She’s done. In this article, we’ll cover crankshaft balancing, valvetrain and crankshaft assembly.
How do you like the plug wire routing? I’ll cover this in a later article installment. I’m considering having the water pump pulleys polished and chrome plated. By the way, the water pump/alternator belt pulley alignment is perfect. If the belt looks whacky [...]
Our flattie is almost finished. Compared to an original, she’s looking pretty snazzy.
Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian
The Ford flathead was a popular platform for early rodders, and basically started the hot rod and performance engine movement. The engine production ran from 1937 through 1953, with one of the most popular versions being the [...]
All that’s left is to install the velocity stacks, finish the spark plug wiring and to fabricate an adjustable mount for the alternator.
by Mike Mavrigian, Editor
OUR FORD FLATTIE
Here’s an update on the ongoing build of our Ford Flathead 8BA. I’ve been holding off the start of the article series until the engine is 100% complete. [...]
Our Flathead build is progressing. Once the heads have been relieved for piston clearance, I’ll start running the build series from the very start. The build began with a salvaged block that was found in an old corn silo in central Ohio. She’s come a long way since then.
I’m still trying to schedule a dyno [...]
Our build is done. See the end of this article for several tasty photos of the finished engine, followed by a complete list of the participating manufacturers.
FINAL ASSEMBLY OF OUR
NASTY LITTLE DART 427W
OUR ONE TRICK PONY IS DONE.
WE’RE READY FOR THE DYNO RUN.
Engine build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian
INTAKE MANIFOLD
Since our Trick Flow heads feature [...]
by Mike Mavrigian
Build/assembly and all photos by author
Our Lunati roller cam features 0.544″ valve lift at intake and 0.560″ at exhaust, with duration of 232 intake and 242 exhaust. Centerline is 108 intake and 116 exhaust.
CAMSHAFT AND TIMING
Dart thoughtfully provided anti-friction-coated cam bearings with their block. Each bearing is etched with a part number, and [...]
A Kalamazoo, MI racer added a $20,000 racing engine to his list of winnings during Engine Pro’s Engine Giveaway presented by Dart Machinery at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI on September 12, 2009, during the Fifth Annual IHRA Funny Car Nationals. Justin Wanamaker’s name was the last one remaining as names of the [...]
by Mike Mavrigian
FILE FITTING THE RINGS
Because of our over-honed cylinder diameters (4.263″), standard size rings wouldn’t work, so I started with a set of Total Seal rings P/N CR7190 35, supplied with our Diamond pistons. These are intended for a bore diameter of 4.268″ (1/16″ top, 1/16″ 2nd, 3/16″ oil), requiring a custom file-fit.
In terms [...]
WE BALANCE AND BEGIN ASSEMBLY
text, photos and assembly by Mike Mavrigian
Crankshaft balancing was next on the agenda. Since the Diamond pistons are already weight-matched by Diamond, and the Scat connecting rods are weight-matched at both small and big ends, we didn’t need to perform any weight corrections to those components (I double-checked all piston, rod [...]
PROJECT LS2, PART 4
This has proven to be a fairly easy build. The LS series-both Gen III and IV-shows definite promise.
by Mike Mavrigian
all photos by author
Our LS is now ready for induction and ignition.At this point, our LS2 is a complete longblock. Here, we’ll cover a number of subjects leading up to our current build [...]
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