Original 427 SOHC Engine Rebuild

[ToddK]

Making progress Bart, good work. Interesting use of the Milodon primary timing gear. Do you know what the specs on the Munro cams are? I recall speaking to Paul when asking him about his parts, he said his cams were relatively mild with a power peak under 6000rpm.

Those heads must have been milled a fair bit. The chambers in my iron heads came in at 123cc. Do those heads have a number stamped on them, on the rear end that faces the firewall?

[Bart]

Hey mate, I will get the numbers for you next time I've got the engine unwrapped.

The kit we bought of Paul came with Crow Cams, I've observed at least one of his kits supplied with Comp Cams. Anyway, the cam specs are with our kit which is at the old mans place. Next time I go over I'll pick them up as I obviously need them for this engine. I'll post the specs when I have them in my hands.

[Bart]

Casting numbers on one of the cylinder heads:

sohc7 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

Test fitted the intake, fit like a glove, no port matching required:

sohc8 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

Went to the parents place today and picked up the cam card for the Crow Cams that were supplied with Pauls kit. They have used the rocker ratio from the wedge engine when calculating the lift, should be 0.558" lift at the valve. They should be adequate for the scope of this this build:

sohc9 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

[ToddK]

Thanks for the update. That intake manifold is impressive, what did it start out life as? Does it have a valley plate to go with it?
The cam specs are similar to the cams in my engine, should run well and sound good.

[machoneman]

Nice intake for sure. But why such thick and likely quite heavy base plates for the runners?

[Bart]

The intake was semi finished when it came into the country in the trunk of the Galaxie. I can only assume that the tunnel ram started out life as a Cleveland intake and was modified from there. This is probably why the base plates are so thick, the SOHC is wider than a Cleveland? There is a valley plate for it as well as a copper pipe for the coolant transfer on the front of the intake.

[preaction]

IIRC the rocker ratio for a cammer would be 1.3 not the  1.6 listed in your cam spect sheet.

[Bart]

IIRC the rocker ratio for a cammer would be 1.3 not the  1.6 listed in your cam spect sheet.

You are correct mate, should be 0.558"'lift at the valve.

[Bart]

Received the stub cam back from the machinist. Here's the new hub for the gear and the extra key:

sohc10 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

sohc11 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

I do have a question I hope someone can help with. The interference fit adjusters in the rockers are very loose, as if they have lost interference. I did some quick hunting on the internet, as Y-blocks and 6 cylinder engines have the same style adjusters. I couldn't find any info on this issue from recent times. All I seemed to find was that Ford used to offer 0.002"oversize adjusters. Anybody have any suggestions on a course of action to rectify the loose adjusters? Here's a picture of them:

sohc13 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

[ToddK]

Do the factory rocker adjusters have the elephants foot style bases, that ride on the valve tip? I haven’t seen a factory adjustable rocker up close, mine rockers are the early non-adjustable type. I do know that the T&D rockers for the SOHC have an elephants foot base. Maybe you could source some of those adjusters and fit them to your rockers.

[Bart]

Do the factory rocker adjusters have the elephants foot style bases, that ride on the valve tip? I haven’t seen a factory adjustable rocker up close, mine rockers are the early non-adjustable type. I do know that the T&D rockers for the SOHC have an elephants foot base. Maybe you could source some of those adjusters and fit them to your rockers.

Hey mate, these rockers do have the elephants foot style base that contact the valve. I assume the T&D rockers have a jam nut to lock the adjuster in place and aren't an interference fit type arrangement? If so I could possibly put jam nuts on these adjusters but would probably have to spotface the rocker for the jam nut to locate into. Was hoping we might be able to buy new adjusters or something and keep the interference type operation.

[jayb]

A locknut would be the right solution.  I'd try it without bothering to spotface the rockers, I think they'd still work fine that way.

[cjshaker]

Twice I've used Crane locking nuts without spotfacing the rockers, to fix a loose interference adjuster issue, and both times it worked fine. It was a standard FE and not an SOHC, but that wouldn't make a difference.

[Bart]

Thanks for the help guys. Will look into the Crane locknuts. You wouldn't happen to have a part number for the lock nuts that you used?

[Bart]

Well...…….…… Finally it is together. We ran it on a test stand and I was as nervous as I have ever been in my life. Very relieved that it all went smoothly. No pools of coolant or oil on the ground and scared the crap out of the old mans German Shephard!!
I ended up using jam nuts from the local bolt store on the rockers, thanks for the recommendation of this simple fix. We're taking the up to the owners place next week where he will no doubt get it in the car ASAP. I'll post some pictures and video of it in the car as soon as I can.
Thanks for the help guys.
That coolant pipe on the thermostat housing is off the original Ford intake. The housing is the same bolt pattern as a Windsor I've since found out when we hooked it up to the test stand.

sohc1 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

sohc3 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr

sohc2 by Chunga Gomez, on Flickr