BBF Wins PHR Engine Masters!!

[Anthony]

Ron, you even said it yourself, your engine, a 385, has blue thunder heads with "CHEVY EXHAUST PORTS". The heads are so close in design, they can incorporate chevy exhaust ports.

The BBC was actually desiogned in 1963/64 after several initial designs, finally designated as the Mark IV design, first offered in a production car in the 1965 vette/Impala. It was designed for NASCAR racing, and since NASCAR stipulated a rule enacted in 1964 outlawing the 426 hemi and 427 SOHC, and mandating production engines for racing, chevy designed the "canted valve" head as a more econimical/production high-performance engine design than a expensive hemi head design to qualify it for NASCAR racing. Mopar bit the bullitt and offered the street hemi in 1966 to qualify it for NASCAR. Ford eventually came out with the Tunnel port, a less expensive design than the SOHC. I'm sure because the Chevy design proved so successful, Ford decided to copy it for their engines in the late '60's.

Yeah, the engines are not identical, as I'm sure GM would have sued Ford, and I don't think the canted valve angles are the same either, but it is the same basic head design that Ford used for it's Boss 302, 351C, and 385 engines. Ford couldn't copy the superior exhaust port either, which is why Blue thunder offers a head with the chevy port.

The BBC and 385 ford even take the same rocker arm. Yeah, the 385 has a higher deck and larger bore spacing than a BBC to allow for a bigger displacement, but to me, it's still basically the same engine design.