Lykins Motorsports 427FE Build...

[blykins]

Yes sir, that is correct, but it doesn't move it enough to hurt anything. Like I said, the biggest issue is widening the journals and that's where a lot of normal crank grinders will tell you no.

[1967 XR7 GT]

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[1967 XR7 GT]

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[1967 XR7 GT]

Adney Brown did the work on my crank, and I had asked about going to the BBC jrl and he did some measurements, afterwards we spoke, but I erred on the side of caution and passed otherwise he would of done it. If I had to do it over again, I would go a different crank and stroke it to 3.980 on BBC jrl's. I am now to far into this crank.

[blykins]

RPM 3.980" cranks already have a BBC rod journal. I've used a few...

Adney does all of my crank work too. He's done several conversions for me on cast and forged factory cranks, converting to BBC rod journal. Got one running in a 427 S/O LR road race motor now.

[blykins]

Still waiting on rotating assembly to be balanced....got block washed, prepped, and painted.

[Detroit Bill]

I am a little confused by the request for little or no maintenance and the selection of solid lifters. My knowledge is dated but don't you need to set the lash periodically. Back when I was looking at stuff like this there also was no hydraulic roller lifters. What are the pluses and minuses of that?

Finally what is a factory $ crank? New forged ford crank?

Thanks,

Bill

[lippy]

Lash is no big deal. I had never done it before this car. I verified once hot at 0.025" and then checked cold, which was 0.014". From that point I did it cold. I do it every 750-1000 miles or so, maybe 1000-1500 going forward. I use a remote starter to bump the engine. I use a regular wrench and a t-handle hex. I then use a Precision Instrument dual beam torque wrench to snug each lash nut properly, and verify again. Takes me an hour, all in. I'm sure a pro could do it in less than 10m but my method works for me and helps eliminate bonehead mistakes.

[Detroit Bill]

Originally Posted by lippy

Lash is no big deal. I had never done it before this car. I verified once hot at 0.025" and then checked cold, which was 0.014". From that point I did it cold. I do it every 750-1000 miles or so, maybe 1000-1500 going forward. I use a remote starter to bump the engine. I use a regular wrench and a t-handle hex. I then use a Precision Instrument dual beam torque wrench to snug each lash nut properly, and verify again. Takes me an hour, all in. I'm sure a pro could do it in less than 10m but my method works for me and helps eliminate bonehead mistakes.

I guess my questions would be 1.) what is the benefit over hydraulics? 2.) what is the benefit over hydraulic rollers? From what I am reading people are not taking these engines over 6500 rpm and the power peaks much lower that that.

Setting lash every 750-1000 miles in not no maintenance. Just saying.

[blykins]

Originally Posted by Detroit Bill

I am a little confused by the request for little or no maintenance and the selection of solid lifters. My knowledge is dated but don't you need to set the lash periodically. Back when I was looking at stuff like this there also was no hydraulic roller lifters. What are the pluses and minuses of that?

Finally what is a factory $ crank? New forged ford crank?

Thanks,

Bill

Maintenance is very low with a solid flat tappet. Run the valves a couple times a year. Most people see solid cam and think that they will be in the garage every weekend....just isn't the case.

A hydraulic cam is going to have the lowest maintenance plan, followed by solid flat tappet, then solid roller.

[blykins]

Originally Posted by Detroit Bill

I guess my questions would be 1.) what is the benefit over hydraulics? 2.) what is the benefit over hydraulic rollers? From what I am reading people are not taking these engines over 6500 rpm and the power peaks much lower that that.

Setting lash every 750-1000 miles in not no maintenance. Just saying.

It's rpm dependent. A hydraulic cam is (in most cases) a 6000 rpm cam.

These cars require maintenance, plain and simple. Most guys buy them because they like to tinker. However, you'll prob only put 3000 miles on a car in a year, so a 1000 mile maintenance interval really isn't anything.

[Detroit Bill]

When you say hydraulic is 6000 rpm does that include hydraulic roller?

