ERA427 Bud you have a hell of a nice looking car. It looks perfect. You have a nice motor with about 400-425 HP at the crank and 350-370 ft of torque. The car will run high 11.0"s in the 1/4 mile. You can run with most cars on the street. It has good drivibility. And you want to mess this up??
I will start with the one question all people need to be trueful about, what are you going to do with the car, autocross, roadrace, 1/4 mile, car shows??
How are you driving skills?? Been to a couple of schools or learn by trail and crash. You have a nice balanced car. Now you want to add 100hp. Welcome to killer world. every year you read on CC about someone getting killed or a major accident in their cobra. 16 years with #428 3 spins, one hood fire and no damage other than under wear and nerves. Been very lucky. I started with a 452 motor and a blower. 9.2 compression. car comes on boost and we are all over the place. Ran car for 6 years without the blower. Run 12.5 in 1/4 mile easy to drive and safe also. I got the power bug again. Stroked motor to482. It's a great kit for an FE block. 10.2 compression, some work on the heads and my own FI system a assemblied. HP 540 at 5,900 rpm. torque 605 at 4,800 rpm. over 400 ft of torque from 1,700 rpm on up. Changed tires to Mich Pilots with 335's 17" on rears. I can smoke these tires at 2,500 rpm. Lose control and spin the car. The only thing I have in my car over your's is power steering.
If you want to build more power for the car, there are 2 ways,
Buy and build a windsor motor, it's about 20-30% cheaper to build and weight is about 100 pounds lighter. Does not look correct but there's your power. Take the motor out of the car and bag it, fill and spray with
oil and move to a corner of the garage. Save for a day when you break the new motor. Next Tranny, what one are you running? If it's not a TKO 600, blueprinted top loader, Richmond super 5 speed, Jerico, Tex/rex, It will not live long behind a more powerful motor of something in the 550/ 500 hp/torque numbers. 3.54 gears with a small block are nice, with a big block depending on the power range are also nice. Cross over into the 500 club and they become a new problem. Also, a jag rearend is only rated for 450 HP and torque. Hard abuse and you will need to improve this part of the car also. New carrier, 30 spline stub shafts, Watt's linkage for the outter hubs to stop car from having tire walk or bouncing, about 2,000.00 for this upgrade or going to out board brakes from ERA. If you don't abuse the car, the stock setup will hold for a while.
Last thing your reflexs slow down after you pass 40. this car has no limit. It has no ABS, Power Steering, Traction control, or air bags. Again uping the HP in this car makes it a killer. Been there, been lucky. Leave the car alone and ENJOY what you have and how good the car looks and handles. ERA builds a great car that looks and drives great. It's your car, do as you wish. If you are looking to keep an FE under the hood, buy a storker kit for a 390 FE block and go to 445. No body will know if you side bolt the motor and caps. Cheaper to build than a 427 motor. The power is all in the heads, intake and camshaft. 1 side note, if you are looking for power, change the side pipes to race pipes. This should be go for another 20-30 hp. You will need ear plugs to drive. Going to work. Rick L.
Time for the bad guy to talk
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