Various 427 Questions, New Member

[Excaliber]

Well I guess that IS the main concern about 40 year old rods, what do you know of their history? I stayed with my Le Mans rods because I had run them previously in my original motor and had turned it to 7000. In that respect I was pretty confident of their ability. I had them worked over, during my build, checked out, etc. My new rpm is around 6200-6400 max and so far so good! I think I spent about $4,000 on parts/machine work for my build. The rotating balance was exactly $300, by the way, (Keith nailed it)! There was no way I could have gone $15K at the time. Sometimes us 'po folk' just have to risk it...

I AM surprised a Le Mans rod, having been checked out, would fail at a measley 5000 rpm, clearly THAT rod was defective in some way.

[Keithc8]

I agree about the LeMans rod breaking being pretty unussual but when you have to stand behind these things you try to use the best you can get and stay within a certain budget.
Let me know if I can help you with any of your parts in any way. Like I said I have some original steel cranks and LeMans rods. I can also help you get a decent price on some pistons and rings. If you are on a buget you will spend a lot more on the Blue Thunder stuff and you do not have to do that for what you want to do. Make sure the machine shop knows what they are doing with the original 427 block and what to check for. Make sure they do some work on the oiling system and get a decent set of rockers because this is a weak point on these engines as well. I like the Ersons on street and mild race applications and they are hard to beat for the price. I can machine everything for you and you build it if you would like. Hope we can help. Thanks, Keith Craft

[RICK LAKE]

elmariachi Jim, you are in cobra heaven in the Texas area. Not 100% sure about what you want to build, but the suspension for the street and the track are to different things. Street springs are in the 300-350 inch pounds where as the track setup are in the 450-600 range, this doesn't include shocks and tires. A Cobra is a whole different animal than anything you have driven before. Not to insult your machinist but if he have not built a bunch or FE motors, I wouldn't let him make mine the first. They are not the same as a GM BBC or SBC. KCR, Gessford, Kuntz, Barry R. and Jay B. all have many years of FE motor building. About 275 years total, give to take 5. Build a stroker in the 484 - 527 range, sell the crossdrilled crank and rods to someone for a restored car or hang them on the wall for trophies. Put a set of 307-308 gears in tha car, a richmond superstreet 5 spd with 2.87 first gear, and what ever motor you want. A hydro roller lifter motor, IMO is the way to go if setup right. Add an accusump to the car also if you go racing for both a preoiler and pressure controller on high G-turns. Build a 600ft pound of torque motor. It will go just as fast and be more streetable. What kind of fuel system are we looking at?? Carb, Webers, Propane, FI?? Diesel is coming down the road. Rick L. ps you have private e-mail.