I dont know too much about engines; Could you theoretically make any old American V8 into a powerhouse?
I like the idea of taking an old engine, especially one from the post-arab oil crisis and rebuilding it with power in mind. Or are the engine blocks themselves hampered to begin with?
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Nope. But that's a really loaded question.
Some decent heads and a cam will wake up most smog era engines.
its the heads that are shit. and the emissions controls and the shitty early gen fuel management.
making power is easy. all it takes is money.
All the power lies in the heads. You can make a high revving motor or just a big lump, but if you have good heads you can make it work. Just forget iron heads entirely. It's the current year and they aren't good enough unless it's an oddball engine with no aftermarket, in which case you better make friends with your local race gas supplier.
The engine blocks aren't the problems, it is the heads, manifolds, pistons and cam that are the problem for making power. Also a 454 block isn't much more money esé.
Iron heads aren't terrible, they're just heavy AF. You can port the fuck out of them for good flow, but aluminum heads are a lot lighter. If you're doing s budget build it isn't a terrible idea, in going to go with gt40 heads when I build a Windsor
What goes into cleaning & restoring the block? You need to sandblast, right?
>Could you theoretically make any old American V8 into a powerhouse?
Yes. Spend some money on good heads and even with stock bottom end you'll make loads more power than stock.
acid dipping
Seems like it depends what type of cleaning you do based on what the engine block is made of. What type of block is best cleaned by acid dipping?
yeah just pour it down the intake when the engines running
I am pretty sure iron block but I don't know the details.
most older blocks could use being bored out a tiny bit to clean and help the cylinder wall.s
No, and don't take your shit to any shop that blasts blocks, it fucks up bearing surfaces. The cleaning is just the blocks being left to soak in a heated solvent. Rust in cylinders, lifter bores, mains and so forth is cleaned up via machining and then using the appropriate oversized bearing, lifter sleeve, new diameter lifter or such. The exterior of the block doesn't really matter if it's flashing rust, wire brush and paint it.
Restoring an engine block involves a process called hot tanking wherein the engine block is heated to a high temperature whilst immersed in a solvent.
If you do get into an engine OP store the crankshaft vertically (standing up). Laying one down for an extended period of time will warp it.
I'm not talking about a week, I'm talking about years- but its always best to take precautions so you don't get sidetracked and roach a good crank.
And assemble anything that gets machined immediately.
And yes, they can make power.
An old 351 Cleveland with iron 4v heads (that v is for venturi, as in carburetor barrels, not valves) can crank out 500hp with a little work.
All depends on the engine.
I did some work for a guy that had too much money- besides having the frankenstude in his garage, he also had a (1 of 2 known) aluminum block 427 SOHC that had dyno'd out over 800hp.
>If you do get into an engine OP store the crankshaft vertically (standing up). Laying one down for an extended period of time will warp it.
I'll bet you believe you shouldn't store batteries on a concrete floor too.
>yeah just pour it down the intake when the engines running
That's how you port it, now how you clean it.
wouldn't it clean it at the same time?
This is actually a thing. I mean, you don't have the believe it or anything.
It's an old wive's tail, opie
GT40s are a gift to us Windsor guys. Nice and cheap.
I dont want my batteries getting all dusty and risk them getting kicked or run over. I put them on a table like a civilized person.
>I dont want my batteries getting all dusty
Cover them
>and risk them getting kicked or run over
Don't put them in the middle of the floor like a stupid nigger
>I put them on a table like a civilized person.
Tables are for food you degen
Iron is only heavy, the material itself has no effect on airflow. You're a retard.
It's only a thing if you're retarded.
This
what did he mean by this
not him, but he is saying iron heads can flow very well
look at all the "junkyard" ls engines
Kys smart ass.
Better heads are about improving flow. Material is irrelevant. Junkyard Windsor 302 builds use iron gt40 heads to make considerable power gains.
But seriously, the original user you're replying to said
>you better make friends with your local race gas supplier.
What does he mean by that, does iron weight requires high octane?
>aluminum block 427 SOHC
Holy fuck that thing must have been huge
My point is that the flow is not affected by the material the head is made of. It's the design that dictates that. The heads could be made of uranium and out wouldn't make a difference.
It is enormous since Ford engineering is careless and they can't into packaging at fucking all
No, he meant that if there's no good heads available you should install high compression pistons and run high octane.
nvm just found a picture. Yeah it is fuckhueg
I misinterpreted your post. I don't know what race gas has to do with anything.
you can still buy new ones. not that exciting.
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>take a big engine
>put cams in the heads
>wahhhhh it's bigger
there's no way around it nig
It's because iron is a poorer conductor of heat than aluminum alloy. That's what he meant with the race gas comment. If you can't tell by now and don't understand kys
Imagine if all manufacturers of OHC were as inept as Ford wrt packaging?
Worse yet, imagine if Ford made it a DOHC it probably couldnt fit into a car.
...
Look at that, Dodges double heads about as big as Fords single. And check out the trick cam drive, same style used on the S2000
The thought crossed my mind that user might be referring to a hothead (kek)
A properly designed water jacket in the head should negate that.
If you didn't know that you should kys.
>trick cam drive
????
I'm gonna guess English isn't your native language.
Yup. cam on bucket saves room but limits valve lift. the ford has roller rocker arms
AKA gears :^)
This. Iron heads retain heat, intake charge touches the head, boom. Aluminum heads make more power because they reduce the chance of knock.
It's not even a matter of the water jacket, its the actual transfer of heat through the metal. The longer it takes to move out from the CC the less tolerance to high load situations before a hotspot causes detonation. For power, that's really the difference between allow and iron heads.
Engine rebuilding is really fun, i can't speak for V8s' because all i've worked on is a 4AGE head (Work in progress)
It's really really easy if you have enough documentation, maybe don't work on something too old, or at least work on something with lots of forum content.
yes, those professional engineer just specify aluminium because they don't want to design the water jacket "properly" (as if you know what that means in practice)
Good guess
Thanks
I understand that. I feel that it's easier with aluminium but the aforementioned challenges with iron could be overcome, albeit with considerably more effort and expense.
Overall aluminum is superior to iron for a high performance head.
See
No, its not.
Iron is a soft ductile material.
It was beautiful
100% polished.
That's not OEM.
I can buy "BOSS" heads too, but they're not original
>knock
Detonation, just means you can get away with 2-3 points less octane. The real power in these cheapy cheap aftermarket aluminum heads comes from their usually larger and better designed runners, larger valves, smaller combustion chamber and the heart shaped combustion chamber.
16V or 20V or some frankenstein 4AGE?
Here's my Corolla I've had my hands full on
Those old 402 blocks are pretty easy to hot rod. Not much done with them these days since they're are plenty of 454 and larger OEM and aftermarket blocks to choose from.
The 402 was essentially a 0.030" over 396, but the 402 will safely go to 0.060" over to 4.185. The 402 will also take a 4" stroke 454 crank no problem but you'll most likely have to convert to external style balance flywheel and harmonic balancer. That combo produces a stout 440. You will miss out on the much nicer, extra 0.125" bore from a 0.060" over 454 block though. However, even that 440 should soundly make over 500 hp and 500 lb-ft for pretty cheap even on peanut port heads. Put a set of good heads on it and 600 or close to it will come pretty easy.