1980. Built a 1/4 mile dirt oval track racer using a '68 Mustang body on a shortened and narrowed '66 Gallaxy chassis. Every one else was running the 250 Chev engine with the siamesed intake ports. I chose the 12 port 240 Ford engine. In '81 the rules allowed any V-8 up to 360 cubes to run with cam and valve size restrictions. 6 cylinder engines were unrestricted. In went the stainless 1.94 / 1.6 valves with attendant port mods, 302 .030 forged pistons, CompCams #F60-280B-8 cam & kit, 3into1 headers and a dual short ram intake manifold running a pair of 290cfm Holley 2bbls. 7200rpm going into turns 1 and 3. Ran heads up, wheel to wheel with the V-8 boys. Later that season , put that set-up on a flattop 389 Pontiac pistoned 300, lots more jump off turns 2 and 4. Changed the rear gear to bring peak RPM down on the long stroke engine, just let the torque do the work. Built another 300 at .040 to install 340 Dodge pistons - had to remove .040 off piston heads to establish correct deck. Stock cam, stock head. Installed into '65 Ford pickup. Too much compression even for 92 octane at operating temp., and recurved distributor. Needed some 108 octane boost to sort it out.
Another 300 buildup uses forged 390 V8 pistons at .050 overbore, 1.94/1.60 valve combo jiggled by a Crane #M-282-C cam. Experimenting with a 6 position side entry cooling system with a 6 exit to try to equalize cylinder and head temps ala Indy race engines. The stock water pump will not be able to ever again overcool #1 cylinder. Have not heard this one run. Slated for a an open wheel hot rod of some description. Carberation? Probably similar to the stock car engine except with twin Holley/Webers from 2300 Pinto engines. The progressive feature of these carbs should help this become a streetable driver. Any thoughts in 240/300 Ford country?
