Quote:
Originally Posted by Temptation
... Looking at your signature... I see you have a 4.6? what are your thoughts on the balance and driveability? any issues with the half shaft (CV) handling the power?
Appreciate your response
Mike
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Mike,
If you don't drag race the car with sticky tires you will probably be OK. If you do then the half shafts and the CV joints represent tender spots but are fixable. When you do this you begin chasing down all the weak points one by one.
Strange engineering can make replacement half shafts to fit. The CV joints can/should be upgraded to the big 934 Porsche units. When you do this you will need to make adapters for the stub axles and or make replacement stub axles. Strange can help again on this initiative.
An alternative would be to go the Spicer 1350 route and convert to universal joints. If you were going this route most of the pieces will be custom made. Given that you are in the custom territory I would move up to the 1420 series universal joints for the half shafts.
I don't know which is stronger the 1420 joints or the Porsche 934 CV joints. Both are very big. The CVs are nice because of their constant velocity attribute and the load bearing ball bearings are 1" in diameter literally dwarfing anything else out there. The universal joints are nice because of familiarity. Both work.
When you price out replacement ring and pinions for the Australian Spicer you will faint. Last time I checked the ring and pinion were north of $600 and gear selection is poor. If you don't need a gear change my suggestion would be use the Aussie unit until it fails and replace it with a 8.875 Mark VIII/Cobra/Thunderbird IRS center from FRPP or a similar piece from the junkyard. Make sure you install it with 31 spline side gears the 28 spline units are tender.
Car balance is extraordinary. When you rebuild if you use an Aluminator block the complete engine including blower comes in slightly over 400 lbs which makes for very nice balance in the car. The package approximates the weight of an original 289. It is possible that it is even lighter than an original 289.
Like any high powered vehicle you need to respect it. With a positive displacement screw blower there is no ramp up in the power delivery its all there instantly - because of the blower. If this is your first foray into cars at this power level go slow and get to know your car. You won't have problems being fast or powerful you will have problems controlling it. You might find real value in a driving school like Bondurant's especially if you intend to track the car.
Closing thought - the reason you have internal damage to the engine is an oiling system failure. The stock oiling system is woefully inadequate. When you redo your engine consider an external wet sump oiling system, one of Canton's or Moroso's Accusump
oil accumulators if you track the car and a custom pan. If you like the pan I did when you get to that stage PM me and I will send you the prints for it. Check out my gallery and you can see some of the pieces that I used.
Almost forgot, the alternator will interfere with everything when you go to install the engine. It needs to be moved. If you go this route, again PM me and I will send you a print for a replacement pulley bridge that mounts the alternator on the second drive sheave separate from the blower drive. This is important not only for clearance but also for alternator life. When you speed up the blower with a crank pulley change you also speed up the alternator - which is a kiss of death for the alternator.
Club Cobra is an extraordinary source of info on and for building our cars. The best place I found for Terminator engine support is the Mod Fords website
http://www.modularfords.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=17 Between the two sites you will have a great time, a rewarding build and an exceptional Cobra.
Ed