New bullet for the WarBird


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By RB - 11 Years Ago
I finally got around to rebuilding and upgrading the Y block for my 55 T-Bird altered chassis dragster.

I Originally built the engine in 2010 and it was in the car most of 2011. I broke it the last race of the season. Autopsy showed 2 broked lifters and a wiped out camsaft. I tore it down last spring and sent it to the shop to get checked out. I finally got it back this fall and after upgrading several components it is almost ready to go back on the dyno.

It is 333 cu in 3.83 bore and 3.61 stroke. Cast crank, 2 inch rod journal

Features originally included 6.3 inch Crower rods, Wiseco pistons ,12.1 compression. G heads ported by Joe Craine, an Isky custom cam with 248 duration at .050 and about .500 lift. I ran it with a ported Blue Thunder intake and Hilborn injection. With the 4bbl intake it made 435 horse and 462 hp with the injection. Power peaked at about 6700 rpm. I was within a few 100ths of dipping into the 9's when the valve train broke.

In addition to a broken lifter I had 1 rocker arm seized on the shaft. Pulling the main caps revealed that they had been "walking" in the block register.. When the crank was check it had a couple of stress cracks in it, right at the fillet area.

Given the multiple failures I decided to upgrade in several areas.

I had another cast crank reground, but this time with much more generous fillets in the journals. To prevent further cap walk I had a machine shop turn out some steel main caps that are the same height as the pan rail and fit very snug in the block... I am using an Eaton girdle which sits tight against the top of the steel cap. I am hoping this will give me a very stout bottom end.. I know I should have a billet crank at this point, but the wait is long and the cost is high.. I know of FE guys that put a lot of rpm and horsepower through their 428 cast cranks, so we will see.

I have upgraded to Mummert heads, fully ported by Joe Craine, and flowing like crazy. Also a Mummert intake, also ported by Joe. With the smaller chambers in the heads my compression is up to 13.5

The cause of my valve train failure was not obvious. Some possible causes could be spring harmonics, insufficient guide clearance, material failure in the lifter, or camshaft lobe failure.

To address as many of these problems as I could I did the following..

New tool steel lifters made by Trend Performance. These things are like jewelry with a highly polished and hardened face. full Harland Sharp rocker setup. Comp Cam beehive springs to accomodate .650 lift. New cam by Jones Cam Designs in Denver NC with 268/274 duration at .050 and .635 valve lift. Lobes are nitrided to assure proper hardness.The cam should make max power at 7500 rpm.

Ted says Mummert heads are worth about 70 horse, so I am hoping for 540ish with the carb. The big cam, extended rpm, and higher compression might get me a little more than that. The Hilborn injectors are consistently worth about 30 hp so I am setting a stretch goal of 575 horse for this combo.

Hopefully I will have this engine on the dyno before spring. I will run it with the intake and carb first. Eventually I would also like to switch to Alky with the injectors, and that requires a different setup.

I have attached a couple pictures one showing how the steel main caps and the girdle fit together

By slumlord444 - 11 Years Ago
8's?
By mctim64 - 11 Years Ago
Looks pretty stout Royce!  can't wait to see the numbers.
By PF Arcand - 11 Years Ago
RB: Don't know.. but I would suspect that the lifter breakage you experienced was likely related to the seized rocker on the shaft. Either insufficient clearance & or not quite enough oiling of the valve train, at high RPM. Your cam was an Isky. John Mummert has found that the cam blanks have insufficient depth in the centre journal oiling groove. Was that problem covered in your engine?..
By Glen Henderson - 11 Years Ago
Looks sweet RB! That bottom end looks bullet proof.
By Ted - 11 Years Ago

Royce.  Thanks for the pics.  Those are some really serious main caps.  Looks like another ‘Terrorizing Y’ is about to break free.  This aint no plain bullet for sure.

