Building a new race engine

[Ross Nicol]

Well my intention to rebuild a race engine and consequently my earlier thread describing the process came to nought, when I found cracks in the B50 Ford Racing block. I purchased a new Dart Sportsman 302 Iron block and because of this I have renamed the project 'Building a new race engine'. I have finalized most of the spec now and components as well.

Block - Dart Sportsman Iron 302 8.2" deck
Crank - Scat forged 3.4" stroke
Rods - Scat Forged 5.4"
Pistons - SRP forged 4.125"
Heads - Edelbrock Vic Junior 56cc comb chamber

Compression ratio has been calculated at 11.3 to 1
Total capacity 363 ci or 5,956 cc which works out well because our class max capacity is 6000 cc.
Now the doom and gloomers have made me acutely aware the rod ratio of this setup is poor at 1.58 and Jac Mac has booked a front row seat (complete with Popcorn) to be entertained by the engine's demise, however it may not go bang and it could be a good thing.
The block and heads are at the machine shop currently and pistons are on order. Engine will be dry sumped as before. A new cross ram inlet manifold is being constructed for improved induction.
Here are a few photos of my engine room, ZF stripped for 2nd gear synchro replacement. 351 Cleveland from Pantera on stand and 302 short block I have recently rebuilt (basically stock but with nice light Mahle pistons). Plenty of work to do.

Ross:thumbsup:

 

[Gus Richmond]

Hi Ross, do the pistons touch on the way past each other???
I guess you don't have to relieve the bottom of the bores to clear the big end bolts..... That is big displacement for a 302 block!!
Best of luck. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Regards, Gus.

 

[Jac Mac]

So why dont you get Scat or whoever to whip you up a set of 5.56" rods ( Same as 400cu in SBC ) & Ross Pistons ( they must be good ) made at 0.940 pin height... Rod Ratio will be in the 1.63/1 area( thats the same as a 350 chev which are a fairly average combo reliability wise.... even a 5.50" rod will give you over 1.61/1 @1.00" pin height

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Hi Ross, which injection system do you plan to use?

 

[Ron Earp]

Looking good! I think you're going to be really happy with the motor. What sort of RPM does it have to see to be competitive?

However, I bet you a Benjamin that a well-built 4bbl carb and manifold will outperform the cross ram.

 

[Ross Nicol]

Gus- Yes (that was easy)

Jac Mac - I wanted to go with your 331 with 4.125 bore suggestion and I thought about it long and hard. However I had already purchased the 347 scat setup and had the crank internally balanced for assembly into the cracked block. I'm stuck with the current set up, but if I have any issues with it, I'll ditch it and I'll never deviate from your advice in the future. Promise!
By the way I was in heaven at Ruapuna, wall to wall 105E Anglias beautiful.
I remember Peter Ward from the parts counter at Macauley motors too. I spent a bit of time there.

Pete - I have some parts of the manifold and May have to have throttle bodies made. So it may become a bit of a Ross special, and thats a frightening thing just ask Jac Mac. Throttle plates will be 50mm.

Ross:thumbsup:

 

[Mike Drew]

Now the doom and gloomers have made me acutely aware the rod ratio of this setup is poor at 1.58 and Jac Mac has booked a front row seat (complete with Popcorn) to be entertained by the engine's demise

Jac Mac, that's a big mistake.

You're going to get oil and bits of broken connecting rod and broken piston in your popcorn. :laugh:

 

[Jac Mac]

Jac Mac, that's a big mistake.

You're going to get oil and bits of broken connecting rod and broken piston in your popcorn. :laugh:

He can do what likes to me popcorn, but if he makes me spill my Rum N Coke he will be in Deep S***......

 

yeh ross youare right , never seen so many 105e s at one meet. the pre 65s stole the show , though it was the yank tanks that took the cake. you can see why we are hooked on the sound of the big ones. in fact if you where to count all the cars in the pre 65s there wasnt many that weren't fords. great couple of weekends down south . 2500 miles in the SP250 top down all the way ( rain as well). geezzz that wind change to the south east at Levels brings it straight off the polar cap eh.

 

[Jim Nielsen]

Any porting done to the heads? What cam will you be running? RPM range and HP projections?

Jim

 

[Scott Calabro]

"Now the doom and gloomers have made me acutely aware the rod ratio of this setup is poor at 1.58"

I'm doing almost the same build for my carbon chassis, except Mahle pistons and a Dart alloy block, Scat -2 lightweight 4340 crank and light 5.4 rods.

I'm sure you will love all that torque you are going to make.

Here's some numbers you can do with your setup quite easily;

DartTV : Featured DartTV // on the PowerTV Network

Click on the 363 dyno pull.

 

[Ross Nicol]

Well I have spent my life in the entertainment industry and if my engine does blow I hope at least one small part of it does end up in Jac Mac's Rum and Coke. Yes SP250 the cold weather down South would be the reason that Jac Mac drinks his warming Tonic. Speaking of entertainment, I was on the bank at Ruapuna for the start of one Pre65 race and the black Thunderbird (i think it was him) laid wheel spinning rubber right to the first corner. Brilliant and that memory did it for me. Talking of Fords an old Muso mate of mine Robbie Carpenter was driving a MK1 Lotus Cortina in the same race. His number plate on the car "CARPS".

Jim - No cam selected yet. I think I'll leave the output figures till the engine dyno tells it for real. Rpm shouldn't need to be stratospheric but gearing will require 6500 - 7000

Talking about entertainment I'm off to run the Pa sysytem for some tired old musos today one of them Ross Hanaford from Daddy Cool (remember 'Eagle Rock'). Don't do much of this work but need the money for expensive hobby.

Ross

 

[Ross Nicol]

It's taken me 5 years to get my hands on one of these. It's a Morrison manifold and it is a beautiful thing. These photos don't do it justice. We went to see Steve Morrison today (one of natures gentlemen) to buy parts but came away with a complete unit. I am very happy.

Ross:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Beautiful hardware. And I like that it's in the kitchen, on the table. My kind of house, that is.

 

[EGLITOM]

SIZE ??

and WANT ONE !!

TOM

 

[M.L.Hearn]

Very nice set-up. Was looking at there intake system for the LS7 / C5R motor.

 

[Randy V]

CHUBBY time...

Wow... Very nice!!!

 

[Ross Nicol]

Butterfly size 50mm or 2".

Ross:thumbsup:

 

[Woody]

Hi Ross
Very cool manifold, looks very much the same as the one I'm runing only mine was second hand and yours is still shinny. I love that it takes pride of place on the kitchen bench.
P.S Dont worry about your rod ratio. you will be fine! You will never notice it from the drivers seat.