Lykins Motorsports 482FE Build, Chris Byrd

[blykins]

Been slowly chipping away at this one for a bit while Chris' ERA chassis is being completed.

It's a good thing we started ordering parts when we did. Chris' build is based on a Pond aluminum block, Pond cylinder heads, a Performer RPM intake, steel Scat crankshaft, Scat H-beam rods, and Mahle pistons/rings. As of right now, Robert is out of blocks for another month and Scat can't tell me when they will have steel FE cranks back in stock. Luckily, we ordered most of his parts several months ago.

As mentioned this is a 4.250" x 4.250" build. Tried and trued 482 cubic inches. Heads are Pond heads, fitted with SI stainless valves, 2.250/1.750, assembled with Comp Cams valve springs, retainers, locks, locators, and seals. At lift, the heads should flow in the mid 330 cfm range on the intake side and almost 260 cfm on the exhaust side. They perform very well and I like using them.

When going over Chris' build with him, he told me that he wanted a milder build: something with horsepower/torque where he would be driving the car the most, and something able to run on low/mid octane pump gas if necessary.

Compression ratio is right at 10:1.

The camshaft is a custom Comp Cams billet steel hydraulic roller, 243/249 @ .050" using individually picked Thumpr lobes. These lobes are quieter than the Xtreme Energy and XFI lobes and seem to do very well with the FE setups. Lift is .610" on the intake side and almost .590" on the exhaust side. Lobe centers are 110° apart, with the ICL being on a 104°. The advanced intake lobe centerline offers really nice throttle response and low rpm manners.

Topping the intake manifold is a Quick Fuel HR-780 and a set of T&D street rockers will be working the valves.

Chris' car has an expected finish date of around the beginning of June, and it's against my religion to finish and engine and let it sit for months, so we will be building this one at a slower pace.

Over the past few days, I have prepped the block (normal things you have to do with a Pond), installed the cam bearings, honed the lifter bores to fit the lifters, measured all the pistons, checked piston/cylinder clearances, measured all the main/rod journals on the crank, checked bearing clearances, washed the block, assembled the pistons on the rods, filed the piston rings, and currently have the crank in the block with one piston/rod/ring assembly so I can degree the camshaft. Heads are also assembled as well.

Some gratuitous FE pictures....