Ford 7.3 LS engine

[line-em-up]

Jeez! Ford hasn't even put it in a truck yet and it already has "ticking" issues. At least that what the narrator says at the beginning of the video.

[svauto-erotic855]

The FE 427 cammers were pretty competetive but Ford failed to support them the way Hemi got mopar support.

The Shotgun 429 was never real competative because it came out after hemi had years of development, support and experience. Then Ford pulled the plug on all racing shortly after thereafter.

GM didnt officially race much in the 60s so the BBC faced similar support issues, though without a hemi style head it wasn't going to be competative any way.

To say these motors just exploded and the hemi didnt and thats the only reason hemi was successful is intentionally obtuse.

I like to say the FE engine were my first love and I have owned a ton of them. Even the best 427 blocks what rip the main bearing webs out of the block nearly on every pass in Top Fuel. There was simply no getting away from it, it was not heavy enough. They were extremely competitive in all other forms of racing. The Hemi not dying is what allowed it to continue to evolve. Its bottom end strength is what made it the engine it is today and no other engine to come out of Detroit has the bottom end strength of the any of the hemis. Even the 92s were built like a bank vault. Hemis were also pretty common in the junk yards back in the day where as the specialty for 427 Fords or big block Chevys were not.

[Baron Von Crowder]

Go fuck yourself.

What part do you think is bullshit?

They tried to run the Ford 427 FE series of engines in Top Fuel back in the sixties. The engine block wouldn't survive a single pass. Same thing with the Boss 429 and the big block Chevy. The earlier 392 HEMI had buckets of bottom end strength also and it was copied by the aftermarket and used in Top Fuel for many years.

For making power no conventional combustion chamber beats the pent roof four valve chamber and a true hemispherical combustion chamber is as bad as you can possibly make a chamber when it comes to brake specific fuel consumption.

430 mel.

[svauto-erotic855]

430 mel.

Never popular, complete bullshit design with a pure shit cylinder head. They did use large journals on the crankshaft so if somebody had wanted to they may have been able to get some power out of it without it breaking. I'm not sure if it had cross bolted mains or a steel crankshaft though. Without those two features it would have been an uphill battle.

[Torinoman]

Jon Kaase did win the last 2 Engine Masters with a MEL.

[svauto-erotic855]

Jon Kaase did win the last 2 Engine Masters with a MEL.

That's really surprising. Have you ever seen one taken apart? I have and I can't imagine trying to get power out of that engine the way the head is set up.

What cylinder head did he use? Did he find an engine with similar bore spacing and use that head?

[Gasser64]

Yeah well what about that sohc 600 hp engine ford had in the... 60's? 70's? Can't remember. How come they never pushed that to the forefront

[Broncojohnny]

Jon Kaase did win the last 2 Engine Masters with a MEL.

And in 2016 second place was a ~400 cube Chrysler hemi. Which is surprising since that would make it seem like SVO has no idea what he is talking about.

[svauto-erotic855]

Yeah well what about that sohc 600 hp engine ford had in the... 60's? 70's? Can't remember. How come they never pushed that to the forefront

That was the Cammer 427 SOHC and I have owned 2.

It was used in top fuel and they had to replace the entire engine after every run. Nitro methanol is simply too rough on the bottom end. I've seen the same engine on gasoline making almost 1800 horsepower without missing a lick and I think the Top Fuel engines back in the day were not making much more than that.

[svauto-erotic855]

And in 2016 second place was a ~400 cube Chrysler hemi. Which is surprising since that would make it seem like SVO has no idea what he is talking about.

A hemispherical combustion chamber is not a good chamber for making power; it is very inefficient . The Boss 429 used a modified Hemi chamber to address those issues. This is only a problem if you're trying to use alcohol, gasoline, natural gas, or propane for fuel. The Hemi engine is a fantastic engine for making massive amounts of power when using nitromethane.

[Torinoman]

That's really surprising. Have you ever seen one taken apart? I have and I can't imagine trying to get power out of that engine the way the head is set up.

What cylinder head did he use? Did he find an engine with similar bore spacing and use that head?

