rods, Diamond pistons, 9.8:1.  Comp Cams hydraulic roller, 227/233 @ .050", .576" lift, 112 LSA.  Factory CJ heads, Ferrea valves, valve job only.  Factory CJ intake manifold.  Holley 750 mechanical secondary carburetor. 

I think the heads flowed around 250 @ lift on that one.

*428 ci FE, 533 hp @ 6400, 472 lb-ft @ 5400.  4.130 x 3.980, Scat cast crankshaft, Scat H-beam rods, Probe pistons, 11:1.  Comp Cams solid roller, 248/254 @ .050", 110 LSA, 110 ICL, .676"/.680" lift, Keith Craft Stage 1 Edelbrock heads, Dove Tunnel Wedge, Road Demon 625 carburetors.

Solid roller, pulling to 6500 with 270-280-ish heads and still didn't hit the 550 mark.

*427 ci FE, 510 hp @ 6100, 511 lb-ft @ 4200.  4.250 x 3.780, factory 391 crankshaft, BBC rod journals, Oliver rods, Race-Tec pistons, 11.5:1.  Bullet solid flat tappet, 252/260 @ .050", 106 LSA, 104 ICL, Lawes Mayfield ported factory C3 LR heads, Lawes Mayfield ported factory LR 2x4 intake.  Holley 600 carburetors.

*427 ci FE, 476 hp @ 5700, 489 lb-ft @ 4400.  4.236 x 3.780, factory 427 $ crank, Scat H-beam rods, Diamond pistons, 10.7:1.  Bullet solid flat tappet, 240/246 @ .050", 108 LSA, 103.5 ICL, .620"/.614" lift.  Edelbrock heads (out of box with good valve job), Blue Thunder 1x4 intake.  Holley 750 carburetor.  Stuska dyno. 

And here's what it takes to hit 600 lb-ft of torque on the dyno I use:

*487 ci FE, 536 hp @ 6000, 583 lb-ft.  4.270 x 4.250, Scat cast crankshaft, Scat H-beam rods, Diamond pistons, 10.5:1.  Comp Cams hydraulic roller, 245/248 @ .050", .634"/.634" lift, 110 LSA.  Edelbrock RPM heads with valve job, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Quick Fuel BD-850 carburetor.

*501 ci FE, 580 hp @ 6000, 615 lb-ft @ 4000.  4.270 x 4.375, RPM forged crankshaft, Scat H-beam rods, Race-Tec pistons, 10.3:1.  Crane hydraulic roller cam, 254/260 @ .050", .655"/.655", 112 LSA, 107 ICL.  Joe Craine ported Edelbrock cylinder heads, Joe Craine ported Performer RPM intake.  Quick Fuel Q-950 carburetor.

[Rory428]

Brent, those engines you listed sound much closer to the numbers I have seen with my own stuff on my buddys SuperFlow 901 dyno. I have not got over 500 ft/lbs of torque with either my 428 or 454 FEs,let alone 600, but sometimes it seems like everybody with a 9.5 compression 390 is able to" leap tall building in a single jump". And don`t even get me started with people who believe the numbers many of those computer programs often spew out. Hell, even the 485HP 331 SB Ford in my Mustang is a weak player compared to the HP numbers of some other 347-408 cube small blocks at my local track, but it seems to be able to put up favorable ET and MPH numbers on the 1/4 mile scoreboards.Personally I`ll take a good ET slip over a bloated dyno sheet or magic flow bench numbers any day of the week.

[blykins]

Every dyno shop will tell you that their dyno is conservative...LOL  But I've used several and the one I frequent the most seems to be pretty tight-lipped.  I always wondered why I was around 25-30 hp  below everybody else with pretty much the same parts.  Seems like we all build 482's with 240-ish duration hydraulic rollers, heads that flow around 320 at lift, same intakes, same compression, etc., but I was always at 550-575 with them while everyone else was at 575-600.   I've found some hydraulic roller lobes that lost horsepower because they were too rowdy, even for lower rpm engines, but for the most part, we all use pretty much the same junk. 

I may be a dumb ole hillbilly engine builder, or maybe it's the dyno....one of these days I'll do the dyno mule thing and I'll find out. 

[jayb]

Brent, I like your "dyno test" idea, a lot.  The only thing is that you'd have to keep what you were doing on the QT, so that you didn't get various dyno operators "recalibrating" just before you got there LOL!  You also might want to run at least one pull on the dyno with the headers open, to eliminate the variabilities of the dyno's exhaust system from installation to installation.  By the way, your results look pretty reasonable to me also...

[blykins]

Good point about the exhaust.  I've seen some shops evacuate right into the dyno room.   

If I can get a plan together, I can hit a Stuska here at home, then maybe I could hit Barry's place for a DTS test, then run over to your spot for a Super Flow test.  I'd like to buy you all a Mt. Dew anyway.     That would give me a good sense of how different brands and different setups react, then I could hit a few more shops for a real comparison.

