stroked small blocks in the race cars?

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Originally Posted by MAStuart

Paul I dont know who owns the rights to the C6Fe casting . I would have thought it would be ford. Do you have any idea how Curt would of ended up owning the rights to the Ford C6FE castings? I believe tthe guy that does the cnc work is Mike Carlquest. I was under the impression he is the guy that does the engine work for Cobra automotive and the guy that was having the heads done. I could be wrong and be just spreading rumors. Anyhow i know he has a cnc program to do Gurney Eagle heads . He said he can pick up a lot of flow over the way they wer sold over the counter. He also did the small block ford head that was in the last engine masters that got 2 place.

That is an interesting story, Stuart. This is my understanding. When Ford pulled the plug on racing, they got rid of all the racing stuff, including designs, to Holman and Moody. The rights were transferred. They held onto the stuff for a while, but their business was waning as the oil embargo happened and with other economic impacts they began to auction some of it off. Curt bought the lot that contained the C6FE head designs/rights. By the way, this is the original GT40 head of yesteryear. The information is out there in the ether, and if you search around you will find it posted. I am sure that there are people on here that know much more about it, so they can chime in to make any corrections. Actually, I spoke with Curt a couple of hours ago. They do a run of ten or so sets every once in a while. Demand is low, due to the limited market, which makes them expensive. I am under the impression that this is the best Ford casting there is for the small blocks, but even ported it still pales in comparison to today's aftermarket aluminum heads.

Originally Posted by 1795

The engine builder was not trying to sell me on things that I did not need. When he had the engine disassembled he called me and had me come look at things. The block was going to need to be rebored and it was already .030 over; I did not want to risk going to .040 over as that starts to increase the risk of failure running at high rpms for extended periods as the water jackets get awful thin. It's one thing on a street engine or drag strip, but another thing on a road race engine. I do run our long sessions at times and that puts a stress on the engine.

Cobra Automotive (Curt Vogt) makes some nice engines, but at $30-$35 K they are a little out of my league, especially when after 20 hours you have to tear them down and replace parts. If it were a street engine that you probably would never tear down again, it's one thing, but every two years that is a lot of money.

I am trying to approximate what they do without the expense. Will not be at that level, but a little closer is good enough for me. Cobra Automotive uses Dart blocks, except for their FIA legal engines. Given that I am never going to be FIA legal, what they do for regular vintage is good enough for me.

I have met the guy in charge of their engine shop and like him, a real nice guy. I lost his card and cannot recall his name. We have talked a few times at vintage races.

My engine builder made his suggestions, but has left all decisions up to me. I have done my research and made my decisions. At this point, I want an engine that I can count on to be reliable. The crank needed work and when I built my first engine I would have gone with a forged steel crank, but they were not available. If I waited any longer Scat would not have been able to do this one for quite a while as their supplies were drying up.

Jim

John is the guy in charge of the engine shop at Cobra Automotive... very knowledgeable guy, and he seems very nice, as well! Forgot his last name.

Is Scat offset grinding a forged steel 302 crank for you, to get it destroked to 2.87", Jim? Why don't you go with a stroker unit now that you know they ran the larger displacement? Free cubes!