519" SOHC Build

[427Fastback]

Jay....just for future reference...Anytime you weld on a hardened pc,4140 or any kind of wear plate you should pre-heat it and slow cool it if possible...
I wont get into all the procedures and details but around 250 deg is better than ambient temp...Cory

[jayb]

Thanks for that info; I didn't pre-heat, but next time I will.  I did let it slow cool though.

[Kirk Morgan]

That 15 lbs is after the crank starts to rotate. We use a pull type scale to help figure out how much tension is in the ring package. We pull the piston thru the cylinder to get this measurement. Take lots of notes and go from there.

Kirk

[jayb]

Got the rest of the pistons installed tonight:





After torquing the rod bolts I tried Kirk's test for drag of the reciprocating assembly.  Allowing for about 2 lb-ft of torque that my wrench is reading low, it took 22 lb-ft of torque to rotate the reciprocating assembly.  Not as good as a stock eliminator engine, but not bad for a 519" motor with a 4.285" bore.

Next up is getting the heads assembled...

[Hemi Joel]

Looking good Jay!

Have you used those napier rings before?   That's what I had in my Hemi when we dynoed it and remember, it smoked like a chimney.

I have indeed used Napier rings before, in the 585" SOHC that pulled you and I through Drag Week 2009.  Also the last iteration of this particular engine used them.  I think that with those second rings and the 3mm oil rings the engine is going to use some oil no matter what when driving around on the street, but with the vacuum pump it seals up nicely at the track.

Do you think the Napier rings contributed to your engine smoking, or do you think it was some other issue?

Initially, when it was new, it didn't smoke too much, but it did a little. At the time I wasn't running  a vacuum pump. 8 months later it was smoking pretty bad and consuming oil. I cant' remember if it was Lofgren or Knowlton, but who ever bored on honed it went to great lengths to get the proper cylinder finish using a profilometer. Anyway, later they said that in our damp climate, if the car sits and you get any flash rust on the cylinder bores, it will wipe out the sharp edge on the napier ring and they become oil pumpers. He has seen it happen and speculated that that was what happened to my engine. I had it re-honed and re-rung it with some standard rings and that cured it.

[jayb]

My carbide drill and heavy duty tap came yesterday, and together made short work of the holes in the big timing gear.  Here are some photos showing the tools and the special bolts I use to pin the gears together, the stub cam assembly with the bolts installed, and the primary timing chain and stub cam installed in the engine:







I developed another twist on the plan this week.  I have the normal SOHC heads for this engine, and also a pair of the high port SOHC heads for the big engine.  I also have a second pair of the high port heads for my turbocharged SOHC, which is kind of on the back burner at the moment.  I decided that rather than use the normal heads for this engine, I'd swap on one pair of the high port heads, and use the other pair on my larger engine.  We'll save the standard heads for the turbo engine, for now anyway.  This sets me back just a little, because I want to put my new Ferrea hollow stem valves in the high port heads, and so they need to have the valve job done on them before I can assemble them.  That should only take a few days, so I should be able to get the heads on the engine next weekend, and then finish it off in a couple of evenings after that.  Then its dyno time!  I'm looking forward to that...

[jmlay]

Having zero experience with a cammer I have hat may be a silly question. What retains the stub cam in the block?

Thanks for sharing your builds. I follow each and every one along with your drag week adventures.

Mike  

[jayb]

The stub cam is retained from the front cover.  There is a bearing in the front cover that the nose of the stub cam feeds into.  It pokes all the way through the bearing, and then a snap ring is put into the groove of the nose of the stub cam from outside the front cover.  That keeps the stub cam from sliding back into the block, and it can't go forward because the step on the nose of the stub cam hits the bearings if it tries to slide forward.

I'll have some pics of this arrangement as this engine goes together in the next week or two.

[ScotiaFE]

On the left side of the block on the forward part of the blukhead "china wall" just by the intake flat there is a bit of a goober.
What's that about?

[jayb]

That's a depression in the casting, Howie.  It's a little discolored which is why it looks the way it does in the photo.

[feadam]

jay have you seen the one piece gears somebody is doing in canada i saw a set on ebay looks like a good idea

[machoneman]

Wow, a turbo SOHC in the future. Man, you are full of surprises! Maybe a 6 or 8-71 blower equipped SOHC someday too? Now that would look way cool!

Seriously, are you collaborating with some groups/shops already on this project?

Ohio George's son Gregg Montgomery (and his dad) at times have contributed to our Net' 54 SBF Forum from time-to-time and of course, you need no introduction to Ohio George's blown, then turbo'ed SOHC Ford background.  Come to think of it, you have probably met them already. Talk about writing the book on turbo Cammer's in the 70's!  

[jayb]

jay have you seen the one piece gears somebody is doing in canada i saw a set on ebay looks like a good idea

I have not seen those, Adam.  Next time you see them on ebay, would you put a link here?  That does sound like a really good idea...

[feadam]

jay its on now under 427 sohc

[feadam]

just checked it still has 4 days pretty good pictures of them