Nice FE build/dyno article

[Power Surge]

Let me start off by saying that if this is a reprint from a different magazine and has already been discussed in the past, then I apologize.

My brother gets this magazine, Precision Engine, sent to his bike shop. I've never seen it before, but it's pretty informative. Anyway, he doesn't usually pay much attention to it, but the other day he gets the new issues and on the front is a pic of a 427 in a Cobra, so he starts reading it. Turns out they did a complete build up and dyno, over the course of about 5 issues, so he found them all and gave them to me.

Basically, they started with a used side oiler block, that had a hard life. It was sleeved on two cyilnders, and had "window" repairs on both sides of the block. But the work was expertly done, and the machinist checked the whole block over and deemed it good.

Here is a list of some of the parts they used:

The thought they scored an NOS 427 crankfor $300 new in the box, but it turned out someone switched it in the box and it was a 390 crank. They decided to use it anyway, since it has the same stroke.

Eagle H beam rods

Keith Black Hyper pistons- supposedly they just came out with a new FE piston

ARP fasteners

ATI damper

Clevelite bearings, coated by Polydyn

Comp cams rocker setup

Crane cams solid flat tappet cam

Edelbrock heads, out the box, with Polydyn coated chambers, exh ports and valve heads, Edelbrock Performer intake

Evans cooling waterpump and NPG coolant

Holley 750 cfm carb

Melling oil pump

MSD pro billet dist

The first dyno session with the 750, Performer intake, and solid mech cam netted 480hp @ 5200 and 520 ft lbs @ 3800. They found that the motor was falling off once it hit 5200 and knew something was wrong. Upon inspection, they found the cam was wiped out.

The cam was replaced with a new Crane soild roller this time (637/658 lift) and the intake was replaced with an Edelbrock Victor X. The carb was upped to a Holley 800. This was all done because the engine builder felt the motor would make much more power this way. When the motor was redynoed, it now made 528hp @ 5800 and 516 ftlbs @ 4800. They also noted that it still made 410 ftlbs at 6500!

It should also be noted that this motor is a low, 9.6:1 compression, which was done so the Cobra owner it was being built for could use normal pump gas. Given the low CR and out of the box Edelbrock heads, I'd say that this was one great build up, and shows the potential when the proper parts are used together.

I don't know if this had been posted before, but figured everyone would enjoy it since there's a lot of dyno hp debates lately. I know for myself, I learned a ton about FE build ups from these 5 issues.