Technical Breathing life into a 283 - FED Destined

I work with many cam grinders but 90% of the time I pick my own lobes I want to use. Mainly use Comp or Crane.

 

I'm watching this thread now Nick and wondering about tires and direct drive.
When Jr. Fuel Dragsters were hot, the tires and track prep (or lack of it)allowed for lots of wheel spin to keep revs up off the line. A thread here awhile back seemed to express an opinion that the rubber compounds and the sticky tracks of today could make things sorta unpredictable, if not dangerous if one side caught while the other was still loose.
I'm no expert here for sure, just wondering about your thoughts?

 

Back then, the times were right for the class, now-a-days times will be 1.5 sec slower and thus the magic is gone because the goal is to go faster with the same car

 

Nice thread man, I love the technical how to and the photos to go along with it and the shorter jr. fuelers to boot. On a side note, not that its in the same league as what you're doing, my old man had a hot 301 in a 57 chevy, so I like that aspect as well.

 

Just a little progress to update. I ordered some main cap straps for the front and rear cap. The front one showed up today so I got that one taken care of for now.

First step was to machine the top of the cap flat.

Then I put it in my Sunnen Cap Grinder to grind the last few thou and also grind the front part of the cap so it was square.

I also machined the strap flat as it looked like it was hit on a belt sander.

I then machined a counter bore for the washers to recess in about .100 cause I was running out of stud length. I wanted to leave the cap as thick as I could. Just need to double check the oil pan fitment.

Just waiting on the rear strap to show up to tackle that one.

 

Having retired as a machinist, the average person could never comprehend the hours of set-up to minutes of machining ratio depending on the job. This is fun to watch !

 

Roger that!

 

With about 50 years in the machining trade, I also am enjoying this thread

 

It’s nice to see this,in the days of, “ why not just build a 434 sbc?

 

Well you will like what I have in store then. I literally have about 10 different engines I plan to build for myself. I have been gathering parts for years for each of them and adding more equipment to my shop just so I can soley do the majority of the work at my leisure. On this particular build it most likely won't be a period piece but the next one in line will be.....

I actually planned to start on this one first but found that the 1965 300hp/327 block I had was cracked in 3 spots on the side. A local guy offered me a block for free so I'm going to go grab that this weekend. Will start a different thread for this one down the road. Trying to make it much more period correct.

 

Cool. I have a 301 with double hump heads and Hilborn injection. I like the old stuff.

 

Be still my heart!

 

Well my rear strap finally showed up. Knocked this out real quick this evening.

First step was to pull the oil pump dowel pins.

I did a skim cut on the rear strap to be sure it was nice and true. I measured the thickness at .600 thick so I need to remove the same amount of material off of the cap.

Took .050 per pass using my 2" facemill. Then I used my surfacing hub with the CBN insert to leave a mirror finish for the last .010.

I also had to drill the dowel holes deeper. In this case I went .200 deeper with a undersized drill and used a reamer to get to size. I'm going to make the dowels stay with the strap so a little extra clearance won't hurt for the dowell holes in the cap.

Next step was to machine some counterbores for the washers to match my front strap at .100 deep.

Installed back on the block, looks good.

Billet caps in the center and strapped OEM caps on the ends. Should be plenty strong!

 

Nick ! ..... Wow brother wow.
I worked around race engine builders coast-to-coast for over 30 years in my career with TRW and Federal Mogul Performance brands, spent countless hours in shops and dyno rooms, working NHRA drag races and NASCAR races week-in-week-out.
The quality of work your doing and sharing with us is not something that will be found just anywhere. And the costs to do it all correctly does not come on a budget.
Beautiful work and explanations.
Glenn

 

Amen.

 

Thanks Glenn, I pride myself with the work I do. I'm self taught in everything I do.

This morning was an adventure to go buy a Line Bore machine. Stopped by a friend's house in North Omaha and the cops (counted about 6 squad cars) were chasing somebody. I grew up in North O and don't miss it for these reasons lol! Gunshots, squealing tires, sirens, and I sit here hoping this good deal was worth it and to get home in one piece lol. They cuffed the guy as I was driving past a ghost riding minivan coasting down the middle of the street - EPIC. Wonder if he robbed a bank?

This thing is cherry, got a smoking deal on it. Now I need to learn how to set it up.

 

Hard to gauge size but it looks spindly.
Good thing you made it out alive.

 

It is a 1.25" bar that is 70" long. There are bridges to support the bar in various locations. Tried and true system been used since the day of flatheads. The nice thing is it also can do cam bores which I may enlarge on this one.

 

And one of these too?

 

Yes sir! I'm tooled up for SBC & BBC and can bore to the .904 Mopar size or the 1" bushing and bring back to any of the sizes with the bushing. I also have a Block Tru with a fixture I made for my mill to deck. The next piece I may get is the Cam Tru which next week may be worthwhile since PRI Show discounts are everywhere.

A few older pictures of my Lifter Tru. I will be correcting the lifter bores in this 283 block.

 

Cool beans...

 

Wow...super nice work. I just love Jr Fuelers. Here's a couple of pictures of my block...

 

Wow. Lot of time and talent going into this build. Love it.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

In all my years, I never thought the front and rear main caps as being problem areas

 

Wow, the HAMB is rockin' right now. Between this thread and Squirrel's early funny car build, I don't know which thread is coolest, but it's definitely one of them. Thanks for sharing!

 

They aren't but a strap certainly won't hurt.

 

That is super nice stuff! Lightweight program from LSM?

 

Until you try and bolt a pan on

 

I think 402BOSSMAN will figure out how to deal with that if it becomes an issue.

 

Well just my luck, stock oil pan still fits.