Reply With Quote058, I remember those days when the 427 Ford's were the thing. A crate 427 would push most any flatbottom in the 75-80 range. wonder why they quite making the ole FE engine anyway.
Back in the early 80's,I had the opportunity to work at Road America for the noth woods regional Shelby invitional.I got to see many neat old Ford race cars and street machines.I am partial to the boss 429 and 427 cammer engines.I am running a 572 chev blower motor and love to see other brands compete. It would be so boring to have only one engine type.That said,Money was a factor for my build up.I may build a chryser hemi or a big cube shotgun motor just for the fact that they are so different and Cool.I built the 572 for the horsepower to dollar ratio.I hope the world doesn't go to shit with all the terrorism,etc,so we can achieve our goals.
058, I remember those days when the 427 Ford's were the thing. A crate 427 would push most any flatbottom in the 75-80 range. wonder why they quite making the ole FE engine anyway.
This debate can and will go on for ever. 80% (in my estimation)of the whitewater river race boats are running chev motors, but the 4 time world champion, Spencer King is running a 1000 hp, 540ci ford motor and it has been the most reliable motor in these torture tests for years. It is one big ass motor with nothing fancy, just brute torque. What does every one think of Dart's new Iron Eagle small block ford. I here it can stroked to a 440 ci. Nice boat motor in a light boat, I'd say. BTW, I run chevs!
JB
I'm not here to stir any pots [or posts] but as I said before there are alternatives to the Chevy, be it big block or small blocks. I see the Chevy as the "bar" of which all others compare to. With that being said there are a few engines that could compete with or excede that of the Chevy. The 351 Ford for one and the 460 is another. To answer 63Stevens' question "Why did they stop building the 427?" its because the 429-460 was suppose to replace it, and when Ford quit racing in 1970 that was the kiss of death to ANY hi-perf. engine that was in production or development. The FE in various stages of development was totally competitive thru 1970. [Mickey Thompson/Danny Ongias Mustang-427 Cammer] with a win/loss record unmatched to this day. Mickey Thompson did some work with the 429 engine but FoMoCo pulled the plug early on into the project. M/T had the compressed air Boss 429 [that made an unheard of at the time 3000 hp] Chassis and tire development did not allow the car to hook up and control all the H.P. that this engine developed at that time. Cammers at the drags didn't work out because of the down time if the heads had to come off, afterall it had over 6' of timing chain that needed to be timed upon reassembly. The 351 in NASCAR even with the limitations set by NASCAR is still has a 30-40 hp advantage over the 350 Chevy with their latest SP2 heads. Robert Yates did a wonderful job with the canted valve 351 head that made Chevy go back to the drawingboards to come up with something that would compete with it. [The SP2 head looks alot like the Yates/Ford head] To Jungleboy, I am happy to hear about the Ford that you described in your post but it doesn't surprise me, I have always thought the Ford can be more reliable than the Chevy and still be able to beat them once in awhile. Just proves when someone decides to do a different engine than the competition runs [however risky] that they can reap the rewards of taking a chance. If it makes any difference, I enjoy any article written on alternitive engines such as Pontiac, Olds, Dodge, Buick and even AMC because anybody that puts their mind to it can make any engine work for them. Just for the record, a friend of mine ran a SBC in TAD [FMD] and kicked ass until he was "factored" out by NHRA due to polictical pressure from his competition. They were afraid of their Hemis getting beat by a 377" small block Chevy. I guess I just like seeing the "underdog" win one once in awhile.
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