Difference in crate engines

[Dwight]

[quoteI think Keith's crate engines are right on the money. Stout enough to be trouble free without added money where it is not necessary. Probably has great street manners but sounds good. Cam profile that has stood the test of time. I'll bet they have the carb specs dialed in pretty tight also. I am not sure making it "custom" has much merit if the HP and torque come in where you want.][/quote]

Yes to first statement
yes to the second statement
yes to the third
yes to the fourth

carb dialed in for wide open throttle only. He does not know what air cleaner, headers, sidepipes, etc you will use. You will have to tune the carb after you install it into your car.

On the sound, Lainhart has two sets of sidepipes. One set has nothing inside to restrict air flow. With his 487 c.i. side oiler it sound like thunder each time a cylinder hits.

Once he installed them he has taken them off.

When we pull into a car show and people stop what ever they are doing to find the source of the exhaust noise.
I have seen them looking for the source of the noise when he was a half block away. Now we where idling slowly by a row of buildings which projected the sound of both pipes to one direction. Small kids and old woman, they all look.

But in an open field car show, they can he him comes. And at 7000 rpm, I'm in car heaven!

All three sound like a Man Size Cobra but Lainhart's pipes gets everyone attention. At red lights, people roll down their windows to listen to the music.

Nothing like a big block idling at 1000 rpm.

Oh by the way my small block sounds pretty good at the red light.

Dwight

[Dwight]

I have driven a couple of his 408W motor in the 530 hp range.

They are fast, very fast

Trouble free and easy to drive on the street

Dwight

[DanEC]

There are a number of after-market engine blocks (aluminum and iron) now available and even a few that have fallen out of production but are still around. They are all a bit different and certain ones are definately favored from builder's experiences. There is a lot of diffences in after market block weights also.

Since you have some track time in mind, an aluminum block might make sense to you. An FE engine is not particulary heavy for a big block. Compared to a 427/454 Chevy motor or Ford 460 it's downright lean. With at least an aluminum intake to replace a big cast iron one, the weight is really reasonable, especially for a deep-skirt design motor. I've read that some of the after-market cast iron blocks can be significantly heavier than the original FE iron blocks.

Discussing weight, you should know that an ERA is going to weigh a little more than most replicas starting from scratch. Those big, thick main rails and solid-as-a-brick body add about 100 lbs +/- over most comparable replicas. Compared to a Kirkham with all billet suspension it probably is a couple hundred pounds or more. It's a bit of a penalty for what is a very solid and stiff car.

Obviously if money is not an object building up an all aluminum block, head, intake, water pump motor is probably the pinnacle of performance. I think without exception the after market blocks are considered stronger than an original blocks. 427 SO blocks in good condition can be difficult to locate and then they are somewhat limited in re-boring capability, most builders not wanting to go more than .030 over from what I understand. Other FE blocks are still around in fair supply. The 428 KC used for my car had virtually no bore wear - he cleaned it up with a .015 over bore. I felt this was a lucky find and fit my budget.

I would not worry about issues with aluminum heads on a iron block - they have those issues pretty much worked out with modern head gaskets. About the only issue is paying attention to valve train clearance adjustments on solid lifter cams due to the different expansion coefficients.

The "cool" factor is kind of in the eye of the beholder. To some nothing will beat a good old school 427 FE with all correct, period parts. To others, only the latest in modern technology and maximum available HP and torque floats their boat. I fell in the latter area and wanted to use vintage parts - I guess I re-purposed them.

for my 2 cents and from your earlier posts wanting a torquey motor, a nice 428 block with a 4.125 ro 4.25 crank, aluminum heads and intake would work really well. If you want a little more HP and revs then finding a good 427 SO or CO block would be the next step up. And then if you want to knock 75 to 100 lbs off the car and bump the cubes and HP up even further then going with an aluminum block may be warranted.