What's New This October

What's new?  Besides getting a snow storm two days before Halloween.... ftw?  Here are a few more photos to catch you up on the car build:

Lokar vintage look ebrake installed (temporarily, until I put the aluminum panels on) and connected to the Wilwood ebrake setup.  I have to say, this was pretty easy and straight forward despite the horror stories I've read about.  Then again, I also had a custom bracket from Mike Fortes to mount the handle and Wilwood provided a nice mount for the cable ends.

Above is a side pic of the 3-link suspension banana bracket, which I may have welded on later.  You can also see I went body-up on the Koni rear shocks and mounted the calipers in the forward position.  It definitely cleans up the ebrake cable and caliper lines in this configuration.

Above is the ffmetal.com battery box installed.  I like the idea of hiding the battery and getting more space in the trunk area.  I'll also be installing remote battery terminals and cut-off switch.

Dyno Video

Above is the engine on the dyno at Maryland Performance Center in Frederick Maryland.  The staff there are extremely knowledgeable and friendly and I would highly recommend them to anyone building/modifying an engine.  Here, the valve cover is off in preparation to add spring shims.  They threw a wrench to me and my father-in-law (pictured) and told us to start helping to save time... and of course time is money!

Below is the Breeze Automotive fuel tank kit installed.  I had to wash the inside and outside of the tank, paint it, install the fuel level sender, pickup, vent, and filling tube.

Brake Lines - The Art of

I went with the CNC Triple Reservoir (from FortesParts.com), Wilwood pedal box and custom bracket (also from Fortes), braided ss teflon lines for the reservoir feeds, Wilwood 3/4" masters for the front and back brakes and 7/8" master for the clutch.  I also added the Wilwood balance bar remote adjuster and mounted it under the pedalbox area.

I also purchased the blank front footbox panel from ffmetal.com since my kit only came with the PowerBoost style panel.

Below is the top of the pedal box with everything piped.  The hardest thing to find was the 7/16-20 fitting for the input port on the 3/4" master cylinders.  The mc's have an inverted flare fitting, but I was unable to find an adapter that would reach all the way down so I added a rubber washer and fender washer to get a seal on the top.  I hope this isn't a problem later... though it should be fine since these lines aren't pressurized.

I've only seen one other builder decide to run the passenger side front brake line behind the firewall and along the 3/4" frame member.  It looked  really clean and was done by a professional builder, so I went this route too (notice the tee fitting at the master cylinder).

Here's a shot of the line running behind the firewall.  There are no fittings back there, so no leaks to worry about, right?

And here's a shot if the passenger side line running down the 3/4" frame.

And here's an overhead shot of the rear lines, where the hard lines meet the flexible lines going to the calipers.

Run For The Money - Dyno Results Are In!

Wow... it worked.  It actually worked and worked well!  495hp @5600 rpm and 505 ft lb torque @4300 rpm.  All in all, it tested great.  Good compression, great oil pressure, runs cool, clean oil, and sounds beautiful.  We had to bump the rev limiter up on the MaxFire to get it to run clean @6000rpm, and we also shimmed the valve springs to get the right strength (150lb closed, 360lb @.50" lift) -- they were the right springs, they just need a little squeeze.  They also tweaked the Quick Fuel 750cfm carb and messed with the timing, ending with 30 degrees of timing.

The bad news, cylinders 2 and 3 stuck out like sore thumbs on the leak-down test.  Average leak-down was about 15%.  Cylinders 2 and 3 were at 70%, and you can hear the leak in the exhaust port.  Dang!  I gambled on the pre-assembled heads and lost.  Let me pass along the advice I ignored: at the very least have your valves seats checked, even if they're pre-assembled.  So now I have to pull the heads and have the seats corrected.  Shouldn't be a big deal -- I just wish it was completed.

Check this out...

Where has the time gone?

Ok... Now that I have an app on my phone I have even less of an excuse not to update my progress.

A lot has happened in the year or so since I last posted. Here are some photos to catch you up:




Jay came out from Colorado last summer (2010) to help put in the bottom end. We had a great time! Too bad we don't live closer.







After learning you cannot purchase the stock pushrod guide plates separately for the old Z304 heads (and purchasing the guide plates for the newer version of the heads and trying to modify them) I purchased these adjustable plates that required welding. After a bit of practice on the junk plates, I welded eight of these to get the top end complete.




With the engine coming together and a little financing magic... I was able to order the base kit around New Years 2011. I went with the base kit so that I could accumulate the parts I need as I could afford them. The base kit also gives me the opportunity to upgrade many components on my own for about the same cost as the complete kit.







In March Kim and I flew to Boston and rented a 26' truck to haul the car home from Factory Five. It was quite an adventure! To top it off, several friends came by to help unload everything and celebrate with a BBQ.

We also stopped in Jersey to pickup the body buck (wood frame) above from a ffcars.com forum member. FFCars.com has been a frigging amazing resource so far.