By Y block Billy - 11 Years Ago
Looks like hes using Armor Peircing bullets to Me! Great Job!
By bird55 - 11 Years Ago
That thing looks great Royce. Can't wait to hear more about it. Especially with the injection you set up. BigGrin
By speedpro56 - 11 Years Ago
That's one wicked looking YBlock Royce, Beautiful!!!!! Now go Kick some scrub bootyBigGrin.
By RB - 11 Years Ago
Paul, I don't know why one of the rocker arms seized... I am confident it was not a lack of oil.. I did all the modifications to make sure a good supply of oil was getting to the rockers.. The seized rocker was very strange. It was not galled or scarred, and none of the other rocker arms showed any signs of wear. There was a tiny area on the rocker arm that had gotten very hot and fused to the rocker shaft about like you put a tack weld in just one small spot.. I am speculating that a piece of metal debris worked its way under the rocker and caused it to fuse in just one small area. Another strange fact is that none of the pushrods were bent.. Normally they act like a fusible link if something tightens up in the valvetrain. In addition the lifter that showed the most carnage was not the one under the seized rocker arm.. Some very strange circumstances indeed.
By RB - 11 Years Ago
I just realized most folks have never seen the WarBird

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By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
Royce

Ever thought about making an extended front end like the old funny cars, Gene Snow had a dodge dart like that, before the tilt bodies. New engine looks great.

 

By pegleg - 11 Years Ago
Harmonics??
By Y block Billy - 11 Years Ago
That 368 on the roof will have to change, wont it?
By MoonShadow - 11 Years Ago
There used to be some dragsters that used a model A body and the long taperd nose of a dragster. This is the closest picture I could find but its the same idea. I think a nose tapered from the T-Bird body to a dragster nose would look great! Chuck

By RB - 11 Years Ago
I have considered adding the Tbird front end to the WarBird, and have checked on glass versions that could be extended.. However, In order to look at all in proportion, I would have to shorten the frame quite a bit. My wheel base is about 150 now and anything longer than 125 would make it look goofy. If you look the the current configuration, the front wheels would need to be back about where the fuel tank sits. So it would be major frame surgery, along with the body fabrication required.. Also shortening the car makes it more difficult to keep pointed straight. As it is, the car drives like a dream, very stable.



I may end up making it look more like a funny car at some point but for this year just getting the engine in and sorted out will be enough
By Grizzly - 11 Years Ago
Ford built two battle birds for NASCAR in the day. One is still in original 50's racing trim an owned by a collector. The other went drag racing. Is this the drag one?
By brokengate - 11 Years Ago
Thanks for the pics and consider me a Warbird fan, the marriage of the extended chasis and the body is perfect, automotive art with attitude.     
By RB - 11 Years Ago
I fired up the engine on Sunday in the garage ran it about 30 min to break in the cam and get it up to temp.. No drama.



Man that thing has a raspy idle 1200 rpm is about a low as it will go without stalling.. Hope to be on the pump in the next 30 days.



Next up a max effort Lincoln Y block
By glrbird - 11 Years Ago
Did you take any video?
By Barry L - 11 Years Ago
Royce     What main studs did you use? I'm trying to get studs for a Ted style girdle set-up, but other than gr8 threaded rod, I'm coming up empty handed. I've e-mailed ARP a few times and get useless replies....   Me on the phone with Milodan tech.."Can you help with some main stud thread lengths"?   "Yeah,1.2 or so each end".   Click...dial tone.    Barry L
By RB - 11 Years Ago
Barry, I ordered mine direct from ARP. You need to measure the length of stud you need and they will match it up for you call them direct forget about email. I don't remember the exact length I ordered. Put a main cap in the block then measure the length of a stock main bolt. Now measure from the main cap up to the pan rail. add 3/8 of an inch for thickness of the girdle. That gives you the length you would need for a bolt. Now add 3/4 inch for threads on the stud and you should have it.
By Barry L - 11 Years Ago
 Thanks Royce,   Forgot to say super nice work on that engine. Have you booked  dyno time yet?   with JC in Minneapolis?  can I invite myself again?    Barry
By RB - 11 Years Ago
Barry I am looking at a week from tomorrow for dyno testing in Minneapolis