Progress Thread BluePrint 347 long block engine swap

Sparky714

5 Year Member
Oct 16, 2015
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North Dakota
I'm going to be retiring in about a year and I need a project so I don't drive my wife nuts. I currently have an '89 hatch with a 306 with an older build, Y303 Ford heads, B cam Cobra intake and a Vortech V3 running on Megasquirt. Car runs strong, probably making around 400hp to the tires. Suspension and TKX transmission are all up to handling a little more power.

So what I'm thinking about is getting a 347 long block I can put on a stand and tinker with after I retire. I'd like to make 5-600hp to the tires. I'd like to keep the Cobra intake because I like how it looks and maybe just have it ported and the 347 will let me re-use the Vortech and all the accessories will bolt right back up.

The car is mostly street driven, but I enjoy going to the local track and doing some test and tunes and flash light Fridays and maybe a little index racing at some point. Also, doing a drag and drive is on my bucket list before I get to old lol.

So I'm looking for advice, opinions on hopefully an assembled long block. Hopefully stay in the $10K or less range. Don't know if my goals would be in Dart block territory. I was looking at the Blueprint 347 with their new 4 bolt main block. But curious what would need to be done to it to run it on boost. Ring gap, compression, cam ect.

Advice, comments, opinions appreciated.
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Gorgeous car! Honestly you can get a long block with a dart shp block from ford strokers or prestige motorsports for what you are talking. Both will be very solid options and they will build it (ring gap, compression) for the boost levels you want to be at. If you really want to spend some time tinkering buy a dart shp block and a rotating assembly from eagle. Have a machine shop do all the short block work and you can do the rest yourself.
 
These days... I would go with a long block from BluePrint Engines:




Why? :shrug: Because their engines [include] a new cast iron block with 4-bolt mains O_o

Block:​

  • NEW BluePrint Cast Iron Block
  • 4-Bolt Main
  • 4.000" Bore
  • 1-Piece Rear Main Seal
 
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These days... I would go with a long block from BluePrint Engines:




Why? :shrug: Because their engines [include] a new cast iron block with 4-bolt mains :O_o:

Block:​

  • NEW BluePrint Cast Iron Block
  • 4-Bolt Main
  • 4.000" Bore
  • 1-Piece Rear Main Seal
I'm kind of leaning that way. What about running it with boost though. They come 10:1 compression. I think heads would be good for my goals but what about cam and ring gap. Figure about 10-12psi. I've been running my 306 at 10psi for the last 6 or 7 years with no problems and it definitely wasn't built for boost. Tune is pretty safe but makes good power. Just looking for a little more.
 
Boost this one an forget about it:

Ok, I'm officially retired and I pulled the trigger on the Blueprint 347 long block(no sales tax, beat the price increase and he threw in free shipping :nice:). So I'm starting to gather parts for the swap. I currently have a 255lph Walbro fuel pump with stock rails and lines and 47lb injectors. Will the 47's be big enough with the 347 and Vortech on 10lbs of boost? if I need to change the fuel system, how big would I need to go to run E85? I know I could have went with a more expensive long block built for boost, but I'm old, stubborn, cheap and like a challenge. If this thing grenades and the block is salvageable, I'll rebuild it.
 
Smeding performance offers engines called " power adders" designed for adding a blower or turbo... I just checked and NO fords offered.. LS and SBC..
 
So, I think 47s are a bit on the small side for a 600 rwhp 347 on gas, let alone E85. I don't know if you'll make that much, but I know it's possible, and you might want to have a little room to grow. So, with that in mind, my recommendation is to get some 60 or 80 lb injectors from Siemens Deka. You will not be pushing those injectors at 600rwhp, and they have awesome control for idle & cruise. You'll obviously need some way to tune them, regardless of the injector size you pick at that level. You're not going to get away with just a calibrated maf.
 
Every calculator I look at with 8 injectors, 600 hp, supercharged, 80% duty cycyle, E85, and a BSFC of 0.85 (boosted and on E85) is saying 80 lb/hr at 43.5 psi of fuel. If you are will to go to 90% injector duty then you can slide by with 70 lb/hr at 43.5 psi. If when tuning that is not enough then you can bump the fuel pressure up to 55 psi and get about 80 lb/hr our of the 70 lb/hr injectors.

Me personally I would just run 80 lb/hr injectors at 80% duty and 43.5 psi as that gives you a lot of wiggle room.

And stock fuel rails are not going to cut it nor is that 255 lph pump.

80 lb/hr x 8 = 640 lb/hr and 1 lb/hr = 0.703 lph so 640 lb/hr x 0.703 = 450 lph

Going to need a much larger pump. I would get the Pro-M fuel pump hanger (I have one and it was worth the $$) and run a Walbro F90000285 or the like.


 
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So, I think 47s are a bit on the small side for a 600 rwhp 347 on gas, let alone E85. I don't know if you'll make that much, but I know it's possible, and you might want to have a little room to grow. So, with that in mind, my recommendation is to get some 60 or 80 lb injectors from Siemens Deka. You will not be pushing those injectors at 600rwhp, and they have awesome control for idle & cruise. You'll obviously need some way to tune them, regardless of the injector size you pick at that level. You're not going to get away with just a calibrated maf.
Yeah, I figured 47's would be pushing it on pump gas, and definitely not big enough for E85. Tuning's not an issue, I'm running Megasquirt.
 
Every calculator I look at with 8 injectors, 600 hp, supercharged, 80% duty cycyle, E85, and a BSFC of 0.85 (boosted and on E85) is saying 80 lb/hr at 43.5 psi of fuel. If you are will to go to 90% injector duty then you can slide by with 70 lb/hr at 43.5 psi. If when tuning that is not enough then you can bump the fuel pressure up to 55 psi and get about 80 lb/hr our of the 70 lb/hr injectors.

Me personally I would just run 80 lb/hr injectors at 80% duty and 43.5 psi as that gives you a lot of wiggle room.

And stock fuel rails are not going to cut it nor is that 255 lph pump.

80 lb/hr x 8 = 640 lb/hr and 1 lb/hr = 0.703 lph so 640 lb/hr x 0.703 = 450 lph

Going to need a much larger pump. I would get the Pro-M fuel pump hanger (I have one and it was worth the $$) and run a Walbro F90000285 or the like.


Looks like I'll be doing a fuel supply upgrade too. I knew i defiantly would be on E85. Do you have a good site I can look at for fuel calculators, line sizes ect.? I have the external Trex pump that came with the blower that I never used. Could I make the 255 in tank and external Trex work and do bigger lines , rails and injectors?
 
Fuel line size i would say you would be fine with 6AN for the feed and return. Most want to jump on 8AN but at high pressure the 6AN will move a lot of fuel.

Go here and read the theory and then click on the calculator. AN 6 should work.

 
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