Factory iron with massive amounts of wizardry and rule bending... Like a half inch thick aluminum "head gasket", and "valve seats" that sink the valve face into that 'gasket' thus elongating the runners and improving the short turns.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/photo-gallery-video-jon-kaases-amazing-mel-engine/

[Gasser64]

That was the Cammer 427 SOHC and I have owned 2.

I've seen the same engine on gasoline making almost 1800 horsepower without missing a lick...

Are they more reliable when running on gas? If so it seems like Ford really missed an opportunity with that engine. To dominate the competition in muscle cars. Maybe even put it in those big lincoln boats or something. But they never did. Hell even now those power numbers are respectable.

[svauto-erotic855]

Are they more reliable when running on gas? If so it seems like Ford really missed an opportunity with that engine. To dominate the competition in muscle cars. Maybe even put it in those big lincoln boats or something. But they never did. Hell even now those power numbers are respectable.

The 427 blocks were incredibly difficult to cast; I believe the rejection rate was over 60%. The Cammer engine is the easiest engine to tune I have ever had on a dyno. It is insensitive to ignition timing and requires very little and it doesn't really care what the mixture is. The one making close to 1800 horsepower was one that I tuned. With two shity carburetors the engines made a little over 640 horsepower out of the box from Ford. The one that I worked on had cylinder head work, different cams, a gear setup to turn the cams and no other mods to speak of. It made the number I quoted with less than 20 lb of boost and I'm sure I could have passed Ford's durability test with that engine.

The ones that I owned where the Marine versions and I had to buy an old piece of shit Chris-Craft Cruiser just to get the engines out of. The owner did not realize that the engines were worth several times with the boat was worth.

Edit: The most amazing series of engines that I have ever dealt with are the Ford FEs. Many of their features were ahead of their time even by today's standards and Fords Engineers really burned the Midnight Oil designing some of the more elaborate set ups that the engine was available with.

[Torinoman]

The 427 blocks were incredibly difficult to cast; I believe the rejection rate was over 60%. The Cammer engine is the easiest engine to tune I have ever had on a dyno. It is insensitive to ignition timing and requires very little and it doesn't really care what the mixture is. The one making close to 1800 horsepower was one that I tuned. With two shity carburetors the engines made a little over 640 horsepower out of the box from Ford. The one that I worked on had cylinder head work, different cams, a gear setup to turn the cams and no other mods to speak of. It made the number I quoted with less than 20 lb of boost and I'm sure I could have passed Ford's durability test with that engine.

The ones that I owned where the Marine versions and I had to buy an old piece of shit Chris-Craft Cruiser just to get the engines out of. The owner did not realize that the engines were worth several times with the boat was worth.

Edit: The most amazing series of engines that I have ever dealt with are the Ford FEs. Many of their features were ahead of their time even by today's standards and Fords Engineers really burned the Midnight Oil designing some of the more elaborate set ups that the engine was available with.

Features like the valvecovers bolting to the intake? Or the pushrods going through the intake? Or the terrible oiling system? Or the goofy valve layout?

[svauto-erotic855]

Dr

Features like the valvecovers bolting to the intake? Or the pushrods going through the intake? Or the terrible oiling system? Or the goofy valve layout?

I was talking about a very generous deck height, longer connecting rods, good camshaft Centerline to crankshaft Centerline distance, very strong for its weight engine block, and really Advanced cylinder heads for their era. The medium Riser 427 has the best brake specific fuel consumption per horsepower that I've ever seen out of a wedge head engine. Part of that comes from a really good rod length to stroke ratio and a good combustion chamber.

Edit: The oiling system was only bad on the hydraulic lifter engines that were never intended for high RPM. Solid lifter engines or the side Oiler engines did not have a problem with oiling. Getting the oiling system up to snuff was also pretty easy.

Edit II: I must admit the sealing an FE intake manifold is an exercise in frustration and kind of an art. It wasn't so bad when I first started working on these engines and the parts were new but years down the road when cylinder heads have been milled along with decks it's becoming a real bitch to do right.