Sleepy 445 build

[stuart olson]

Hi all. Working on building a shoestring budget 445 for my 75 F250 supercab. So its going to be a bit more sleepy and a bit less sexy than what seems to be the norm here. Should still be about double the factory rating for a 360. So I think it will be fun enough for a daily driver. The recipe currently stands at mirror 105 block, ported C6AE-R heads, CJ valves, ported 428 CJ intake, recurved duraspark, MSD box, and Sanderson "427FE" headers. My current dilemmas are figuring out an apropriate carb, cam, and rocker combination. The guys I am working with are thinking something in the realm of that Comp XE262H.

More important than all that at the moment is my shops lack of torqe plates for an FE. They see so few FE's that they dont want to buy them cause it will take forever to make the money back. So I either have to eat the cost to buy them or see if anyone within about 350 miles of Mandan North Dakota has a set that can be rented. So far no luck on that front but if anyone knows of a set in the territory let me know.

[Drew Pojedinec]

Everything sounds great....
one thought tho,  forget the local shop.  Deal with someone that knows a lil more about fe's.  Have them spec a custom cam for what you are doing while you are at it.

Rockers?  for a mild build use a mild setup, stock is fine.  If concerned, endstands up the durability a good bit but probably aren't required for what you are describing.

Carb size?  750cfm would be ideal.
If you are literally looking for a stock replacement you could go lower.  I may catch some flak for this, but if it's a daily driver that never sees the high side of 3000rpms, you could go as low as 600cfm without any real issues.  I'd suggest an older 1850 or 3310 carburetor, they are pretty darn awesome as is.

[stuart olson]

Yeah the stock rockers with end stands would be fine but the shop guys were bitchin about getting the valve lash right with solid rockers. So I have been fishing around for a budget adjustable set up to appease the gods. Might still be cheaper to pay them an extra hour labor to dick with it.

The local shop has a good reputation and is the only shop around with a dyno. Ive heard that there is a shop with a dyno in Minot but its farther away and work never takes me by their door. Might be that a shop down in the Twin City's does them but its a heck of a drive. Hate to ship it to a shop where I will never meet the guy.

As to custom cam... everone and their brother seems to hold them to their chest like precious diamonds. If someone has a suggestion I am all ears.

Power goals are something above 400HP. Really want to hit 425.

The budget currently stands at about 5 grand. So going roller might be a bridge too far. Especially if I have to buy my own torque plates.

Thinking about maybe going with a Quick Fuel 650 mechanical secondary. Truck is stick so at that carb size it shouldn't bog at anything above about 1800 RPM.

[427Fastback]

JMO.....at that CID I wouldn't use anything less than a CC 268H .Its a very good "little" cam...I would also lean towards a vacuum secondary carb..Your basic Holley 3310 with a sec metering plate added is a very simple tuneable carb and very easy to get...

[My427stang]

I like it, a few recommendations

1 - Talk them into getting all the valve stem heights correct, or at least matching and use the hyd rockers.  They are light, and set and forget.  Much better than any affordable adjustable for your application.  It really is an easy thing and much better for your use in the long run

2 - I also think the cam is too small but could be OK with the right compression ratio because of the worked heads.  FWIW, I run a Bullet 282S copy with 112 LSA in mine and it is likely a little rowdy, but only a little, but it's also a lot more cam.  It really depends on your compression, but with a zero decked motor, and a street timing curve for a heavy vehicle that I would recommend no more than 9.4:1 static and likely 9.25 would be a better match if you decide to run the XE262H.  That cam, if the heads are ported well, should be OK for use and if the porting is good, should hit your number, but another option would be go a bit bigger.  I'd rather see you in something like a 270H and 9.5:1 compression, zero deck.  FYI - if you aren't careful, you can get to 10:1 quickly with parts choices for a 445 and then you need a different cam choice. 

3 - A nice new cheapo 3310 750 vac sec would be a great match, or a 735 CJ carb, super, especially with your build, but more expensive.  I don't like the Street Avengers, mostly for transition circuit issues.  Likely a QFT equiv would work well too, but I haven't spent any time with them

In the end though, great build, watch compression and it should be a super truck build.  Your goals are realistic and my guess is, if the porting is good, it'll be a rocket

[stuart olson]

On the subject of heads. Does this seem like a reasonable porting job? All I did on the intake side was remove the rocker bolt bumps and clean up the casting flash a little.

On carburators. I know a mechanical secondary is an odd choice for the application. A fair number of people out here do it because of high speed limits and headwinds. When you are driving a dent into a 20mph headwind while going 80 at about 3000 RPM you are going to be in the secondarys. And the secondarys on a mecanical secondary carburator seem to be much easier to set up like primarys so your fuel economy dosent tank to something like 3 under those conditions. Or so goes the reasoning anyway. The 360 with the 2 barrel was kinda nice under those conditions because  80 was terminal velocity at WOT.

[stuart olson]

One picture at a time apparently.

[stuart olson]

One more picture. Had them put in the CJ size hardend seat blanks and shaped the bowl to that

[Royce]

Let me first put on my flak jacket here, but in my opinion, at the level of build you are talking about, the torque plate honing would not be necessary. If it involves a lot of extra expense, or delays the project, just skip that operation.. Lots of FEs running around at your power level that have never seen a torque plate... it's a nice to have, but not a must have item.

[Ford428CJ]

If it was me.... I would run the XE274H cam in it. If your stuck on Comp Cams. You have 445CI.... Take advantage of it! JMHO

[fastback 427]

Who is the local shop with the good rep? We have tried most in north dakota, never again. Twin cities it is for us.

[stuart olson]

That Dakota engine builders out of Jamestown. Bunch of guys said call Pingree motors but they were not interested in the job. You have a shop of choice in the citys?

[fastback 427]

Yup, r and r performance.  Going down later this summer to pick obe up. Get all your stuff together and i'll take it down for you.

[Royce]

X2 on R&R in Spring Lake Park..   I know Brian is backed up with work though.

In N.D. ,give Robbie's Repair in Wilton a call.. If he does not do machine work he knows who does good work.. Hi Perf Ford guy for sure..  Got nearly 1000 hp from a twin Turbo 292 Y block and it lives..  He uses it to pull around his portable dyno behind an F-250

[fastback 427]

Robbie is a great guy. I've been on his wheel dyno. As far as i know the only two machine shops with torque plates are keller in mandan and quality in Fargo. You will be the only f.e. at kellers and quality machine isn't much better. They dropped a buddies 427 on the floor and broke the ear off. But they said it was like that.