Keith Craft 331 Quicker than original Cobra!

[David Kirkham]

Keith,

I just wanted to say thank you very much for the 331 you just built me! (stroked 302).

I just drove it and I actually feel like your 331 is FASTER than an orignal 427 Cobra. I could not believe it. What secret parts are you hiding inside that engine!?!?!

Cheap power, nice sound, great running, no problems. I can not tell you how many of our customers have had problem over the years with their engine builders. My experience with you has been a relief. The engine fired up on the first revoloution of the crank. I have never had an engine fire so easily and run so smoothly.

Unfortunately, I was not able to use the engine as planned in my own car as a customer blew his 302 up a few weeks ago. He sent the car to us for repair. He will NOT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE IN HIS CAR! Heck, I could not believe the difference.

Thanks! Oh yes, Keith Craft delivered the engine in 3 weeks--1 week earlier than promised!

David

ps. please make me another 331. I have an employee who just changed his mind and no longer wants a 427. I can't say that I blame him!

[Michael4yah]

Keith, I was talking to Tony about motors and he told me that you had a problem getting headers to work with some Blue Thunder heads, I was wondering what the problem was. I have some Dove ALuminum Heads that I was going to use on my next motor, There suposed to be pretty close to the Ford Hi Riser heads.
Im thinking of using TWM induction and Tony said you just finished a motor using that system and made over 700 hp, Can you give me an idea what heads/cam you used with it? Also what computor did you guys use? I want to get it all laid out in my head beforfe I build the next motor. Thanks Michael

[Lew Ledyard]

My 427 isn't even finished and I already want a SB slab side next to it. Sounds like a fun car.

[saltytri]

Lew:

Actually, the car that David mentioned (mine!) is a 427 body and coil spring chassis built to more or less emulate the AC 289 Sports that AC made in small quantity in 1966-67 after Shelby stopped buying AC rollers. It's what Shelby would have called a street car, i.e., no rollbar, no hood scoop, underbody exhaust, no lips on the rear fenders, but with a small block. With a light motor and the Kirkham weight reduction program applied wherever possible, it came out at about 2050 lbs. As David has implied, a small block with modern technology can mean something very different from a small block in 1967. If I recall the dyno sheet correctly, torque peaks at about 420 ft/lbs and HP at 456. More than adequate to have some fun, eh?

Of course, all the credit goes to David and the Kirkham crew for caring enough to get it right.

David

[Lew Ledyard]

That sounds great. How is the ground clearance with the under-body exhaust? One of the reasons that I chose a 427 over the FIA was that it looked like the FIA pipes were a lot closer to the ground than the 427 pipes (under body rather than through the body). What size tires?

I think that this is all leading in a direction that my wife will not like.

[saltytri]

I can't measure the clearance just now because the car is vacationing in sunny Provo. I haven't had any problems, though. I've never thought that it ought to be a waxer (OK, it's brushed ally but use your imagination) and I drive it around for fun, including taking the back roads to work. A few times, I've had a sinking feeling when going over curb cuts and similar irregularities but I've never hit. I might go aroung a really big speed bump in a parking lot if I were to see one coming. Remember that this car has as much ground clearance as over 300 of the original, vintage 427s and I haven't read anything about any general tendency of those cars to scrape their exhaust systems on obstacles.

The pipes and mufflers are tucked up against the chassis and well inboard. The pipes turn out in front of the rear tires, kind of like an FIA except that the pipes aren't easily seen from the side.

The wheels are the usual 9.5 rear and 7.5 front with Yokohama Avid tires, which are supposed to be well-suited to street use.

If it makes you feel any better, my wife isn't all that enthusiastic either but marital harmony hasn't been adversely affected. Of course, I haven't mentioned to her the extravagent safety offered by .060" of side impact protection .

David

[Keithc8]

Michael the problem with the Blue Thunder head on the exhaust is that it is raised about .500 above stock. I had thought about using them on my Kirkham but after talking to Rob at the other store he said the headers from Kirkham were real close as it was. He told me with the header being raised he did not think that they would ever fit. If a guy is doing his own custom header I do not see a problem. We have a nice CNC program on these heads that flow great up to .600 lift which would work great for most street strip applications.
The TWm engine that we did was 510C.I. and was a customers engine that he had some problems with from somewhere else. He had Edelbrock heads that someone called them selves porting. We did Stage 3 porting on the heads and fixed the valve job along with a few other things the engine needed. The camshaft was a solid rollerthat he had and seemed to work pretty good since it was a large engine. The engine was still about 10.5 to1 compression and it ended up working real well, better than my expectations. I believe the camshaft will need to be designed aroung the cubic inches, head flow, compression and use of the engine. Thanks and good luck, Keith Craft

[Michael4yah]

Keith I checked my Dove hi riser heads they arent the ones that have the raised exhaust ports, They do have 16 bolts per side though! The Glidden ported heads flow @ 425. Glad to see some people putting some thought into these engines.
Now if I can fit my hi riser tunnelwedge motor into my High Tech I will be a happy man. I'll be giving you a call, Michael