MY KMP is Finished!

[RaceDeck]

Just got my KMP #302 done and took the first "ShAkE DoWn" run yesterday Wow! what a car and what a motor! I have a few things to finish up ( Earl's fuel lines, registration , etc..) Speacial thanks to the Kirkhams for doing such an unreal job and building a car that I can fit into nicely.." custom foot box!
Also, Bill and Sue Parham have built me a monster of a motor....I can not wait until the weekend to do a few laps around the mountain roads

[RaceDeck]

Southern Automotive 484ci aluminum side oiler!

[KeithBrown]

Congrats! - What a car!

[RaceDeck]

This is where we were just one week ago

[Chaplin]

Someone obviously had a busy week. Looks great, nice car.

[Lew Ledyard]

That car looks familiar.

[Cracker]

Congrats on getting everything done so fast. It took our "TC" 10 months to accomplish that! Nice motor but it isn't a side-oiler it is a center oiler sorry to be the one to tell you that. I have a glass car but sure wish I were in your shoes - coke can heaven!Enjoy and keep it straight when under throttle!

[Jamo]

Congrats again on a beauty. You look good in it!

[RaceDeck]

Cracker: The block is actually a Shelby aluminum side oiler that Southern Automotive built for me? It has an incredible sound to it, with gobs and gobs of torque

Lew: I noticed your chassis # ?

Jamo: Thanks for starting the "natural finish" trend....I could not even imagine painting it....Though I have not tried to clean it yet?

[ENTDOC]

Actually Tony is correct.The Shelby block is a main priority oiled center oiler,much like the more modern NASCAR blocks.It has no side oiler galleries down the left side as do original sideoiler blocks.This is all of course academic and means very little.It would not have made sence to copy the 1965 design exactly,as time and experience have led to better systems.Not perfectly correct in terms of originality but a super motor to be sure.I want one! chuck PS.how in the heck did you finish it so fast..

[REAL 1]

Very tasty and sweeet.

Good luck with it.

BBs rule!

[Allan A]

I thought Mike (SFfiredog) explained the Shelby blocks well.


The Shelby 427 block is NOT a center oiler or top oiler. It has a priority main oil passage that runs next to the camshaft. This passage feeds oil directly to the main bearings from the oil pump. A factory 427 side oiler does have a separate main bearing oil passage but the oil still needs to feed around the outside of cam bearings (through grooves cut in the cam journals) before it feeds down to the crankshaft. The reason the oil passage was placed where it is in the Shelby block is if someone ever broke a connecting rod (heaven forbid!) and punched a hole in the block the aluminum could easily be reaired and it would not be necessary to attempt to fix the oil passage on the side of the block. Also theoretically the motor would not loose the oil pressure lost from punching out the side oiler oil passage. The priority main oil galley is in the same location as all the other aftermarket Ford and GM racing blocks. I have my own Shelby block and have built 2 417 Arias/Donovan hemis and can tell you catagorically the only thing these two blocks have in common is they both have 10 head bolts and 8 big holes arranged in a "V"
The Arias Chevy has strengthening ribs in the lifter valley as well.
Maybe it was built from the 417 too! ALL standard FE parts
(except for a stock starter) will fit on the Shelby block. As for the original question that started this thread, Yes you are correct.
If you are having an engine built and you have to pay $4000+ for
an original side oiler and all the other components are the same,
it will only cost you $1000 to $1500 more to build the same
engine with a Shelby block.
HTH,
Mike

[ToyCollector]

Jorgen, many congratulations!! Looks fantastic and our motors look like twins on the outside.

Cracker mine took 10 months because the person working on it, worked for free. I can't complain.

P.S. I am in Savannah for some racing this weekend. Hoping we can hook up next week.

[Side Oil'r 69]

Jorgen,

Your car looks awesome!! The Parhams built the exact same engine for my car KMP 267. It is CSX 391 484 stroker. At about 75 miles the engine started to leak around the pan and from the rear of both valve covers. I was not very impressed, but it says in the manual to check the header bolts, pan and valve cover bolts every 200 miles for the first 1000 miles. The problem is that you don't want to torque them too tightly or you will break a gasket or warp the pan. Don't get me wrong, the engine looks, runs and sounds beautiful but for the price I don't think it should leak at all. Didn't you have another motor from SA? Did it run well without leaks?
Also did David K build your headers and side pipes? They did mine and built them without baffles which sounds awesome i.e. like a GT-40 going down the Mulsanne at LeMans.
I finished it on February 25 and already have 503 miles on it. Any way enjoy your car and let me know how the break in period on your motor turns out.

Michael

[RaceDeck]

side oil'r69- Yes, this is my second motor from Southern Automotive..The first motor they built for me was a great motor and I still believe that the person I sold the car to is still having a rouble free ride ( I put over 7000 miles on it),,,The intial re-torqueing of various components are to be expected. Bill at Southern Automotive is fantastic about answering any questions and even has called me to remind of certain break-in procedures I need to do....they absolutely stand behind there product....And yes, Kirkham made my headers and the sound is phenominal..

AlanA: your information is correct and nicely put....But the aluminum block stroker is an awesome motor and you can definetely feel the difference in the front end with the loss of 150+ pounds....

[sshurts]

Jorgen,

Congrats, the car looks fantastic. Also, incredible job getting it on the road so quickly. I'm in the TC camp of using free labor -- sure does take some patience.

happy motoring

Scott

[RaceDeck]

Just my luck...it has been 70 degrees and sunny for two weeks and today I wake up to rain in the valley and snow in the mountains...It looks like this all weekend

[Jim Doak]

Looks like a beautiful car, and I'm sure that it'll be a rocket. Too bad it wasn't finished a week or so ago, I would have liked to have checked it out at the Autorama.

No Cobra drives today, not unless you don't mind getting wet.

[HIQ]

Very Nice. How much help did you have to get this done in a week?

[RaceDeck]

Jim: I really wanted to have it done for AutoRama for my local dealers booths...But the custom dropped footbox and controls hung us up. So, Dave and Tom let us borrow their Fuel Injected 427 to through in our booth, It sure drew a lot of attention. I am looking forward to when we get a few of us local UT cars together for a run let me know.

HIQ: One thing that gave me a big jump start was that I pretty much got my KMP with all the goodies, so there was no hunting down and waiting for parts...and the motor came complete from Southern Automotive, Once we had it in, it started on the first crank...not bad when you consider they built it at sea~level and we are at 4900 feet above sea~level. I had help from our RaceDeck Racing mechanics in getting the motor in and running in just a matter of hours. Then it came down to "location..location...location.." I am just 20 miles from the Kirkhams, they were very helpful in getting the rest of the car together.

For those of you over 6' tall, you should inquire about the "new" custom footbox that Kirkhams have...I was the guinney-pig...It makes it soooo much more comfortable....plus it is much cooler on the feet!