Need to know if a forged crank is available...any info on stroker kits and tips on how to build a nostalgic dirt car. thx
Check out The Frenchtown Flyer. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/members/the-frenchtown-flyer.34137/ Resident Ford 300 expert Joined: Jun 6, 2007 Posts: 1,271 Start a ConversationProfile Page THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER Member from FRENCHTOWN http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=223598
Look under the hoods of larger (not half-tons) for 300's with 3 groove front pulleys. Chances are good there's a forged crank in there. Cams: Comp Cams have the greatest selection and good tech help. Intakes: limited to stock, Clifford or Offenhauser Exhaust: cast iron - any of the fuel injected 300's are dual exhaust headers - check with any of the older/popular manufacturers. On 1/4 to 3/8 mile medium to high bank dirt track, pre-load left rear suspension at least an inch to inch and a half with more spring rate on right front than on left. A lot depends on the type of car and chassis you've got to work with. You want the car to set up and run the corner without you fighting it. Others with more years of chassis setups will want to chime in.
There are forged cranks available, scarce but are out there. Originally came in bread trucks, utility trucks etc. Unless you are building something quite radical, the standard cast crank is adequate to 400 hp & 6,000 plus rpm. They ride in seven main bearings. All rods are forged, cams are gear driven. 300 is a stroked 240. Little to be gained by further stroking. Head is limiting factor. Breathing restricted by stock port size & stock valves. They make great circle track motors. Flat torque curve great for coming off corners. 60 lbs. lighter than the 327 Chevy v8. Arguably as inexpensive to build as Chevy v8. Check out Fordsix.com. Worlds foremost site on Ford 300's. Great fun. I have 33 Ford coupe with 300. My son has a 29 Chevy sedan with Ford 300 power. Also have 1974 Nance Super mod with Ford 300. All vintage dirt cars. Careful, it's habit forming. A blast too. Check out Racingfromthepast.com for much info and pics. Where abouts you located? Good luck, Worken2much
Clifford used to offer a welded 4-3/8" crank. Seems a lot of effort for 10% more CID. High comp pistons are hard to find but if you can keep a standard bore you can make .125 over Chevy 283 pistons work or bore it .050 and use 390 pistons. Chevy 1-15/16 and 1.6 exhaust valves can be used. I just did intake as biggest difference. I still have a Clifford intake with 2 500's and headers to sell.
I built these for the late Bob Gauley,s T bucket. Last engine ran ran every available weekend from Shannonville to Norwalk and never not once ever had a crank problem. I believe it ran 9 years straight and was every year in the top three sometimes track champion at SMP. I had Bob change the rod bearings in the off season every year which was about a $60 cost. He always told me, But Don, they looked perfect!" and I would tell him. "Good Bob, We want to keep them that way. We don't ever want to give trouble a place to start." I doubt it will give you any trouble and I would remove the concern from my mind. Even though I am a mopar guy the 300 6 is imho the best engine Ford ever built. Only part I didn't like was the cam to gear keyway and used to add an extra key in the form of a dowel to be sure it wouldn't shear as the key does not go into the cam gear as far as I would have liked. don
(not mine) narrowed body, straight axle (on an old sprint car chassis) they use torsion bars, not springs....
I have adapted 340 Dodge pistons to the 300 six (resize con rod to Dodge pin dia. as well as -060 off the piston top to get zero deck, and a .040 over bore). I ran 389 Pontiac pistons in my stock car in '81 and '82 (fit Poncho pins to rods, zero deck as is, and a .0625 over bore --- lucked out on that one). The 390 Ford piston is a common build for building compression (.050 overbore - you need the large pin con rods for this to work). 1.94intake and 1.60exhaust Chev valves with valve pocket blending is an easy way to improve flow through the 12 port heads. BTW, my 240 (with 302 SpeedPro 4.030 on the small pin con rods) was the sweetest running 6 cylinder I've ever run. 6.8" rods on a 3.18" stroke and a Comp Cams #66-678-05, 1.94/1.60 with a dual 390cfm homebuilt Holley setup and 34" exhaust primaries. 7200RPM entering turns 1 and 3. Not recommended you do this on a 300.
Like others have said, search the junkyards for forged cranks. Big Trucks, Dump Trucks, UPS Vans, etc often had forged cranks. Don't worry about stroking an already long stroke motor, spend your money on the head. Bump the compression and get it breathing well, and you will embarrass many small V8's.
F 600 had forged cranks If you run big spring pressure up graded pushrods are a must because of they are long. Start with a 240 head if you can find one.
I have always been under the impression that the mid 90's EFI heads were the best from a factory performance stand point and a good place to start for a performance build.
That is not entirely correct. The combustion chamber in the EFI head was designed to give fast burn properties needed for good gas mileage and efficiency. In order to accomplish this the charge motion was increased by masking off part of the intake valve so that the entering charge will spin and tumble fiercely and burn quickly. The mask reduces volumetric efficiency at WOT and thereby limits power output. Of course the fuel injection and other friction reduction measures help its power production. But if I were going to build a carbureted traditional engine I would stay with a carbed head. You can probably get away with bumping the compression to near 9.0:1 using the 240 head and still use 87 octane pump gas. Going to 10:1 will require premium; anything higher than about 10.5:1 might require the addition of racing fuel to your tank - been there. It depends on the intake valve timing somewhat. 300s - love 'em. Great motors. Good luck with your build.
The last time I looked, RockAuto had cranks on their site. They indicated, at one time that they were forged, but that may have been an error. Regardless, they source them from crankshaftsupply.com who has C5TE-F, C6TE-G, 1N, 1NA, 1NABC, 2N, 2NA, 2NABC, cranks listed on their site. You might want to get in touch with them. There are two, redily available 4bbl Offenhauser intakes for the 4.9, Offenhauser 6019DP and Offenhauser 6227C for under $300.
Thanks guys !! Ive been jotting down info from all of you and this will help. Im excited to start the build.!!
The Jalopy Journal
