Our engine short block showed up yesterday directly from Ford Racing. This is a 351W based aluminum block bored and stroked to 427cid. This thing is beautiful; it’s a shame so much of it will be covered up once the engine is assembled.

My buddy John was in town for business and is staying with us for the weekend. He helped me assemble the engine stand and hang the engine from it. We turned it over a couple of times to check clearances and ensure everything was moving smoothly then wrapped it back up tight until we’re ready to work on it.

We received the bulk of our order from Don Wood Ford. We’re still waiting on the block which is being shipped directly from Ford Performance.

We’re running a 3.55 gear ratio, 8.8” Ford rear end with a standard differential. You can purchase this with either an aluminum or a cast iron housing, but the aluminum has been known to crack with high horsepower, so we went with the cast iron.

Since we’re going with an independent rear suspension, we ordered the knuckle and hub assemblies that mate with it.

We also picked up a cast iron timing set, polished stainless damper and timing cover.

Since we’re building a 427, we purchased valve covers to match…

…as well as a matching air cleaner.

We bought a 157 tooth, zero imbalance flywheel as well.

Finally, we bought Ford Racing’s brand new Z2 cylinder heads. These use entirely stock geometry, so we don’t have to mess around with custom exhaust headers or having to port the intake manifold to match the heads.

We received a big Summit Racing order of engine parts over the weekend and finally had a chance to inventory it. We’re still waiting on the Ford Performance parts (short block assembly, heads, timing set and cover, etc.) which we ordered from another company, but we ordered everything else from Summit Racing. The big boxes are the intake manifold and oil pan. Smaller boxes include the rockers, oil pump, distributor, water pump and spark plug wires. There are a ton of small parts and tools in the bins.

We’re not planning to start the engine build until early July, but we’re trying to get everything on-hand before then so that we’re not waiting on parts during the build. We’re planning on doing a “virtual engine build” in early June to ensure we’re not missing any parts or tools.

After visiting an engine builder last month and learning a bunch about how these engines are assembled, I began thinking that it would be more fun and a lot more educational to build the engine ourselves. My dad built a few engines back in his hot rodding days and offered to help with the research and assembly.

After several weeks of research by my dad and I, we’ve settled on an aluminum Ford 351W based 427. This engine should give us around 500 lb-ft of torque and about 550hp. Here is what I think will be the final parts list.

Block

• Ford Performance 427 Aluminum Short Block Assembly (M-6009-427A)
  • This is a 351W based aluminum casting with siamese cylinders, bored to 4.125″ and stroked to 4″. It comes with SCAT forged crank, SCAT forged H-beam connecting rods and Mahle forged pistons.

Intake

• Ford Performance Z2 Cylinder Heads (M-6049-Z2)

• Edelbrock Victor Jr. Intake Manifold (2981)

Valvetrain

• Ford Performance Timing Chain Set (M-6268-A302)

• Ford Performance Timing Chain Cover (M-6059-D351)

• Crane Hydraulic Roller Camshaft (TBD)
• Crane Hydraulic Roller Lifters (36532-16)
• Crane Pushrods (TBD)
• COMP Cams  Ultra Pro Magnum Rocker Arms (1632-16)

Oil System

• Milodon Road Race Pan with Windage Tray (31630, 32215, 81167)

• Melling Oil Pump (M83)

• Milodon Oil Pump Pickup (18505)

• ARP Oil Pump Driveshaft (154-7901)
• Milodon Oil Dipstick (22030)

Accessories

• Ford Performance Water Pump (M-8501-F351)

• March Performance Alternator (P560)

• March Performance Pulley Set (30305)

• Ford Performance Crankshaft Damper (M-6316-D302)

• Milodon Timing Pointer (65782)

• Powermaster Mastertorque Starter (9604)

Fuel System

• FiTech Go EFI 4 600HP Self-Tuning Fuel Injection System (30001)

• Summit Racing Fuel Pump Block-Off Plate (420004)

Ignition System

• MSD Pro-Billet Distributor (85805)

• MSD Blaster TFI Coil (8227)
• MSD 8.5mm Super Conductor Spark Plug Wire Set (31189)

Bolts & Gaskets

• All ARP 12pt Stainless Bolts (554-9503, 154-1001, 150-6902, 450-3101, 150-2501, 454-1903)
• Ford Performance Cylinder Head Gaskets (M-6051-R351)
• Ford Performance Intake Manifold Baskets (M-9439-A50)
• Ford Performance Oil Pan Gasket (M-6710-A351)
• Fel-Pro Exhaust Header Gaskets (1487)
• Fel-Pro Water Pump Gasket (35211)
• Fel-Pro Water Neck Gasket (35440)

While researching engines for the Cobra, we ran across a couple of articles about engines built by IMM Engines down in Indio, CA.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/build-a-505hp-ford-351-windsor/

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/build-a-595-hp-351-windsor/

After a few discussions with them over the phone, we decided to take a quick trip down there and see their shop. My dad and I flew my RV-7 down this morning and Brian Hafliger picked us up and the airport and took us back to his shop. He spent plenty of time with us discussing the various options for our engine and showing us all of the tooling in the shop. Afterward, he dropped us off at a local Mexican restaurant and then picked us up again later to give us a ride back to the airport. I don’t know if we will have them build our engine, but we certainly learned a lot and I’m now more confident than ever about the engine choices we’re making.