Rockstars Billy Idols ERA #

[Paul A]

In regard to my reference of saying the 427side-oiler with 12:1 compression was a mistake could appear to be misleading and I would like to clarify that.
There is nothing wrong with the basic 427side-oiler, it's a fantastic bullet proof engine.
I made a big mistake in attempting to build an exact copy of a factory built comp/semi-comp Cobra. I handed Peter @ERA a deposit for a kit with some options, but not a roller assembly in 1981 and immediately went out and found the holy grail of all 427 engines: a Holman/Moody Marine built 427s.o race engine that came out of a local V-bottom drag boat that raced in the greater LA area Drag Boat series. It had low engine hours and was setup to redline at 7000rpm with 12:1 compression. It contained all the expensive Lemans rods, crank, dampener, pillow-block rocker-arm shaft end supports, etc. You had to have Big ***** to keep your foot on the throttle. I did, but here is why I pulled it out.
California was the leading state in fighting pollution and by 1980/1981, the state started phasing out leaded gas and I was not paying attention. By the time I got the kit in 1982 and started installing all the the driveline pieces and all of the front suspension pieces, making all of the subtle changes to the body & aluminum work for the engine compartment, the time went by and it was 1984 when I got it painted and registered. 100 octane gas in California was gone forever, unless you wanted to buy racing gas in 55 gallon drums.
Compression makes horsepower, it also makes HEAT, it also makes NOISE.
It was not a comfortable car to drive at 65-70 mph because you could not carry on a conversation with your passenger-you had to yell at them, the footboxes were constantly hot. I used octane booster additives every time I filled the tank, but was concerned about pre-ignition/detonation. I never heard the death rattle, but my best friend, Steve W, who built ERA005 equipped with a dual quad tunnel-port head 427so with 11:1 compression would display the knocking rattle when he simply floored the gas at 60mph in 4th gear.
I finally had enough of the heat and noise, and the burned out fiberglass packed muffler blanks welded into the side pipes and parked the car for a month. 500 miles and the side-pipe muffles were burned out.
I then came out to the garage and pulled one head off and found the early signs of significant number of small holes being burned into the dome-top pistons. I had enough with trying to drive a car with a race engine on the streets of California in 1985/86. The times were changing.