427 SOHC kits for $11,000!!!

[xracerbob]

Al that engine is just stunning. This cammer thing is sooo tempting since my ERA won't be here for a while and they won't start doing the frame for another couple weeks.

[sideoiler10]

Al, man, you should be ashamed of yourself...posting that picture and making all the rest of us sick! That is one awesome setup. Lets see, Cammer, webers, Cobra, wow, life is GOOOOOD!

Beautiful engine. Thanks for sharing, Bob

[Suomien]

Originally Posted by jperickson2001

This is "THE" Ford engine. The 427 side oiler is nice, but can't touch the SOHC. It is the only engine that had a chance at beating a 426 HEMI in competition. I would jump at the chance to get this beast in my car if I had the bucks.-John

In 425 (actual Ford FE displacement) vs 426 displacement, I'd pick the FE to win over the mopepar any day.

It's only when you get into 7 litres +++ that the locomotive quality casting of the 426 allows for over-boring without flexing the cylinder walls like you'd have if you over-bored an FE's thinwall casting.

The Ford Hemi SOHC would have destroyed the 426 hemi. The simple fact is that NASCAR banned the Ford Hemi, but allowed the elephant to continue to compete. Sorta "let the lawnmower engine run, but not the Ducati."

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by Full Throttle Al

The only solution I could come up with was a cammer with webers:

I think I just got a woody!

[cobrarkc]

AL ,We're not worthy!
That is truely the most awesome motor on this site
I know I got a Woody!

[68gt500]

Originally Posted by Full Throttle Al

The only solution I could come up with was a cammer with webers:

WOW! Metal that causes WOOD

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Suomien

The simple fact is that NASCAR banned the Ford Hemi, but allowed the elephant to continue to compete. Sorta "let the lawnmower engine run, but not the Ducati."

Nascar actually banned both engines in 1964. Hemi sat out for 1965. Since Nascar said the engine had to be production installed to be eligible for racing, Mopar came out with the street hemi for '66, for Nascar, but ford didn't come out with the SOHC for factory instalation.

[Excaliber]

NASCAR also banned the High Riser heads, which is why Ford developed the medium riser to take it's place.

[Anthony]

With all other things beling equal, I'd like to see a dyno comparison between a wedge with the latest best heads ( BT's or Dove ) and a SOHC.

[krs1261]

Being new and this topic caught my eye is this a dead deal? or still in the process?.....I'm thinking 63 or 64 Galaxie with a 427 SOHC,just for the wow factor.....

[chuckbrandt]

I think it's still in the works. Paul Solomon appears to be taking the lead in representing Dove to the world at large. I'm sure he'll keep us all posted.

Chuck

[cobrarkc]

Paul,
Has there been any progress on this?

[Keithc8]

I have a set of the SOHC heads from Dove at the shop right now and just pray they do not leak water. Dove could have the FE market rapped up if he had ever gotten a good foundry to do his stuff. He has let Edelbrock and ohters like Shelby and Pond come in and take what he should have already been doing away from him. This may happen but I will be surprised because he was going to do cast iron heads for the NHRA guys and that never happened, got about 10 sets out maybe. there are also two other companies doing this at the moment and have already made stuff and doing the R&D right now. The most likely will be out of Australia and should be ready by the first of the year if not sonner. The SOHC engine is nice to look at but does not make much power power than a well worked out after market FE these days. I guess thay will all get this done at about the same time and sell 25 betwen them. We'll see what happens.

[Barry_R]

Amen to that.
Dove should have owned the FE game - he let it get away.

I personally know of at least three guys doing cammer heads and I agree - they'll all finish the projects at the same time and likely all go bankrupt because the small market will get flooded instantly.

I'm kinda fond of pump gas wedge motors these days - can't imagine why....

[68gt500]

While it maybe so that the SOHC won´t make more power than a properly built FE - it can´t really be beaten in the sheer visual impact category - it is just an awesome sight.

