[jim_howard_pdx]

Now I'm envious.

Just about every day I wish I had put a stroker crank in my block. Not because I am losing, I am winning. But because my favorite street engine of all time has been the 428 cobra jet. Getting 426 cubic inches from a windsor block is just a salivating thought. With RPM or Victor heads from Edelbrock you should be in the 500 hp range with a fairly streetable cam. That is like buying the Shelby GT 500 with the 427!.

You know Shelby told his lot guys to drive the GT 500's to the gate, hand the keys to the customer and say THERE IS NO WARRANTY!
That is what you have to look forward to.

I have run LS-6 and LS-7 engines, but they just do not make the torque of the 428 CJ. My ideal engine would be a 427 side oiler, .05 over with a stroked 428 crank to displace 500 Cubic Inches. The problem is with the heads. These were old technology with poor swirl and poor quench. It is really hard to get these engines above 600 hp. But the torque is magnificent.

I will beg the Mr Gasket guys to do us sbf guys a favor. If they stall me, I will get a set of the factory gaskets and cut them to fit. It will take me a year to tell you the outcome. The damage to the gasket is a very slow and progressive problem.

What people do not know about intakes is that the air speed inside a HP engine approaches the speed of sound. That is over 500 mph! The air flow pulls in on the intake gasket and as it shreds it pulls out the gasket between the intake runner and the front water crossover. When that area gets sucked in, the white smoke is impressive!

It is interesting that the magazines do not really go into the physics behind bolt stretch. They do not necessarily understand that it is the stretch you are after as you torque the bolt. The final torque setting has nothing to do with head sealing, it is the fact that the bolt has stretched to the point where it will provide the highest clamping force to minimize the head walk. I only use ARP head bolts or head studs because of this. They really test their alloys to see that the stretch point is consistent bolt to bolt.

I really have nothing good to say about the Edelbrock heads. You are giving up some really serious power unless you use their Victor series and then your low end torque goes to hell. The Trick Flow type R head runs 1800.00 and make over 600 hp on a 427 Windsor configuration with their 12.5 to 1 pistons and a decent roller cam. The Edelbrock Victor made about 565 hp with the same optimum piston. I would not give up 30 hp to anyone, anytime.

Horsepower is all in the swirl generated by the intake stroke, and the quench created at the compression stroke. The Edelbrock just does not position your intake valve to properly generate swirl. The trick flow heads position the intake almost in the center of the piston for maximum swirl and boy does it show up on the ol dyno and at the race track. Out of the box, my Trick Flow heads made 10 more horsepower than the CNC RPM Edelbrock sbf head. With my mild intake port work to match the Edelbrock RPM intake, some polishing on the combustion, and a gasket port match on the exhaust side, I am making more horsepower with a more streetable cam. This makes for a nice street engine. My engine idles almost like stock and yet when I hammer the throttle the car sounds like NASCAR. 2.5 inch exhaust with Edelbrock RPM mufflers really let the exhaust flow rip. I will run against the modified Hondas and Mitsubishis and when the engine comes on they just look over and stare as I pass them a good 25 mph faster than the are running as they shift from first to second. In second gear I hip 100 mph in 10 seconds which puts me about 30 car lengths ahead of them and now they just hit 70! SUCH FUN! I own a Civic with a VTEC engine and I love the car, but it is a model rocket compared to a Saturn V!

Good luck with your engine. I have some great carb recommendations for you if you plan to be low tech with the intake.

If not, go with the brand new Trick Flow upper and lower manifolds with the 90mm air assembly. This will support over 600 hp. You can read more about this new piece in the just released Summit catalog. You will find that alot of the Lingenfelter Chevy guys are running sequential 1,000 cfm air systems in their 406 engines. This new piece is the only product that bolts to a Ford that can keep you competitive against that technology. Add Nitrous and 600+ hp is assured!