I think that's enough for this fast forward. I'll catch up my progress on the car over the next few weeks. I promise. ;-)

- Posted from my mobile

Homemade Tools Anyone?

The replacement connecting rod arrived last weekend and I quickly got to work matching it to the set.  The average total weight in the set was 625g (185g small end and 440g big end).  In order for me to find out even that bit of information I had to research how to accurately and consistently get the rod end weights.  I eventually came across instructions for building your own rod weighing station; I didn't follow their instructions to the tee (they called for hanging the neutral end on a chain to reduce side torque) but I was able to consistently get the same results +/- 2 grams by keeping the neutral end propped up by a very loose seal driver disc on a 7/16" bolt.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous grinding the rod myself.  After a little practice on the old rod, I felt confident enough to give it a shot.  Overall, I think it came out good.  I was able to get the replacement rod down to 626g with exactly 440g on the big side.  The only down side, is that I really had to remove a lot from the rod (around 12-14g on each end) to get it there.  Now, I'm worried that the replacement rod was too big to begin with and it may be compromised by the amount of material removed.

I need a second opinion.  A blown rod would be a costly disaster.

Cosmetic Mockup

I couldn't resist stacking on all of the components today just to see how it all looks together.  I'm still waiting on the replacement connecting rod and spirolox to begin the bottom end.  Oh yeah, I also need to wash everything one more time, measure and prepare the main bearings, and chase the mains.

Oil Passages

While test fitting the new crankshaft, I noticed that the number one main oil passage didn't match the crank oil passage, it was offset by about an eighth of an inch.

Here's the OEM crank, notice that the oil passage on the crank journal matches the oil groove in the main bearing:

And now here's the out-of-the-box stroker crank, notice the oil passage is offset to the right from the oil groove in the main bearing:

After a bit of filing, I was able to modify the oil passage opening so that it overlaps most of the oil groove in the main bearing:

 

 It's better, but I'm still not 100% satisfied.  By the way, this is the oil passage that feeds the number one connecting rod.  At least there's only one oil passage on this journal.  Now I'm left to wonder why the machine shop didn't catch this.

 

 

Measuring Up

In the past week, we've had two major snow storms.  The first brought somewhere around 30 inches and the second brought around 12-14 inches.  That meant work was on hold and I could spend quality time in the garage.  Of course, I had to break down and get a kerosene heater to keep my hands from freezing.

Here's what I've been up to:

• Measured the connecting rod bearing clearance (averaged around .0015")
• Measured the piston to cylinder wall clearance
• Measured and gapped the top and second compression rings (.018 and .022 respectively)

Lesson learned: make sure you tap the connecting rod caps all the way into place, even before hand tightening the fasteners or you may risk a cross-threading epic  I torqued the number 1 rod without making sure the cap was flush, resulting in a cross-threaded fastener.   That was more than just a $65 mistake (the cost of a replacement connecting rod) because connecting rods come in matched sets.  I am going to have to machine the replacement rod to match the end weights of the set.  Yeah, now add a bench grinder and digital gram scale to the cost

Ford Blue

With the block back from the machine shop, it was time to make it pretty.  I spent a couple of hours grinding and brushing rust off the outside of the block, then applied three coats of a heat resistant primer.  After letting it bond for a week, I applied three coats of Ford Dark Blue heat resistant enamel paint.

As you can tell, I spent a fair amount of time taping the block.  I didn't want to worry about overspray getting into oil passages, etc.

Everything went well during painting, the only lesson learned was that I should have cleaned the block one final time after removing the rust and before painting.  I assumed it would be no problem to wash it after I painted ~ and it really shouldn't be a problem as long as I'm careful using the carb cleaner on the bearing seats, etc. as it can eat the paint away.

Sticker Shocked

Alright... my budget has officially gone out the window. I budgeted about $800 for machine shop labor and parts; let's just say I was shocked when I got the final bill of $900 for parts (this included $500 for the internal balance, custom push rods, adjustable push rod guides, timing chain set, plugs, etc.) and around $1300 for labor.
If you do the math.... I paid $400 for the used block and put $1300 in labor to have it bored/honed, align honed, decked, magnaflux tested, hot dipped, and mocked assembled for crank/rod clearances (it required minor mods to the bottom of the cylinder walls for the longer stroke); for a total investment of about $1700.  I could have bought a brand new 351 "Sportsman" block for around $1200 already with the .030 over bore and did the cylinder wall mod myself.

Lesson learned: if you want to revitalize a vintage block, fine, take it to the machine shop, otherwise, there's no way you will ever convince me it's better to start with a fix-er-up "cheap" block.

Another lesson learned: if you do decide to use a machine shop, keep close tabs on everything they're doing and get estimates for everything before you have the work done.

Yet another lesson learned: if you're buying a stroker kit, it's probably best to get it straight from the manufacturer.  I found what I thought was a good deal on my 393 c.i.d. Coast High stroker kit, saving about $200 on the CH price.  I later realized that if I had bought it from Coast High directly they would have internally balanced it for free (uh, that's about a $400-500 savings!!!)