I hope Paul will get this deal going - and I am really looking foward having the first running "new" SOHCs here in Germany.

@Barry - the 482 Pond engine arrived fine - will let you know when it is in the car.

[ogasman]

Hello guys,
Much has been happening with the project, some good, some not so good. It was almost stillborn, Jim Dove was going to pull the plug. A few of the initial buyers started to back away, then some of the others were "interested" but short on funds. Wanted to sell kits on comission?
Bottom line, I am the only game in town now. I have orders for about 20 kits. This means we have lost the deep discount due to the large scale production run. We are looking at $14,500 for the complete kit as it was originally stated, ouch!! The more kits I can sell, the better the price will get. This is the bad.
The good side is that I am calling the shots now. The block is now optional. You can subtract $3000 from the price if you don't want a block. Remember, with a few modifications you can run this kit on any 4 inch bore FE block. The cams will also be an option. A new source for billet cams has come on line. You can get finished cams for $1000 a set. I am adding a primary (short chain) timing set to the kit that will be keyed to the long chain gear. No more slipped timing gears.
The really good news, two different consultants have helped with the casting. I went to Dove's last week, and looked at the raw castings. They look spectacular!! Better than the last set of Edelbrock heads I had! They changed a bunch of little things, all of which added up to major improvements. The castings were not porous, they were contaminated. The bonding agent in the sand was breaking down due to the high heat they were using to get the molds to fill. They were also getting core shift for the same reason. They made a bunch of changes to both the molds, and their casting techniques. They changed the bonding agent they were using, and lowered the pouring temperature. They sectioned up a bunch of blocks, their largest casting, to see their progress. They look great now. I have some pictures of a sectioned cylinder head, if someone will post them for me.
Let me put it into perspective. I talked Jim into casting up some SOHC heads about 5 years ago. They were the first ones he had made since the 1980's. When my set was finished, I went to pick them up in person. They were pretty fugly, with repairs and a rough finish. I passed on buying them. Jim was not too happy with me, Earl was just plain pissed (he runs the phone at Dove). They eventually sold the 10 sets they had made. I let things cool down for about a year, then brought up the idea of making more heads. I pre paid for 2 sets, with the deal that I could look at the entire run and pick the sets I wanted. This batch was better, but still not great. They have made another run since then with more improvement in the castings. I would probably have taken 75% of the last batch. Since the consultants have been there, the new castings blow the old ones away.
I am planning on running a few ads to try to get some more buyers before I place the order. The more kits sold, the better the price. I will post a pricing tier soon. I will probably close the order at the end of January. No waiting to see what happens, If you don't place an order soon you will not get a kit. This is going to be a one time only run. I am trying to get a complete kit up and running on the dyno before then. I will check that everything is perfect before the run of kits starts.
I have been hearing rumors for years about other people doing cammer heads, never seen any yet. There are a lot of tricks in the heads, they are very hard to cast and machine. Dove has all the original molds and tooling to do the job right. If you need a reason to buy a SOHC motor, you better feel for a pulse.

Paul

[ogasman]

Hello guys. Just an update, I put an add on ebay to try to get some more orders. I now need to close the order list by December 1st, and will need a $2500 deposit per kit before the order goes in. If I get orders for 10 more kits, the price will drop to $10,500 per kit. any takers? Ebay listing number 320181468759

Paul

[ogasman]

Hello Guys.

I have extended the time. I will close the order on Dec 15. I revised the Ebay listing as well. We are getting closer to the magic 30 number to lower the price of the kits.

Paul

[cobrarkc]

Hey Paul,
Since the server was down for awhile can you give us an update on how your project went or is going? If everything looks good maybe a run of Tunnelports can be done. How about a TP package with Jim's FI manifold?

[ng8264723]

Paul,
There is another kit (Mr coon's?) shooting for $10,000 for everything minus a block
chris