6sally6 wrote:

Chaplin wrote:

Some more fodder for the discussion... Here is a dyno run of pretty much the same engine I built (exact same cam), except my engine will be carb’d instead of FI.

I’d be tickled if I can duplicate these results, but I am not expecting to.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buHxbVKLt_g

impressive!

 You KNOW you're leaving  a good 50-80HP "on-the-table" with that little girl cam, right?!
Jus say'in
 

I had a feeling that you might feel that way about the cam! 
 

Easier than pulling it out of the car, sounds like. Too bad you had problems.

 

Alan wrote:

Easier than pulling it out of the car, sounds like. Too bad you had problems.

 

Yes, that is the only saving grace. Much easier to fix now than had I dropped it in the car and found the problem.


TKO-
I’m using these Ford Racing lifters.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-6500-R302H
 

Should be fine, but in some cases, when everything else is right, the lifter to bore clearance can cause low oil pressure in an SBF if its too loose.  I'd start with the pump.  I always pull those apart and check clearances, though the Melling pumps I use have always been right on spec. 

Doh!

Glad you stopped while your were ahead!  Hope it is something simple.

I saw a “ready to run” 454 go on a stand one time and it had had low oil pressure.  I kid you not when the pan was pulled the main caps were loose.  Somehow it did not totally self destruct!

Yup, that will be checked again too.

Well, we had Dyno Day 2.0 today. Everything went off without a hitch and the engine surpassed my expectations and came closer to the numbers in the video that I posted above than I thought.  After we broke it in, we ran probably 15 or 16 pulls and tried various combinations of carbs, timing changes, etc.  To save you the long winded version, I’ve attached a pic of the dyno sheet that made the most power.  Although not shown on this chart, it was making 370 ft/lbs at 2700.  That’s a very wide torque curve with a decent amount of hp under 6k. The water pump and the alternator were turning too. All in all, I’m pretty pleased and think this will make for a very fun street engine. Can’t wait to get it in the car, but it will
be a few weeks before I have time to do it.

Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be nothing that was anticipated. A fatal machining maching error occurred during final machining of the block. The machine shop had to clearance the block a bit for their hone, and when they did, they accidentally removed too much material and knicked the main bearing oil feed. So, the first block was toast and we were back today with a new block. They felt really bad that it happened and took care of it on their dime, which was great, but I felt bad that it happened because it’s a small family owned shop.

Agreed. He didn’t tell me what happened until after he had ordered the new block. I went down to check out the first block last week and I asked him if he could repair. He thinks he can salvage it and use it for something- so I’m glad that it’s not a total loss- but he said “you paid for a new block, not a repaired block, so that’s what you’re getting.”  I thanked him for taking care of it (several times) and bought him breakfast and lunch yesterday. It was the least I could do to show my appreciation.

Impressive!

Absolutely. They’re a small shop located just outside of Portland, Maine. They’ve been in the same building for probably 30 years. I’ve bought engines before from very reputable “big names” in the business and had issues that were not dealt with as painlessly as this was handled. 

After the last time I had an issue with an engine I bought from a “big name”, I swore I would only deal with another shop face to face. This shop was recommended to me by the body shop that did the work on my car. I’ve spoken to a bunch of people who have engines built by them (on guy has 4 different engines from them) and not one person had an issue or a complaint. Sounds like what happened was just a freak accident.  As was stated above, sh!t happens, it’s how people handle the screw ups that makes the difference and they took care of it better than I could have asked.

And they delivered an engine that exceeded both of our expectations - we had a little bet on what the dyno results would be.  I was closest without going over!