Is it worth putting in a 427 side oiler?

I’m in the early planning stages of my gt40 build. I spoke with Fran over at RCR and he said they can fit a 427 side oiler in their kit. My question is to people who have done it was there a ton of problems in doing it? I have a 427SO block and a ZF-2 box for it but I’m wondering if it’s worth the trouble of building it instead of a 351W or even a 302?

some questions are how hard it was to squeeze the engine in, access to work on engine, were you able to run AC, any regrets goingwith the big block?

thanks for any suggestions!

Pat
 
Ford did not run ZF behind the 427, Have to assume there is a good reason for that. Having said that a mechanically sympathetic driver can probably make one last. 427 FE with five decades of corrosion in the cylinder walls is going to be a risk unless you have smashed a very heavy piggy bank and visit BBM for a 'new' block. Torque will kill the driveline, even the input shaft on a T44 was limited. Dont get me wrong, I love FE stuff, but at the end of the day the 351w has to be the best current choice of Ford Engines.
 
Consider a Boss 427w crate engine from Ford. Get one through Summit for ultimate in customer service if something goes wrong. Parts are available. When ready, do your extreme web crawl shopping, find the lowest price in the universe, and then ask Summit to match. They did for me, and my engine went from 14k to 12k or something like that.


Your other option is to move away from national players and into someone in a niche, who has a strong incentive against owning mistakes or admitting error. Ford/Summit will back their stuff like nobody else, it's modern equipment (4 bolt mains! Single piece rear main seal!) that you can get parts for no sweat.

It's over 500hp in the small block package AND it is truly 427 cid.
Not sure what more one could want.
 
Yea, no. Not excellent customer service unless you call pulling, crating and shipping the engine for something like the valve guides that were an known issue in the earlier motors like I have in my Cobra.

But I will say, the bottom end has good parts and has held together, and oil and new plugs more often is cheaper than their solution. They wouldn't let me ship them just the heads after the problem was well know and many people went through it.
 
Requiring the whole unit return for a warranty claim seems reasonable to me.
It is clearly stated in their written documentation.

I call excellent customer service to be taking care of problems according to the terms of the warranty and without any argument.
If you got your needs addressed by them fairly and on their terms, it seems sort of unfair to be zinging them for how they did it.

I got my needs addressed on their terms and got a replacement engine.
I survived my bout of impatience, which washed off as soon as the replacement arrived.
Not one negative thought about it on this end.
 
From what I’ve read it was Ford’s own mechanical errors that caused some of the ZF’s to fail and the one’s they didn’t screw with survived just fine. Either way I’ll never get a T44 and the ZF is fine for 500hp or so, not like I’m track racing it all the time. Plenty of people have run big blocks on a ZF and survived.

The 427 block I have is NOS and looks fresh. Obviously won’t know for sure until I get engine shop to start working on it but at least this way I can pick and choose all the internals and engine build quality. Building it should roughly cost the same as buying a stroked 351. With a quality FE builder it will be easier brining a problem back to a local shop than crating an engine to ship.

So cost wise it seems about even. I’m more concerned with fitment issues. If it’s near impossible to fit in an alternator, AC compressor (AC is a luxury and not a deal breaker if I can get removable windows) and water lines to an electric water pump.
 
I'm interested in learning more about ZF power handling as I'm also considering a new motor for my ZF DS-2. This is in a Lola so it uses a Chevy, but power is power. I assume it's safer to lean towards more of a high revving continual power builder (ie, smaller displacement)?

I was going to go with a 406 small block (4.115" bore, 3.75" stroke), but maybe a 377 is safer (4.115" bore, 3.5" stroke). The 377 generally has less torque but can build some healthy horsepower. Popular with circle track racers.
 
For sure a ZF is not bulletproof, not even an RBT.
Those who race GT40's in real compettion these days do break them a lot. But those 289s do have a lot more horsepower and rpm then they had back in the days.
 

Randy V

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For sure a ZF is not bulletproof, not even an RBT.
Those who race GT40's in real compettion these days do break them a lot. But those 289s do have a lot more horsepower and rpm then they had back in the days.

Not to mention DOT street tires that are stickier than race tires were 50-60 years ago….
 
My Cobra has a 427SO in it and weighs roughly to same as the gt40. Is it more engine than needed, absolutely. Is it crammed in there, yes. More torque than I’ll ever use, yes. But it makes the car 10x better (in my opinion) than a cobra with with a 302 and fake 427 badging. Also nothing beats that sound and feel of driving that big block monster around!!

they crammed them in 50 years ago and would have kept using them had the rules not been changed to try and get rid of Ford from racing anymore. Which worked as Ford dropped out but Gulf kept using the gt40 with a smaller engine.

I’m not asking about practicality. If I wanted that I could throw a coyote in there and never worry about anything but changing the oil. I want to capture the past and improve on it some while 99% of people looking at wouldn’t know it wasn’t a ln exact duplicate. I was just looking to hear from others who have done it to see if there was a lot of fabricating and trade off to putting the FE in there.

I appreciate everyone’s opinions though and am still on the fence about building the FE or a W.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
How about a rebuilt and upgraded 930 Porsche? It's 4-speed just like the T44, has good gear ratios for a V8 with the 4.0 final R&P, and it's the strongest Porsche transaxle. Call California Motorsports and ask about sourcing one for you.

 
I lose interest in threads like this.. One more factor is the FE engine has a Deck Height of 10.17" with exh ports square / at right angle to block face whereas the Windsor block is only 9.5" high and exh port face is angled toward toward center of VEE or if you like the port face is near vertical to the cround. Fran says they have fitted a FE in, you must also consider your transaxle choice as the input shaft will dictate what height your engine will need to be installed at. Its the old change scenario.... change one thing and you will have to move some more things.. I agree with Howard above, a 930 is likely something you should consider first, it seems strong enough to be OK regardless of which engine you use. But dont listen to me, I dont own or have never built my own GT40..yet. But... I have done a lot of reading!
 
Thanks for the reply. It’s the height and width that I’m most concerned about. It takes up a lot more real estate in the area with little to give up!! I’ll have to talk to Fran more when I order my kit and hold off on any engine builds until then.
 
If originality is a concern, build/get a 65 with a 347 and a ZF as I am doing with RCR. Fran convinced me that the FE was not the best choice due to lack of space for the AC compressor, which is a must for me here in AZ. I do have a 428 in my Cobra, which has been trouble free now for 5 years, but there is plenty of room for it and I don't need AC.
 
If originality is a concern, build/get a 65 with a 347 and a ZF as I am doing with RCR. Fran convinced me that the FE was not the best choice due to lack of space for the AC compressor, which is a must for me here in AZ. I do have a 428 in my Cobra, which has been trouble free now for 5 years, but there is plenty of room for it and I don't need AC.

I think I’m leaning that way now that I’ve done more research. Seems to be the best way to go so everything fits and can build a high revving, good hp car.
 
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