[Michael Yount]

Ah -- I didn't realize the so much of it lined up. It's a similar situation with the LS's and the old SBC's.

 

[CDW6212R]

I even have a 4.6 4R70W from my other 95 Crown Vic. All of those modular V8's had the same bolt pattern, so the 6R made for the 5.0 should be able to fit any SBF or 4.6/5.4/5/0 V8's. I wonder why this didn't come up 20 years ago. I guess nobody had to deal with swapping a 4.6 4R trans, they just went after a SBF version with the two bolt starter. Oh well, Ford does dumb things, forever it seems.

 

[Michael Yount]

Pulled it back out this morning - getting good at it. Let the grinding for starter clearance begin!

 

[Michael Yount]

Lawrence Fishburn in John Wick - “Sometimes, you have to cut a MF…”

 

[CDW6212R]

That's good looking steel, it doesn't look like old porous cast iron.

 

[Michael Yount]

Cast iron, not steel.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well the bare metal looks very smooth, that's great. I'm used to seeing very rough material in cuts through cast iron.

 

[Michael Yount]

Cast iron block, forged steel rods and crank. While that part of the casting looks great (as I'm butchering it), Toyota wasn't immune from casting imperfections. The nature of casting causes certain unavoidable flaws. People get upset sometimes -- the later 3T blocks (early 80's) had more core shift than the original 2T units from the 70's. Because of that some later blocks would allow a bit of coolant to leak through porosity if you over-bored too much. So, for example, most early blocks will take up to a 4mm overbore - from 85mm to 89mm. Some later blocks, you have to stop at 88mm -- 89mm can cause minor leaking of coolant into the cylinder. As if any leaking of coolant into the cylinder was minor.

Perspective is important -- if you do the math, you'll see that a 4mm overbore (my engine has this) is .157"!!! Not .030". Not .040". Not .060". POINT ONE FIVE SEVEN over.

The blocks were stout.

 

[93Cobra#2771]

Ha, I was doing mm to inch conversion in my head and thought "that's over .125". Very interesting indeed. Wonder how that compares to other 4 cylinder motors as far as overboring? I know that most 4 cylinder blocks are inherently stronger compared to v8's.

I know some circle track guys bore and stroke the heck out of the 2.3L four cylinders and then spin them major rpm. My cousin did this for years in unlimited four cylinder class.

 

[CDW6212R]

Yeah, that 4mm is a large over bore. Most V8's can handle close to .060, but some are much less, or more. The Cleveland is sometimes questionable at .030" over, from over heating. But the 460, or 429, can handle .080" without checking the block, and .160" if sonic testing finds great cylinder centering.

 

[Michael Yount]

Depending on the class - the Toyota pushrod hemis and the Ford 2.0/2.3L SOHC engines race against each other in the mini stock (mostly dirt) series. The DOHC engine I got came from a cheater in that series. You may recall - he ground "DOHC" off the cam cover in an attempt to make the motor sort of passable as just another Toyota hemi. And he was at 1941cc --- supposed to be at 1588cc. Highly illegal. Wiped the field during two races that weekend and they told him not to bring it back. So this motor was broken in by racing it.

 

[93Cobra#2771]

He should have learned the fine art of "sandbagging". That and a fake sohc valve cover dummied into position. LOL

 

[Michael Yount]

There was no SOHC engine.....it was either the pushrod hemi or the DOHC. Which made the subterfuge more difficult.

 

[Michael Yount]

This valve cover -

 

[Michael Yount]

Vs this cam cover

 

[Michael Yount]

At least they both had a row of spark plugs down the middle.....

 

[93Cobra#2771]

ohhhhhhhh lol.

 

[Leadsled Coupe]

157 over….. YIKES that’s BIG.

 

[CDW6212R]

That valve cover would have been tough to section and make fit onto the DOHC head. But I would have tried that instead of grinding off the letters. I'd bet the officials who banned the engine and driver did recognize the altered cam cover, highly suspected it had DOHC's. They were being nice to just tell him to not come back.

 

[Michael Yount]

Driver not banned - hell, if being illegal resulted in a driver ban in NASCAR classes, drivers would be new every week.

They way tech works in these series is this (this was 10 years ago) -- they just do a cursory safety check - visual of the car (they don't open the hood), and of the driver's safety gear - suit, helmet, roll cage, etc. It's only if you podium that they take a deeper look, or if someone protests you. So they never looked under the hood until he won the race. Technically - he was legal with the engine, except for the displacement. The rules never anticipated that engine because it was JDM. Rules specified stock displacement (1588cc), 2 valves per cylinder and the make of the engine be the same as the car. Other than displacement, he was legal. They even modified the "2T" block (serial number) for stroking so it wouldn't be obvious he had the bigger crank from the 3T in it. Once they opened the hood and saw the motor -- their response was basically -- ".....well, you're legal this week, but you won't be next week; don't bring it back.".....with "it" being the engine.