B2 Motorsports - Cliff Rosson All-Aluminum 331 SBF Build

[Jac Mac]

Originally Posted by blykins

For all of you who think that building custom street/race engines is easy....I'm sticking my tongue out at you.

I have always struggled with that concept, apart from the fact that they all seemed to expect a race engine at street price. If you try to create a 'street spec' after building race engines you feel like your not doing the job properly..... better to treat them all as race engines and be happy about what you have done than give out a product that you have doubts about some of the components being used in the application. After all, a race motor usually gets looked after fairly well, regular oil changes, valve lash/fuel/ignition checks/good cold start procedures. Some 'street/track day' stuff gets neglected by comparison, cold starts, short runs, extended times on the checks above.
P.S..... 4 weeks!!!....try living half way round the globe, waiting 4 months for a set of custom pistons to arrive, then finding that they did not do the final pin fit to size & having to drive 200 mile round trip to find a shop with good gear to do that, stiil it got me out of the shop for a day

[lippy]

Originally Posted by blykins

For all of you who think that building custom street/race engines is easy....I'm sticking my tongue out at you.

Nothing is easy, especially this. If I thought it was easy, I'd do it myself.

[blykins]

Well, spent a good bit of time doing mock ups today. Started blending in the oil pump feed, checked distributor gear to block clearance, mocked up some galley plugs that sometimes get in the way, finished checking main clearances...







Then I ran into a snag....

The counterweights on the crank hit the block in quite a few places. The cylinders and sleeves are quite long in this block and it is just plain tight in the crankcase. And yes, just in case you were wondering, I tried another crank, a Scat 3.400" and it hit too...



So....

I'm sending the crank off, not only to have the rod journals cut down, but to have the counterweights cut down as well. It's just not feasible to grind that much on the block.

Got the piston to cylinder clearances checked as well, and also filed the rings today.

[ERA2076]

Bummer - I like the idea of not trimming the block, but i have no idea what the tradeoffs are for trimming the counter weights. My first thought is, great it reduces rotating mass, but that is probably way too simplistic.

chr

[dcdoug]

What does that do to engine balance?

[blykins]

Wasn't balanced yet, so it's a non issue there. I wait until everything is mocked up before I balance.

Cliff, it does reduce rotating mass, and depending on the bobweight, may require a little more heavy metal to internally balance.

[Jac Mac]

Dart alloy blocks Ive done require a bit of clearancing for lifter link bars, #4&5 cyls IIRC, will vary with style of lifter/link bar chosen. Clearance for timing chain on front face also if using early? sets.

[Rick Parker]

Anyone subscribe to the Roush Morse HYVO timing chain and its theory in lieu of Double roller chain. It is significantly more expensive but seems to have some merrit. They WERE used in a lot of Hi Performance V8's OEM applications but with nylon toothed Cam gears.

[blykins]

Jac, if you use a standard base circle cam, there is sufficient clearance. The tightest spot is on the #5 cylinder as you say, but with a big base cam, it's fine. I never take anything for granted though...I checked any way....hahaha

Rick, I really don't see the need in it. For all of my Fords, they get Ford Racing double roller timing sets. IMO, you would never see the difference in anything else. If I need something more "hipo", or if I need something I can adjust almost on the fly, I'll use a Jesel belt drive.

The regular Ford Racing double rollers are about $100, have a buttload of keyways, and come with a thrust plate. Can't beat 'em.

[ERA2076]

In the house -

69lb on the scale

[blykins]

Crank is en route back to KY. I had them balance it too.

[Dimis]

Originally Posted by ERA2076

In the house -

69lb on the scale

Are you serious 69lbs?
That's pretty light... What's it made out of unobtainium?

Congrats.

[ERA2076]

Originally Posted by Dimis

.. What's it made out of unobtainium?:

Yes

[ERA2076]

Got to run my '03 again at Portland yesterday. We put some Wilwood 6 pistons on the front of it after the first tioe we ran it and went right thru the pads that came with them. I called Wilwood and They had me purchase Polymatrix E - great combination plenty of initial bite and great modulation.

We started running 4 of the tight corners in 2nd gear instead of 3rd and it was moocho faster with gobs of torque coming out. I'd go in with lots of brake, heel and toe (T56), and stand on the brakes with the side of my foot to the turn in point. Once we got the braking and shift points figured out it worked very well - I may have missed one shift for the day. Almost spun it at 12 from shifting too late (late braking), but got out of it and sheepishly drove away.

Ran down a couple of 911 looking things in the last session, one being a Turbo. Overheated the blower cooling system and ran out of fuel nearly simultaneously and had to pull off early. I don't think the air conditioning compressor was happy with it either.

Sent a couple of young guy's out with it today and they were running 110 (2nd and 3rd) and all was good.

The 03 Cobras are neat cars - I need to retire mine.

Brent - a cool 430 will make a great FIA for me.

[blykins]

Got quite a bit accomplished yesterday. Block was final washed, crank, rods, and pistons were final washed, cam was degreed, piston to valve clearance was checked.

Got most of the short block done, then knocked a couple rods and pistons back out to have some rod side/side clearances opened up.

Also got the T&D rockers mocked up and will need to rework the top head studs. This has been a pretty challenging build so far.

[iismet]

oh my - that is frigging gorgeous - ERA shipped the light weight rear with outboards last week.

I cannot stop smiling.

chr

[blykins]

Had to have a couple of rods surface ground, but short block is done and oil pump is bolted up. Unless something funky happens, the majority of this engine will be done tomorrow.

Shot of rod bolt stretch being checked...

[Mike_I]

Sweet! What kind of HP and Torque do you estimate this engine making? Also what Carb will be used?

Thanks

[blykins]

It's going to be in the 425-435 hp range. This engine was originally destined for Webers, but Cliff wanted me to dyno and deliver the engine with a dyno tuned Edelbrock Victor Jr intake and a Quick Fuel Q-650. The cam is optimized for the Webers so the combo isn't perfect, but it will still work quite well.

[Mike_I]

Sounds like it will be a hateful little small block. Looks like you do very nice work. What kind of ballpark $$ number for a short block including the camshaft for something like this? I have a set of AFR 185's begging to be attached to something like this.