
05-25-2020, 06:01 AM
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CC Member
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Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Lafayette,
IN
Cobra Make, Engine: Looking to buy
Posts: 1,295
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Not Ranked
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Case
The Tunnel Port 302s didn't work out well for various reasons. A few never give up types eventually got them to work and last at the same time.
There were all kinds of variations of small V8s 255 to 351 c.i.d. that Ford made for some racing application or another. That does not count the Gurney-Westlake 302s that were very strong, lots of power, very versatile, and long lasting.
The HP289s were the most widely used basic platform in the perhaps the widest variety of configurations; in some forms only a team like Shelby American could get. Example: You just won’t come across four bolt main cylinder blocks and forged steel crankshafts but they were in existence without many people knowing about them. There was even a brief flirt with Single Over Head Cam HP289s.
Not every idea or every development engine was successful enough or worth the effort to continue.
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I saw an interview recently of Dan Gurney where he stated that the cranks and rods were stock Ford items....I wondered about that.
My new book on the Ford Daytona coupe mentions a number of retirements of Cobras with broken cranks....leading me to ponder if there may have been some steel cranks back then.
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 Cobra loving, autocrossing Grandpa Architect.
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