511 FE Twin Paxton

[rodneym]

I just wanted to share a little project under way.
Soon I'll be installing a 511 FE Shelby block twin Paxton motor in my Kirkham.

The specs off the top of my head are as follows:

Shelby FE 427 block, 511ci
Twin Paxton polished SN60s
Dual Holley 660s
Blue Thunder (or Dove? Can't remember w/o build sheet) dual intake tunnel wedge
Edelbrock heads (Stage III porting and matching), Prec valves, K-Mo springs
Crower roller cam and lifters
SCAT H-beam rods and 4340 forged crank, Speed Pro bearings
Diamond custom pistons
Melling HV pump, Aviaid pan and tray and other misc pieces I'm forgetting.

Here's a pic of the Paxton mock up:


She pulled 653HP/615TQ with its low C/R and 91 pump gas (no superchargers). The SN60s could/should add up to about 200 HP. Should be fun and I'll keep posting if people would like to see it.

The work is being done by Tom Lucas of FE Specialties in Sacramento, CA. He'll also be doing the install.

[patrickt]

Dang. 800 horses -- that's pretty impressive.

[rodneym]

I've gained a few pounds. Mostly in the passenger seat.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by rodneym

I've gained a few pounds. Mostly in the passenger seat.

Even with Dumbo the Elephant in the passenger seat, you'll still be smoking the tires at will, and at any speed.

[ERA Chas]

Congrats Rodney-that will almost make your car a visual tour-de-force (pun intended).
Except for the need for Mg at the four corners..............

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Congrats Rodney-that will almost make your car a visual tour-de-force (pun intended).
Except for the need for Mg at the four corners..............

Don't listen to him. With THAT engine you can put water skis on your car and no one will notice.

[maurice19]

Rodney.

I have seen your engine a few time at Toms` shop. Very nice

Dove ,from my observation
Maurice

[ERA Chas]

How come I don't got a 'like' in my post??
Besides, you need Mg to off-set that 100 pounds of blowers, belts and brackets you're hanging off the nose...

Please do keep us posted on how that Lucas-built motor works. I think he's a quality builder by rep. He built RodKnock's motor but we have no idea how / if it runs-Knockers hasn't started it in 3 years...

[Stentor]

Very nice--that's going to be one bad ride!

[philminotti]

Looks awesome. Don't mean to be a negative nancy, but keith craft had issues with a big inch dual Paxton motor within the last 6 months. IIRC, the Paxtons actually choked the motor ...couldn't provide the cfm the motor wanted. Any tthoughts?

[rodneym]

Chas - please let up. I'm still sick over my mag failure. Next time you polish those beauts, please send me the rags. I'll take any magnesium I can get.

Maurice - did I meet you in LV a couple years ago with Tom?

Phil - is that the 527 SOHC twin Paxton build you're speaking of? I dont consider it being negative, btw. These arent every day builds. If Keith didn't know about the troubles going in, i wouldn't necessarily think Tom would either. I think it will be a WIP for some time.

[decooney]

Rodney,
What did you or Tom do for the hood modification?

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by rodneym

Chas - please let up. I'm still sick over my mag failure. Next time you polish those beauts, please send me the rags. I'll take any magnesium I can get.

Dude-I have nothing but love and respect for ya and your over the top project.
The only thing I like better than 800HP is 900HP. And rest assured-your blower motor will be easier to take care of than those flippin' wheels...

[mreid]

You, sir, are crazy.

I love it!

