Hi Guys,
Thanks for your imput.
As far as the engine stand issue. Both of the 427s in the photo are empty. No intenal parts so the stress on the block is minimal to nothing. I never finish assemble an engine until it is ready to go in the car. Engines are like French bread. They both go "stale" if they sit around too long unused. I can see your point on "flexi-flyer" blocks like 289/302 (especially late model 5.0s) and the paper thin Cleveland blocks that Bob Glidden had to contend with. I friend that was on a Pro/stock team in the late '70s remembers seeing Etta and Bob Glidden assembling one of their motors on the bed in their motel room! The next day they were #1 qualifier and won the event. I talked with an old Nascar engine builder about engine stand block distortion and he told me They would see .00025 to .00035 distortion in the rear cylinders but after a short practice session they pulled a motor down and found that after one "heat cycle" run in, the bores were back to their original machined shape. I have checked 429/ 460s and 427s on the stand and found virtually no cylinder distortion, even after sitting awhile. I guess the deep skirts of the FE and sheer massivness of the 460 prevents distortion.
As far as engine managment is concerned, I have used most of the major brands and they all have goods and badsI set up all my own baseline programs based off of BSFC, engine demand, lbs fuel per hr, etc and have had no problems dialing in a system.
I have access to a chassis dyno with wide band O2 capability. I have not purchased the TEC3 for my motor yet as I am waiting for the wide band option. I am running a crank trigger and my cam sensor will run off of the end of my external
oil pump which is run off the end of the cam. I have also used a MSD distributor with the advance curve locked out and 7 of the 8 triggers cut off the reluctor wheel in the distributor for a cam sensor. I works great. For my own cars I like the tunability of a true sequential system but in truth most combinations will perform just fine with a multipule deg or straight bank-to-bank system.
--Mike