408 Cleveland

  It is finished now, ready to bolt on all the goodies and put in the car.  Here is a picture of the engine without all the peripherals.  I need to spend some time on this just to bolt on a few things but it is quite a ways off until I need it in the car.  There is a lot of sheet metal work to do for paint before the engine goes in.  I'll have more pics of the engine coming soon. 

All machine work done by Jerry Wilson at Chet Wilson Engine Service

Heads

 ·         4V factory iron Closed Chamber heads
·         Decked
·         Harland Sharp Roller Rockers
·         Heads are Port matched with intake manifold and gaskets
·         Cleaned out, smoothed up exhaust ports, did not polish
·         ARP head bolts
·         Hardened valve seats
·         3 angle valve job
·         Bronze valve guides
·         New valve springs, retainers, locks and steel spring seats

Block

·         Bored .030 over, and decked
·         ARP Main Cap bolts
·         High volume oil pump with chrome moly shaft
·         Rear sump pan to clear new front end


Crank
·         9000 series stroker cast crank for 408 ci displacement
·         Dynamically balance with flywheel, clutch and damper, 28 oz. balance 
 

Pistons

·         Forged pistons  -16 cc dished    9.5 Compression Ratio
·         New rings (Total Seal Gapless) 

Rods
 ·         Forged I Beam 6” for 408 ci displacement
·         ARP rod bolts
 

Cam

·         Hydraulic flat cam, custom grind by Jerry Wilson
·         Double roller timing gear & chain

Intake manifold

·         Edelbrock Performer
·         Port matched with heads and gaskets
·         ARP manifold bolts
·         Holley 780 cfm       
 

Harland Sharp Roller Rockers

Cast Iron 4V Heads

The James Todd Watkins scam

Since so many of you have been asking for more info on this subject, here is your answer. 

This blog is for the description, documentation and logging of events associated with the rebuild of my Mustang, I refuse to have this blog degraded with the use of a name of such scum like Todd Watkins. 

In hopes he will not be able to scam someone else, I will continue to tell everyone I meet the story of how I paid him almost $5,000 for work he never did on my car.  I have a signed contract and signed receipts of payment.   I also have two other websites dedicated to the sole purpose of telling the story of how he scammed me. "The truth"  Not his lunatic lies.   If anyone wants those web addresses and have not seen them already, just let me know and I will send them to you.

408 Stroker Research

September 2013

408 Stroker Engine Research

I am planning on building a street car, a strong running street car. I do not plan on racing this car, just some spirited driving around town.  I know the Cleveland engine is strong in its stock form, but I would like a little more oomph and I would like to use my 4V closed chamber heads as well which I know are not good performers on the street unless you rev to the upper limits or you throw some more cubes at them.  So, with the comparable cost to machine work with all the stock components and the stroker kit, I decided to go with the stroker to help those 4V’s breathe a little better for me.  Sub-frame connectors are already welded in to help handle the added torque and HP. 

I have talked to a few of the parts distributors and read several forums with people talking on this subject of what to put into your 408.  I will not be racing this car so H beam rods are not necessary, or a forged crank.  The 9000 series cast crank will hold up just fine for what I will be doing with this car.  It will have roller rockers, but as of this writing I am still unsure of cam specs.  That is the last thing that I need to figure out.   

I had to buy a replacement block as my original block had already been  into by someone and bored .030 already.  It had two very rusty cylinders, one of which would have needed a sleeve so I just chose to find an unmolested block to start with and plan on keeping the original as it is. My donor block is yet to be unassembled but with the purchase very soon of the stroker kit I will be tearing it apart and taking it to the machine shop to start its new life.  The original 4V closed chamber heads will also be joining the block soon with the machinist. 

Here are a few highlights of my plans, not in any particular order…and these are just ideas, not all of them are set in stone yet

Heads

·         4V factory iron heads

·         Only deck enough to flatten

·         Roller Rockers

·         Port match with intake manifold and gaskets

·         Clean out, smooth up exhaust ports, do not polish

·         ARP head bolts

·         Hardened valve seats

·         3 angle valve job

·         Stainless steel, single groove valves. 

·         Bronze valve guides

·         New valve springs, retainers,  locks and steel spring seats

 

Block

·         Bored .030 over

·         ARP Main Cap bolts

·         High volume oil pump with chromoly shaft

·         Rear sump pan

·        Decked

 

Crank

·         9000 series cast crank   

·         Dynamically balance with flywheel and damper, 28 oz. balance 

 

Pistons

·         Forged pistons  -16 cc dished (stroker kit)

·         New rings (Total Seal Gapless)  (stroker kit) 

Rods

·         Forged I Beam 6” (stroker kit)

·         ARP rod bolts (stroker kit) 

Cam

·         Hydraulic flat cam, custom grind by Jerry Wilson

·         Roller rockers 

·         Push rods.    

·         Double roller timing gear & chain--32 to 34 total advance with about 18 to 20 initial timing?

Intake manifold

·         Edelbrock Performer

·         Port match with heads and gaskets

·         ARP manifold bolts

·         Holley 750 cfm, with electric choke

·         Electric fuel pump

·         1” carb spacer, Airflow Research (tapered 4 hole) or open phenolic

 

Ignition

·         MSD Digital 6A PN# 6201

·         MSD Distributor # 8477 or 83501with steel gear (# 85813)

·         MSD Blaster 2F Coil

 

Exhaust

·         Ceramic long tube headers, 1 3/4” primaries and 3” collectors

·         Cross-over H pipe right behind transmission

·         Magnaflow  mufflers

August 2013 Update

Very sad news, dad passed away in May of this year.  It was unexpected and has been a tremendous setback for all of us.  Needless to say the Mustang project has been put on hold for awhile.  I still have ideas and talk about it and such but the work has ceased for now as I have been very busy helping mom with things around her house.

If it were not for dad passing I would have hired a new painter to throw the color on this summer, as I was not really needed for that work.  I will get back to work soon on this project, maybe this winter.  My plan for now is to take the block and heads of Cleveland down to the machine shop this winter and get all the work done I am planning and then start the assembly of the power plant. 

The T5Z is ready to go with a fresh rebuild, and also the rear has a fresh set of 355 gears in it so these things are ready to go already.

I have been looking and toying with different ideas for the interior, and I still have not made up my mind quite yet.  I am pretty sure I will not be using the stock seats even though I already have new stock Mach1 seat covers.  Definitely something different for the console as well if I even put one back in.  I really do like the clean look of no console.  The door panels are another subject, I think I might go to my local custom interior shop and see what sort of ideas they might have for me there.

To all those who have been checking on this project, thank you and I will continue with updates when the work begins again. 

RIP Dad...you are missed.  We love you!!!

Winter Work Slowdown

January, February, and the first part of March have been frustrating so far as far as getting anything done.   The weather hasn't been too cooperative. 

So, while we wait, me and dad have been doing some sandblasting of small parts and just some general cleanup around the shop.



I have been ordering a few new items, parts and whatever I can think of to start putting this project back together once the paint is on.

Here's a shot of some of the recent weather we have gotten.  I believe we got over 14" of snow before this storm was finished with us.