GrabberGT Ev. 5

Congrats on the invite, Chris!

 

ditto chris! bad ass hood too.

and i need your parts mr total control! ; )

 

Time to start planning the new motor.

And here is the carnage.

This is about 3" long.



The piston and head tried their best to chew it up



... until something had to give. There is crack in the cylinder wall. I cant keep the water out long enough to snap a picture.



If you didnt know, this happened on the way back from Vegas. The aircleaner stud broke off and fell down into the cumbustion chamber causing the problems above.

Now for on to the replacement.... Im pretty sure I've mentioned before that this motor was a sore spot for me. Far too many issues and not exactly well thought out. The heads, though are AFR's, are the 72cc variants which would be great if I were going with some sort of boost. The cam was a FMS X303. Old technology meant for higher RPM horsepower rather than low end torque. The intake is an Airgap. Great street intake but the cam would have been happier with a tall single plain. I need more torque and not higher RPM HP anyway. The block if a functioning Mexican block but wasnt correctly cleaned when machined for the stroker so its littered with rust. All things I planned to correct eventually but now it looks like Im pushed to do it sooner.

Though I'd love to just go out and purchase a new 363ci crate motor, funds arent exactly working with me this year. And to be honest, the power I was putting out, though lackluster for a 347 with AFR's, was plenty of power for my level of driving experience. So if I were to fix the problems listed above, more power would surely follow. Not 363ci 575hp power, but enough for me. So the plan is to get another block, recondition the heads to sale, try to salvage the piston, if not then buy replacement, buy new AFR 58cc heads, new spec'd cam, then assemble. Hopefully, I can get it all done for less than 3k.


Hey Rwbrooks... you still have that 306 I sold you a few years ago??? :Handshake

 

One of my favorite photos from the trip

 

that sucks! what kind of budget ceiling are you thinking for the 363?

EDIT: oops.. failure to read before posting. Here's my dirty penny.. to help save you many.

Those heads can be milled fairly heavily.. and even angle milled much moreso. Should be able to get you down to low 60cc range without much effort.. or more with some serious angle milling(.125-.150). Then headers would be the next hurdle with severe angle cuts as they get sucked in tighter to the block(there have been times when additional clearance can be gained on some setups though.. so there's that too). Also don't underestimate a good port job on those heads as there's still plenty left if you find someone smart enough to know how to go after it.

They also sell offset dowels to move the heads up and unshroud the valves in the process. As a nice side effect.. the intake will sit higher(unless you angle mill which means this helps offset the tendency to sink the manifold down into the valley once its recut to fit the angle milled heads) which allows port matching for a poor mans raised port design. Every little bit helps.

Gapless rings all the way buddy! More power(and all through the rev range).. for more longer.. and well worth the few extra dollars.

Custom Cometic head gaskets.. to pump up compression even more.. can be had down to .028 or so. I usually have them made up at around .032 since rev happy motors need around.030 on longer stroke motors that tend to rock the pistons a bit more.

and for gods sake man.. LOSE THOSE FLOWMASTERS ALREADY!!!.. there are far better alternatives out there these days and any straight thru design would be much better. Or better yet.. extensions/dumps aimed out towards your rockers if rules allow.

Gears could be shorter and cam could be made slightly longer to better utilize them from the clips I saw so far. Only real substitute for CI is rpm(aside from stroke length and leverage.. it's all about airflow) and that motor should be seeing closer to high 6's/low 7k rpm to squeeze more power out of it. Easy beans for the parts you're running here. You're right about the RPM manifold holding you back at higher rev's.. so lose it for smaller runnered single plane. More gear will easily compensate for loss of lower rpm range torque production and you'll be far ahead.

Lighten the car a bit more to compensate for your lower power levels(compared to the competition). On race day.. backseat delete and anything else you can drop off in your parking stall.

You've got plenty left on the table..50-70 horse.. that can easily be fixed for under 3k on this car. There's even more.. but I'm short on time.

 

"Hey Rwbrooks... you still have that 306 I sold you a few years ago??? :Handshake"

I have it, untouched, and a 87 HO Mustang 302 roller, with GT40P on it.

PM or call

Rick
214-673-8086

 

I figured buying a short block and adding heads and all would run 7k. Full crate motor is 10500. Turn key is even more. If I could get it done for less than 5k I might take another look at it.

 

well Im $11k+ into a super charged 363 and I have a ways to go yet so the 363 is a ton of money for sure.
you can get a 347 rotating assembly for like $1k and a good set of afr heads for around $1800 then you could buy a dart block for $1800 the rest of the parts arent very expensive if you buy the hyperutectic (sp?) pistons. a cam kit you can get for under $500 so a mild 347 can be done for around $6k double roller timing chain sets are like $75 if I remember right. depending on the intake you want to use figure $350
carbs can be an expensive area if you go with quick fuel the ones Im looking at for my motor are like $1500 each and I plan to run two

 

Its a 347 that I'm replacing. So my 3k estimate above should be about right using most of my existing stuff. No need for a aftermarket block either. Not putting out that much power. Close but I should be alright.

 

if you already have a 347 youre WAY ahead of where I started so yeah you should be able to get away with a $3k budget as long as you arent pshing more than 450 hp you will be good to go after 450 you start getting into trouble without an after market block but you already know that Im sure

the dart block was a must for me since I intend to produce 1000hp to the wheels

 

Your in a good price range. I had a 331 built last year for about 8k with budgeting but I started from scratch. I saved about 234 lbs with the trans combo also. You already have most of your parts. This makes the 3rd engine. I have learned a lesson. Do it right, exactly how you want it, and save yourself some time & money.

 

Where did you save 234lbs??????

 

Im not sure. Heads, no a/c, pulleys, starter, radiator, alternator, 5speed trans was lighter, no Hood, etc. Its just happened to be lighter. I'm not really sure how it happened bit it did

 

Sounds about right then.

 

My Popular Hot Rodding article is now on line.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/features/1309_1972_ford_maverick/