polara408

SHHH!!!
Don't tell anybody I'm a dodge guy looking for ford help.
I have a customer wanting a stroker big block built 514/545 range using a 1972 429 block. I've built lots of mopar stuff no fords yet. Any advise, pitfalls to avoid? Thanks for any help. If it means anything comming from a mopar guy Ford stomps GM.

351ClevoCorty

Mate try and track down 'gregaust' on this site. He's knows these things inside out very knowledgeable and helpful.

ricthewheelie

Also you can try this big block forum
http://users.boardnation.com/~katmandu/index.php

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gregaust

What do you need to know? Are you after a street setup for pump fuel or a race setup?
The best bits to use is a scat crank and scat steel h-beam rods. You can achieve 4.14 or 4.15 stroke from an offset ground stock crank but for the price a Scat is the go.

The block @.030" over and 4.15 stroke will give you 502 cubes,4.3 stroke = 521 or 4.5 stroke =545 cubes.

Keep in mind though you will need a good set of heads to feed the bigger cubes.IMO you need a set of aftermarket alloy heads ,Edelbrock or Ford motorsport SCJ's .

polara408

Thanks for the reply gregaust. The plan is to run on pump premium fuel. I run 10.50 on my edelbrock 408 stroker small block dodge with no problems. I talked to others that have much sucess with scat cranks so I'm going to start there. Haven't decided on h-beam or i-beam rods yet. Any thoughts on pistons? Rather forged than hyperutectic customers wallet will dictate that. Heads were a tossup between Edelbrock&Ford. Do you have any flow #'s for either? What seems to be the hot in take for a big inch Ford. Any block clearnce issues with the 4.5 crank I should look for? Any words of wisdom will be apreciated. It's my first time building a big inch Ford rather learn from others experiences than make avoidable mistakes.

gregaust

For the length rods you'll need i think you'll find you have to use the H-beams.As for pistons i had custom J.E pistons made but they are big $$$ but i did get the exact reverse dome i wanted rather than a dish piston which would have resulted in poor quench and i got the correct flycuts for the SCJ heads..
I have used both edelbrock + ford scj heads .The edelbrocks are very nice out of the box and you dont need any special valve reliefs.
I went with the 4.15" and the 4.3 " cranks. I saw some pics on the net of a 4.5" stroke setup and it was a little scary how far out the bottom of the bore it pulls the piston down,but in saying that they do seem to still work ok.
The 4.5" cranks do fit in the factory block with no clearancing required in the early blocks.The later 79 on blocks have a slightly longer bore .I think they still work ok but it would pay to check closely.
Check your PM also....Greg

polara408

Greg thanks again for the help