Off To The Machine Shop

I've been accumulating parts and finally took a minute to take a snapshot before most of them go off to the machine shop.  Here's what's I'm having done:

1. Bore and hone the cylinders 4.00 + 0.030" over

2. Align hone the main caps

3. Balance the rotating assembly (internally, hopefully)

4. Mock assembly to check/fix clearances

I'm also going to have the machinist take a look at the cylinder head with the dent (just to be sure.)

Oops, I may have got ahead of myself by ordering the 28oz. imbalance flywheel and damper.  I'm hoping the machinist can do an internal balance on the crank and I can use neutral components.  We'll see.

Gear-heads Are Thugs

Quoting my friend Jon as he mocked my low-budget approach to building a performance engine; referring to my experience of buying a pair of "almost-new" cylinder heads from a private party online.  Jon's point was that you can't trust random gearheads to sell you goods sight unseen.  I guess he was right.  The seller forgot to mention one of the heads had a dent on the combustion side edge (you can see the dented edge in the photo below.)

Oh well, lesson learned.  I hit up my friend Jay and posted a few photos on forums and pretty much got the same advice. The dent is no big deal because of it's size and location. Just file it and it should be fine. I'll take it to my machine shop (Automotive Parts & Machine in Fredrick, MD) for a final opinion before I actually start file it though.

The story on my Ford Racing Z304 High Flow Aluminum Heads: the guy I bought them from tried to custom machine the pushrod guide plates to make them almost as wide as the guide holes in the heads, which defeats the purpose of the plates. Anyhow, he must have dented the head and just gave up all together. Once I file down the dent and purchase new pushrod guide plates ($40) I should still save around $160 on these heads.  Not bad.

It Has Begun

Alright... I have a plan. Now, all I need is some money and an engine. I found this 351 Windsor short block on craigslist for $400. It came out of a 1994 Explorer with OEM hydraulic roller lifters and E.F.I. (I'm going with a carburetor.) I guess I could have saved a few bucks if I had found a bare block, but I'll probably recoup some of that $400 by selling the crank and cast iron heads on eBay.

I have a block! I can't believe I'm actually going through with this.

Jacob and I had this disassembled, bagged, tagged, and boxed in a couple of hours. It's currently at the machine shop to get a hot bath and magnaflux tested for cracks.

Slow And Steady Wins The Race

I've found the perfect project car for me, the Factory Five Racing Mk3 Cobra replica kit. Even though this is the most affordable of all the quality kits out there, there's still a significant investment involved. So, I've decided to take this project one step at a time and spread the cost over the next few years.

My goal is to have a completed kit for around $30k. I've read the literature on the FFR site and they claim the average build costs around $24k. I'm guessing that's using their basic kit and stock parts from a donor Mustang car. I'm looking for something a little better than stock performance, like in the 500 hp range; but not completely over the top in performance parts.

Here's a quick breakdown of my initial plan and cost estimates:

• Step 1: Build a performance Small Block Ford 351W engine for under $6000
• Step 2: Buy/rebuild a performance clutch, T-5 transmission and 8.8" Mustang rear end for under $3000
• Step 3: Purchase a FFR kit $12-20k
  

From what I've read, most kit builders do these steps in parallel. These folks also use crate motors and drivetrains; and I'm guessing have a better budget than I do. That's ok, I'm patient and am looking forward to the experience of a crank-to-intake engine build.

What it's all about

Most guys have a dream car... for some it's the latest sports car, for others it's old school muscle, or even really old school classics. For me, I've spent the past decade and a half drooling over the Dodge Viper, imagining the day that I would be behind the wheel of a 500 hp V-10 powered monster machine. I associate that day with the day I truly achieve success in my career - being able to unquestionably afford such a machine. Sure, I could probably make sacrifices now and find a deal on a used Viper; but I just don't think that would provide the same satisfaction that I'm looking for.

Along the way, I've picked up an appreciation for classic cars and the art of resurrecting your dream car out of long forgotten skeletons. I attribute much of this appreciation to watching my long time friend Jay as he rebuilt, rodded out, and repaired countless customs.

So... for the past few years I've been contemplating taking on a major, long-term overhaul or build project; one that will allow me to get my feet wet without getting too far over my head. Why should I wait for that Dodge Viper?

Then, one day while on vacation with the family in Las Vegas, I saw it. A 1965 A/C Cobra ripped down the street leaving tracks of rubber and roaring like it was headed to the moon. I knew right then that was it!!!

Of course, what I didn't know then was finding an actual 1965 Cobra as a project car would cost between $500,000 and $4,000,000. Within a few minutes of researching, however, I found several companies that make kits for building your own Cobra. To me, that just sweetened the deal. A project car similar in weight and shape to the Viper that I could build myself, including the powerplant.

After researching the different makes, I've decided to go with the Factory Five Racing Roadster. From what I've read, FFR has tried to remain true to the original Cobra while incorporating performance and safety features at a cost that I could afford.