[mike_burch]

I also have to question some power numbers that I have seen, especially in the big California car magazines. One magazine article I recall was they took a 100,000 miles, bone stock junkyard 5.0 Mustang,engine ,and untouched from the wrecking yard, it made more power than my Stock Eliminator 5.0 Mustangs engine did! (My Mustang ran 12.3s in legal NHRA trim,, at 3100lbs).

It seems like all the big magazines use WesTech for their dyno articles, and always get FANTASTIC results! 
There is a guy on another forum that took his 363 SBF to Westech, they told him he had 575hp, and all he could do was a 10.99 @ 121.5 in a 2900lb Falcon...  when he should have been around a 10.30.  Go Figure!  Maybe there is a reason the mags flock to certain dynos!  LOL

[Rory428]

I also have to question some power numbers that I have seen, especially in the big California car magazines. One magazine article I recall was they took a 100,000 miles, bone stock junkyard 5.0 Mustang,engine ,and untouched from the wrecking yard, it made more power than my Stock Eliminator 5.0 Mustangs engine did! (My Mustang ran 12.3s in legal NHRA trim,, at 3100lbs).

It seems like all the big magazines use WesTech for their dyno articles, and always get FANTASTIC results! 
There is a guy on another forum that took his 363 SBF to Westech, they told him he had 575hp, and all he could do was a 10.99 @ 124 in a lightweight Falcon...  when he should have been around a 10.30.  Go Figure!  Maybe there is a reason the mags flock to certain dynos!  LOL

Yeah, that would be the one. Any idea what the Falcon weighed? My 331 made a paltry 485HP, but that has been enough to go a 10.28@128MPH on 9" slicks, weighing 3100lbs, complete with full stock interior, flat steel hood, and the battery still under the hood.I wonder what my engines would make at Westtech ?

[blykins]

1200 hp.

[jayb]

Yeah, that would be the one. Any idea what the Falcon weighed? My 331 made a paltry 485HP, but that has been enough to go a 10.28@128MPH on 9" slicks, weighing 3100lbs, complete with full stock interior, flat steel hood, and the battery still under the hood.I wonder what my engines would make at Westtech ?

I have to say, I wonder what some of my cars would run at Mission, with that below sea level air you guys have LOL!

[jayb]

Good point about the exhaust.  I've seen some shops evacuate right into the dyno room.   

If I can get a plan together, I can hit a Stuska here at home, then maybe I could hit Barry's place for a DTS test, then run over to your spot for a Super Flow test.  I'd like to buy you all a Mt. Dew anyway.     That would give me a good sense of how different brands and different setups react, then I could hit a few more shops for a real comparison.

Sounds good to me, no charge to run that engine on my dyno...

[Qikbbstang]

Re: Open Headers in the Dyno Room gawd the decibel's must shatter glass, even the exhaust fan set-up would not dull that roar. Horsepower by Hedrick here in Jax was forced to use mega serious industrial silencer$ to achieve the required noise figures our local Gov't demands.

Couldn't an accurate "certified" scale be rigged to a dyno to measure the actual foot pounds?.......................

[Rory428]

Yeah, that would be the one. Any idea what the Falcon weighed? My 331 made a paltry 485HP, but that has been enough to go a 10.28@128MPH on 9" slicks, weighing 3100lbs, complete with full stock interior, flat steel hood, and the battery still under the hood.I wonder what my engines would make at Westtech ?

I have to say, I wonder what some of my cars would run at Mission, with that below sea level air you guys have LOL!

Well, Mission is my home track, but I have ran virtually the same 1/4 mile times at Bremerton and Seattle Washington, Woodburn Oregon, and Sonoma California. In fact, my Fairmont with the 428, ran its best numbers at Bremerton WA. (10.03 ET). Its too bad that you never attended the FE Shootout races we hade at Mission Raceways Mega Ford weekend for 5 years. Mission was probably closer than you getting to Dragweek. Its too bad that North Americo is so damn large. I`d love to go to Beaver Springs PA for the FE Reunion, but at 3500 miles 1 way, not likely to happen. By the way, although Mission can occasionally read a bit before sea level early or late in the year, that is not the norm.Its not unusual to hit 90-95 degrees F in the summer.

[Barry_R]

That dyno test is "free" here as well.  I have made that offer to Mr. Lykins in the past - only the travel distance has kept him away.  We share the same interest in some of the stuff we see posted around the internet.   I flog the livin' snot out of my 433 inch EMC combinations to get some decent numbers and then see somebody on ebay kick my @#$ with a flat tappet hydraulic and 9.5:1 hypers in a basic 390...   You KNOW@ it can't be true, but calling anybody out on stuff like that just gets labeled as a sour grapes attitude.

For what it's worth I dyno'd Adney Brown's BB Chevy at my place, right after he ran it at Jim Styke's place, and right before it ran at the 2013 EMC.  So we have data from one engine on three DTS dynos within two weeks.  And its one I had zero build input on - other than pulling the levers.

[babybolt]

Well now that EMC and dyno have been brought up in a thread, can I hijack this and ask why a serious SOHC FE engine hasn't been at EMC since Barry R dallied with one some years ago?

[Barry_R]

Checkbook....