Lykins Motorsports 496FE Build...

[blykins]

I'll take you some pics in a bit. There's one here and it's got your name all over it.

There's a good bit of prep work that has to be done, a lot of blending in of oil holes, blending drains, tapping a few holes, etc. My goal is to get that done, cam degreed, and some other clearances checked by Saturday, then drop off the rotating assembly to be balanced early next week. I'm gonna have my crank guy cut a half thou off the rod journals as well.

[blykins]

[cobrakiwi]

Congrats 601, very nice!

[ERA Chas]

That is a beautiful casting. Is the foundry in the US Brent?

[blykins]

Yes, in Ohio.

[Rick Bagley]

It's just plain pretty!!

[601HP]

Originally Posted by Rick Bagley

It's just plain pretty!!

I showed the photos to my wife (she's a bit of a motorhead). She thinks its good looking as it stands.

Looking forward to rocket launching.

David

[undy]

Brent, Did you install the silicone bronze lifter bore sleeves?

Mine has them too. I had mentioned I had the sleeves here quite a while ago and was told that they didn't "normally" come from Pond that way and more than likely were installed by KC. I felt (and still do) that the lubricity and subsequently the wear factor of the bronze is much better than raw aluminum.

[blykins]

Yes, it has the bronze bushings. With the lift of the cam and spring pressures we're running, I thought it would be better than the aluminum. Plus if they wear, they're changeable...

For milder solid rollers than what David is using and for hydraulic rollers, I can't really justify the expense, unless the block was porous and they were installed to band-aid that (have had that happen).

[undy]

So you installed them, due to spring rates and "potential" RPMs with the solid roller?

[blykins]

Yes. Gonna be approaching 7500 rpm with this one, plus running over 700 lbs open pressure on the PAC springs. These conditions are hard on the lifters and are hard on the lifter bores. David already had a set of bushed Crower solid roller lifters in .875" or I probably would have ordered everything in .904" (Chrysler lifter diameter) to further help with things.

[undy]

Thanks for the reply Brent.

[blykins]

Cam is degreed...

Cam thrust clearance is checked...

Piston to valve clearance is checked...



Look at where the crank gear ended up....



I degreed this thing about 4 times, using both methods. The cam card says that it's a 112 LSA on a 108 LSA. I initially wanted the ICL on a 106, so in preparation for degreeing, I went ahead and put the crank gear on the 2°A keyway. To my surprise, when I degreed it the first time, it came up with a 112 ICL.

Thinking the lobes may have been asymmetric, I checked it with the valve event method and came up with the same results.

So, I checked TDC again, and then degreed one more time. Same thing.

Since I was on a 2°A key way anyway and was still at a 112° ICL, I went straight to the 8°A key way and gave her a shot. Came in at 105.25° with the ICL method, checked exhaust at 118° and that verified the LSA at 111.6°.

Checked it all again with valve event method, threw the numbers in some cam software, and came up with 112 LSA and a 106 ICL. Bingo.

Checked .050" duration on the intake side, then checked lobe lift. Should be a .440/.440 lobe lift, but got .438/.436.

And that, my friends, is why you always measure and double check everything yourself. You could also see why one engine could perform better than another. When I was in high school, a couple buddies had some Z28 Camaros. The cars were essentially identical, but one would walk the dog on the other. This is why....there are tolerances and variations on every part, and this is what separates a custom engine from a factory engine or a crate engine. You figure out where you want the specs, then you measure, and make them go where you want.

After that fiasco, I went ahead and checked piston/wall clearance and was glad I did...coming up with .005" and the Diamond card says we need .0065" with the coated skirts. So.....dropping the block back off tomorrow to let him double check me, then hone a little out of it.

Planning to drop the rotating assembly off the beginning of next week to have the rod journals massaged and everything balanced.

[blykins]

Block is back at machinist to have a little more whittled away at the cylinders. Rotating assembly will be dropped off on Monday to be balanced and to have the rod journals cut down by about half a thou.

Heads are assembled...Ferrea 5/16" stem valves, PAC springs, Comp titanium retainers, Viton valve seals. Each spring install height is checked and adjusted. Valve spring pressures came in at 285 seat and 720 open.

[blykins]

Some cylinder head pictures....





And a gratuitous Tunnel Wedge shot with some nicely massaged plenums...

[ERA Chas]

A. Are the retainers and locks Ti?
B. The TW looks almost too pretty to be a Dove-is it? Not near E'brock standard though.
i spent days getting the slag off of mine.

[blykins]

Retainers are, locks aren't.

It's a Ford piece.

[undy]

Ferrea has some real nice hollow stemmed stainless valves that really lighten up the valvetrain. They are not priced too bad either. Ever use those Brent and your thoughts??

[blykins]

Use them all the time.

They are not cheap for an FE sized valve, you can count on spending about $600-700 on a set.

[ERA Chas]

Sorry if I missed it but what diameter are the valves, I & E? Are bigger than 2.250's needed with the head flow and cam spec?