On the pictures. Thanks so much Jay for uploading them. The blurred ones are due to the camera and I will fix them soon. And thanks to all of you for acting civil and smart and good like the old gang. Thanks for many fun emails and ideas too.
On the DYNO data, I own the entire collection and Stroppe and me, the gang, we only authorize you cool cats to look, we do not grant any person the right to re print or use the logos,data or facts please. Until this day, only former FORD team guys have had access, and this data is the work of the Stroppe team before and after the HM merger, and during that period when we were a team. We just want to maybe use all of it for an engine book some day and for authorized history sources. I was asked to say the above so thanks.
A few guys claim I wasn't there, so, maybe they can explain how I have all the data...so odd..
It will be fun to be engineers and study this as friends.
The pictures have some cool details;
1) I wanted new FE guys to see how to ID a SOHC block. Look for the big H. Hee Hee.
This is a NOS std bore 1966 H block and is high nickel. I want the guys to see that big H on the back. That is the Hemi block and has an extra hole in the rear of the deck for the heads to drain back to the sump.
So for new SOHC guys, the head gaskets merely have an extra hole in the rear or the blocks deck, and a boss.
One machining operation I/we did was to add the rear drain hole to 427 blocks that have the boss. It is a tricky passage, down, then angled. You drill in a Mill from both sides with a fixture and special drills an reamers. Well we did it this way.
Later in the 60s, some boats and Drag cars used the standard block, and we drilled and tapped the heads in the rear, to not need these drains in the block, by directing the drainage by AN lines, down to the pan. Some saw a little more power normally aspirated,but in a Pro Car there was a school of thinking. Safety.
In a Dragster or a Funny car, Altered, we liked the stock drainage because adding 2 big lines, adds several chances for them to leak , maybe oil the slicks, maybe close in the driver(Oil his face shield-blur his vision), or, get on the headers and catch fire.
Many thought the FORD design was safer for extreme uses. We did.
2) The FORD blower intakes;
We are mocking up a pushrod HEMI head for an FE, an evolution from the Mickey Thompson FE HEMI that was FAST back in 62-3. That set the Gas Dragster record and was neat. We built some too. Notice the port spacing. The SOHC came on the scene and began to beat the 392 Dodges for several reasons. One is the ports, compare please. Also the bore spacing, see how the ports align to the right, and that big old powerful FORD is wider, thus bigger bores, thus further valve unshrouding and more displacement, and flow. That stock iron port was good for over 400 CFM rough cast, and a lot more finessed. Add a blower and bye bye Dodge boys.
There is symbolism there too. The 392 was fast blown, and won and won. The FORD did the SOHC. And they won and won. So the SOHC stopp on top for a long time at many races. The SOHC became the fast way. It remained the fast way until FORD ran out of blocks, and DONOVAN made a dedicated aluminum sleeved 392 block, called the 417. That could have been a FORD FE block, we all asked,begged, hoped. Once the 417 proved it's mettle, and the FE blocks dried up, the 392 gang had the next edge.
3) X braced blower intakes. Ford began with 2 intakes cast out here by Buddy Bar. Many X or SK castings were done there, we machined plenty. The X brace show that this is the V intake.
The flat floor intake was very dominant in Funny Cars like my all time favorite, The Going Thing
Nobody won more than the legendary Tommy Grove. He is such a fine smart guy and he is fine and well. I'd shine his shoes too.
He ran the flat floor intake, and a special plate. I am re doing this fuel system now, very unique, very fast, very reliable.
The fastest Dragsters evolved to this style intake. The X on the bottom is a clue to older cats here. The X braces the florr of the intake, which has a V in it. The Super Snake, Baney Pink Prudhomme ran this one. We always loved that car and it ran this style intake. The pop off is in the rear.
Now why would you build a blown fuel engine, for a front motor car, and point the pop off at the drivers face? To keep him alert.hahahahaaaaaa
The pop off didn't relieve often, we did rarely see a hiccup at night, and a flash back there, but the deal was, the front of a Nitro Cammer is busy with the mag, fuel pump and related. It fits clean out back. Many ran a block off too, I have a new M/T one shown. Chromed.
4) Flat bottom blower intake tricks. This deal will have a special plate from the 60's to make the fuel distribution more even. I show a 2nd design cover for the new cats. This one clears the adjustable rocker. Also, note the chrome filler tube.
Back when, you could tell what was inside a cammer by the covers usually. No added breathers, carbs and gas. One added breather, blown gas,injected gas, alky, fuel. 2 breathers per side, AA/FD or Top Fuel, AFX blown, Floppers.
5) The dang camera blurred ! Sorry. Just billet special SOHC cams, reground. Many of the fastest cams were cores with changes to suit the car
The rollaway is from back when, with many of the FORD team decals and so on that we only used in house or on our work. Heads, prototype big valve wedges
6) Crane billet blower cams. One of my old team tool chests with an employee only sticker or two. A few guys elsewhere questioned my years up on The Hill, only employees had these lgog deals. Metal sticker, Sid Waterman. Genius fuel system pal who is faster than fast and sharp as a scalpel. Sid changed the sport for everybody
7) Billet blower cams. These are CRANE 646 Nitros. I wanted to show a trick. The 646 is ground down on purpose, and the etching is by a key cam vendor who reground them to be a bit more stout. This shows how many good cam companies, re did many SOHC lobes.
ISKY did special cams for the fastest blown gasser for example. We all LOVED the MALCO Gasser and he ran many special ISKY SOHC cams. So did we. ENGLE, HOWARD,CROWER,MOON, MADDEN, GENERAL KINETICS on te carb cams, CRANE, a huge influence. Many ways to fly then.
For new guys, the stock SOHC cores are cast iron. Great bump sticks, fast. You can only regrind them so far, so billet was the next step. Billet also corrodes less. after running injected or blown fuel, or alky, that attracts water thus rust, the cast cams will get pits. If you find old SOHC cams with pits, they ran Nitro probably. The steel didn't pit and could yield a bigger lobe, and profiles with more area under the curve, and they lived better in some builds.
I gotta get to work.......more soon pals
The edits were spelling. need to check the spell check closer here.
ALSO I did this entire essay last night, and one quick click erased it all.....So I tried again today. One quick click, and the typing firld went blank. My bad I am sure.
Thanks so much guys