[blykins]

Originally Posted by Detroit Bill

When you say hydraulic is 6000 rpm does that include hydraulic roller?

Yes, FE hydraulic rollers are generally done by 6000-6200 unless some specialized parts are used.

As a side note on this build, I will be able to resume progress on it probably tomorrow. The crank is a Lemans crank with screw-in plugs and after I had it ground, I couldn't get the plugs to budge...had to have them burnt out. I couldn't take the chance of 50 years of sludge being trapped there, so the plugs had to come out...

[Dimis]

Originally Posted by blykins

The crank is a Lemans crank with screw-in plugs and after I had it ground, I couldn't get the plugs to budge...had to have them burnt out. I couldn't take the chance of 50 years of sludge being trapped there, so the plugs had to come out...

I heard a rumour that hot wax works...
Did you give that a go?
I was curious when I heard this rumour...

[blykins]

I've heard that too, but haven't tried. I just dropped the crank off at one of my buddy's shops and had him get them out.

[olddog]

In an industrial situation, I witnessed this. Studs were 2.5" diameter. Application is pipe flange, where molten plastic is pumped through at pressures up to 5000 psi. Piping stays about 400 F all the time. Installed with Neversieze. It had been in service 15 years. We were disassembling hot, as you have to or the plastic inside becomes a solid.

We could not loosen the nuts on the studs with a 15,000 ft-lb hydraulic power pack. We even used a 20lb sledge hammer on a 3 foot slug wrench and let the mocho boys have at it a while. An old guy went down and purchased toilet bowl bee's wax seals. Let the bee's wax melt and run into the threads over night. Next morning they come off with ease.

[blykins]

Got the crank back and the new plugs installed. Cam is degreed and cam timing adjusted, piston to valve clearance checked, pistons/rods installed, and heads are bolted on.

Cam is on a 108 LSA and was ground with 2 degrees of advance, so ICL should have been 106. I actually wanted it on a 104 ICL, so I instinctively put the crank gear on the 2°A position and degreed it. Turned out, when I degreed it, it came in at a 102 ICL.....so I put the crank gear back to the zero position and it came in at 104. That's why you always degree a cam. It also helps to degree the cam with both methods as some cams have asymmetrical lobes and the ICL method doesn't always work.



The cam thrust clearance was checked and was a little tight for my liking at .002", so a few seconds with some persuasive massaging opened it up a couple thou more. Cam bolt was torqued and I stuck a fork in that part.



Heads were bolted on and torqued. I'll retorque tomorrow.



With the Crower SBF EDM lifters and T&D rockers, pushrod length came in at 9.375" and I'll order those from Trend on Monday. I'll snag a set of 5/16" .105" wall pieces.

I also took a second to test fit the intake, which needs to be done with each and every build. You will usually find that they just don't fit out of the box, due to dimensional issues or issues with straightness.

I test fit without the intake gasket first, just out of habit. It usually turns out that the intake flanges need to be cut.

And.......just so turns out to be the case on this one too. Look how beautiful the ports line up and the geometry lines up without a gasket.







On a dual plane intake, it's almost impossible to see how the ports line up without some help. If they don't match the heads, you can end up with the intake charge literally hitting a wall, which can end up creating some reversion and some loss of power.

Luckily, years ago I invested in a video borescope. And, as you can see, without the gaskets, the ports line up just beautifully.



In addition, if times get tough, I can do some colonoscopies on the side....

The intake will get milled this week, .060" needs to be taken off each flange.

I had some good momentum going until I found out that I had ran out of FE timing cover gaskets, so I had to stop where I was.

If you look closely in the background, you'll see another cool little engine....a 465 inch Tunnel Port. It's a 12:1 solid roller engine....fun stuff.

[blykins]

Said Tunnel Port...

[Bernica]

Awesome pictorial and narrative Brent! Very informative!
Always loved the TP's. Just couldn't figure out if one could be made very streetable without a dual-plane manifold, which seemed impossible to find back in the day.

[blykins]

Throw some cubes at them and fill in the floors of the ports and they can be pretty streetable....