[RICK LAKE]

Roydenm I had the silly idea of running a blower back in 98 with a single Novi 2000 on a 452 Shelby block and heads. Was looking for 8-10 pounds of boost with a clog drive setup. I did get the thing to work but had problem with belts popping off and chewing up teeth on the belt. These are some of things I had to do to get the blower to work OK and this was with fuel injection
You need 1 large fuel line of 1/2" min
A low pressure electric fuel pump with up to 15 psi rating Watch the gallons per minute too. One lean out and you could have alot of nice end coffee tables for the garage.
Cooling system, largest radiator you can get into the car
Hood, I had a paxton hood made for my car, looks great but is a gaint air scoop when driving and gives you the plane feel at 128 mph when the front end gets lite.
Buy some 4" blower fans and have them blow the air out of the engine compartment through the fender grills.
Fresh air for the blowers, Fresh air with filters to keep the trash out of the blowers and motor a must.
Extra heat into the motor, You should talk to some of the supercharger companies about running a water injection system like SNOW to help cool the intake charge, make more power, and have less detonation problems. Also an MSD 6alT box for controlling timing and set to retard it 2 degrees for every pound of boost to start. These are adjustable. Have you thought about an A/F meter in both pipes?
1 large bypass valve to control blower banging. I know these blowers have ball bearing to drive the impellor but if you go from 3/4 or WOT and shut the throttle off, the boost has no where to go and will either bang the carb plates or bang the impellors in the blowers. Yes it does and will happen even with a 6 psi setup.
Last thing, change you driving style. As others have said rolling on and off the throttle is needed. Boost comes on like a ton with these blowers. The car want to go everywhere but straight. I ran a gold centerforce clutch which held the power of my motor. I was 368hp without the blower and little over 600 under 6 psi of boost. I have gone to a twin disc setup from Mcleod and removed the blower. The motor is now a 482 and going to a 498. Turbos and blower make great added power but these car become killers. They are faster than you can even think. A clutch car is worse than and automatic. This is another reason for blowoff valves. With the right fluid in the blowers you can get from 6-9 psi out of these blowers. Carbs are orignial and look period correct but FI system is alot easier to adjust and work with. You have no intercooler, please check into a water injection system and is adjustable. These used these system during WWII and they worked well. Pain is filling the bottle with the gas tank every 100 miles. Rick L. Ps I had a big problem with rear tires not lasting long. BFG tires last about 100 miles on the first set and the car gets a hopping in the rearend or squealing. Last thing is SMOKE, not sure if it was the motor or tires. Grease the rear quarters of the car to get off the rubber. Looking forward to the finish build. Rick Listen to Bill Cosby in 200 mile an hour talk about the first ride. This is 100% true with a blown car. They also did this with an auto car, not a stick.

[Varmit]

You trying to replace the Space Shuttle as a launch vehicle??

[rodneym]

Patrick,
To be honest, it's not that important to me. I know it will be adequate.
I think we could get a fairly accurate guesstimate () of loss (from a Kirkham or CSX) using numbers from a chassis dyno with the same tranny/rear. Good enough for me anyway.

[patrickt]

Alright. Can Tom at least video tape the engine dyno for us?

[ERA Chas]

If Tom makes 800 all hooked up at less than 8 pounds of boost (more like 5 most likely) that's still in the 650 wheel HP range. A live axle and slicks would be best for that if you want 9 sec 1/4's.
Just drive the car and roll power on and off. Don't drop the hammer or sidestep the clutch and you'll preserve parts. It's really a 'presentation' thing. Any of 'our' builders on here can find near 800HP n/a on 93 octane (in a 500+ CI build) with big roller cams, 400+cfm heads and a big enough Dominator.
But twin Paxtons is outrageous.....
--And Knockers, please respond more promptly when I'm insulting you....:<))

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

--And Knockers, please respond more promptly when I'm insulting you....:<))

OK, I be sure to take my beatings quicker.

Rodney, yep, Tom built my engine, but he wasn't the installer. So far, it's been a great engine, especially when I take the car cover off and actually pull it out of the garage.

Regarding the trans and rear end holding up, who really cares? I doubt Rodney will be testing the outer limits of that engine anyway. He's a waxer.

And did everyone forget that a Kirkham with 720 +/- HP beat the pants off a new Ferrari 458 at the track and they ran them more than once down the 1/4 mile strip in Vegas. That was a 10-second run and I didn't see parts left all over the track.