Engine Choice

[Excaliber]

My side oiler was not very 'streetable' when I bought my ERA. Heres what that meant to me. The compression ratio was to high, I had to run the timing retarded and use the highest octane I could find or it would 'ping' without mercy. The cam profile was SO radical I had to keep the engine rpms around 2800 to 3000, which meant constantly watching the tach and selecting the appropriate gear. It had terrible 'bottom end', the motor would 'spit' through the carbs and tend to stall unless you kept it reved up and slipped the clutch to get underway. And NEVER, NEVER, lug it, ALWAYS select a lower gear if your gonna put your foot in it.

But man was it at home on the track!! DAM that car was fast! The 660 center squirter carbs loved wide open throttle, and little else. There was no 'in between', go or stop, that was about it.

So I rebuilt it. Lowered the compression, milder cam, smaller vacuum secondary carbs but I STILL retained the fairly radical high riser heads. Those heads are not generally recommended for good 'street manners', but a lot of that depends on many other factors as to how 'streetable' it is. I have high gear ratios, lower would perhaps be better. But with the milder (and STILL fairly wild) cam and carbs and lower compression, yeah, it's not bad. I'm comfortable on the 'street', and it STILL runs in the 11's at the race track!!!

So I would say to those that say a motor isn't 'that streetable' it depends on other factors as well, how YOU like to drive and the carbs can make a BIG difference.

One thing to REALLY watch out for, no matter which engine you choose is the compression ratio. You want it to be able to run on 'pump gas', using "Octane Booster" and looking for 'Race Gas' gets old in a hurry and it's NO FUN!