Living here in the Great Lake State, I run across marine application 427’s on occasion. These engines have always been blocks that are cast as side oilers but do not have the side oiler gallies drilled. They are essentially top oilers. They’re kinda cool cuz they have the proper cross bolts and often C8AE casting numbers. They cannot be drilled to make them side oilers as the galley is shaved off at the factory to provide for the marine exhaust manifold. All the rotating assemblies are vintage 427 FE.
I wind up using just the short block and adjustable rocker assemblies. These blocks can, of course, run a Medium Riser head or any other large valved head you care to assemble. Depending upon condition, these blocks can be bought for $2,000± or about half the price of a vintage gennie side oiler. Not a bad alternative for a kit car or a “thrasher” at the track (or on the back roads for that matter)
Darn got me excited for a minute Ray. I’ve been looking for a side oiler short block for a couple of years. The only one I’ve found that was actually for sale was a POS that was poorly repaired from that guy in Mass on ebay. I have seen marine blocks for sale for significantly less than $2K.
I have “the real thing” that is all machined and ready to go on a stand in my barn. Do you need a particular date code? I’m guessing it needs to be a fairly early code for your proto car. I may have what you need… 248-867-3522
No it’s actually not for the GT-E, that still has the original block. The date code really doesn’t matter. Since the GT-E is going back to stock, at least as near as possible, the idea was to recreate the engine that dad used to run in it on the street. The car was never on a dyno and only went to the track one time where it ran 99.9mph in the 1/8th mile. Unfortunately I don’t remember the ET. That info along with a lot more is lost for good. PM me some details and I may be interested in what you have. I may still try and pull this off even though I only have a portion of the specs that I would need.
These marine blocks seem like a good fit for what you’re describing. They’re expendable and can perform like any 427 when dressed up properly. The block I have is a January dated block. I needs to be placed in a GT-E.
The side oiler part is cool, but you have to remember every other FE is a center or top oiler, and unless you are thinking running LeMans or Daytona, the oiling system is okay. Maybe Royce can post a link to the recommended oiling mods for FE’s.
Admittedly there are other options but the whole idea was to recreate the engine exactly. Otherwise it wouldn’t be worth the trouble. I’ll probably end up using a repop since they’re available in cast iron the same as originals. The only thing that makes me hesitate is I’ve heard they aren’t as durable as they should be.
What have you heard Al ? If you are looking for a OEM sideroiler try the classifieds at http://www.fordfe.com Multiple guys there have good used and NOS 427 blocks. Not cheap mind you. The vendors in the links section all use and carry the Genesis, Pond and Shelby blocks.
To my knowledge everything he did was using OEM stuff. He was working at a Ford dealer at the time. It was a 455 stroker, 30 over, 428 crank, solid lifters, 950 cfm Holley. I still have the heads intact the way he had them set up, but I haven’t really looked at them. They are medium riser that replaced the high risers that were briefly on it. Fortunately I know the machinist he used, he recently did the block so we could start putting the engine back together in a milder closer to stock form. I also know of someone that he had an extensive conversation with about it recently that I’m hoping can help me put this together. I have to admit I don’t have the enthusiasm that I did when he and I were going to build this together, but I think I’d still like to give it a shot. Maybe as a tribute kind of thing.
That sounds like a cool build. Best of luck with it. It’s getting harder to find nice OEM stuff but it’s still out there. Please keep us posted as you get it together. Glenn.