So last month we removed the old, heavy 390 big-block Ford out of our ’67 Ford test truck and added a new Ford Racing 427 small-block crate engine. We installed the engine, and to our surprise, we were able to shed 200 pounds off the front end and we gained 122.4 horsepower with 139 lb-ft of torque at the wheels, thus increasing the power to weight and making the truck handle that much better.
In Part 1, I really didn’t get into the motor internals so here we go. The Ford Racing 427 small-block has a 10.5:1 compression ratio engine that uses aluminum 64cc chamber cylinder heads. Ford calls them X heads. Each X head is about 22 pounds, and compared to the stock 351 iron heads, that is 25 pounds lighter.
We were also able to squeeze a total of 362.4 horsepower and 429 lb-ft on the chassis dyno while still having a very reliable, and more importantly, drivable engine. Remember the transmission, rearend, brakes, and wheels all rob power so our dyno numbers are great.
We were also able to test the truck at El Toro with the old motor and the new Ford Racing 427. We tested the truck last year at the 2011 Truckin Throwdown and this year the road course and stop box were much longer. The first test for the truck was the 600-foot slalom course and Scott Call ran 7.22 this year compared to 7.03 last year. Scott said that with the new engine being a lot lighter and faster he was not used to the way the truck handled. I believe with a few sway bar adjustments Scott could have improved the times, but he only had a total of three runs in the slalom.
The engine uses a SCAT forged-steel crankshaft with SCAT forged-steel I-beam connecting rods and forged Mahle pistons with floating wrist pins. A hydraulic cam and lifters are used with 1.60:1 ratio roller rocker arms.
Quarter mile times from last year were 14.81 with the 390 FE and 13.51 with the new Ford Racing 427. The new engine knocked 1.3 seconds off last year’s quarter-mile time. WOW! Where the truck really shines is at the autocross track and on a road course. Since the ’67 spends about 50 percent of its time at the track, it has been set up to handle corners really well. Scott said he felt huge improvements in throttle response at lower rpm and was really impressed when rolling on the throttle out of turns. Normally when watching the truck, you can’t really tell how fast the truck is going. But after Scott got used to the way the truck handled, and Pike Kelly made a quick sway bar adjustment, you could really tell the added power and reduced weight woke the truck up. We made an effort to build a reliable engine using data from Ford Racing and help from a reliable parts house such as Speedway Motors.
Out on the open road course is where Scott and our ’67 test truck are most comfortable. Scott said with the reduced weight and gobs of power he was able to control the truck a lot easier. The new Ford 427 crate engine really makes a huge difference when cruising down the freeway or holding the throttle wide open on a road course. The cool thing about the whole engine swap deal is that we drove the truck to the dyno shop, then another 60 freeway miles to the track for testing. Now that’s hot rodding.
