The engine builders "black art" (AKA Rod ratio)

Yeah, I know Dana. He did my Holley. He also does most of the Weber setups in the immediate area. There's also a guy in Fullerton that is supposed to be good. The guys at JMC Motorstport in San Diego have some experience, too. I had originally planned to have Dana dial in my Webers, but my cousin filled me in on all that he's done with them and then volunteered himself. He did a good job with the linkage. Dana will probably see them at some point.

I didn't notice you are from Corona. Come by Farmer Boys Sunday at 11A and introduce yourself, will ya?

lot's of info has been posted since i left. you guys are diving into more technical stuff than i can comprehend at the moment, i'll have to go back and re-read everything. i still stand by what i said earlier though that if you have the room in the block run the longest rod possible for the combo without compromising the piston/ring package. in my case that's the 6.58" 400 rod with a KB piston, the pin get's up to right under the ring land but there's enough meat there that the ring is not compromised. so that's what i'm going to build, if i was looking for all out power i would use a stroker crank but i want as much mileage as i can get out of this thing, both fuel mileage and actual driven mileage, i plan on using a high velocity small port head (afr 165 outlaw if the budget allows or e'brock or ford racing x303 if not), smallish hyd. roller cam and hopefully fuel injection of some kind. i also plan to run E-85 in it at some point as well so i need to keep the compression ratio up there and the CR with the long rod setup is right where i want to be as well. so my combo is mostly planned out already.

bnickel said:

i also plan to run E-85 in it at some point as well so i need to keep the compression ratio up there and the CR with the long rod setup is right where i want to be as well. so my combo is mostly planned out already.

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If you're going to run E85 I would think you really should build for it in the first place. Ethanol has a LOT less energy content than gasoline (about 30% less), so a lot of parts will change when swapping. Plus you'd probably want to take advantage of the 104 octane.

Hack said:

If you're going to run E85 I would think you really should build for it in the first place. Ethanol has a LOT less energy content than gasoline (about 30% less), so a lot of parts will change when swapping. Plus you'd probably want to take advantage of the 104 octane.

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exactly why i'm aiming for around 10-10.5: compression, the cam and everything else i have planned fo it should all work fine with the E-85 and i'm also planning on as many coatings as the budget will allow too mainly to keep the heat in the combustion chamber and for extra lubrication protection IE: piston top and cylinder head coatings as well as intake and exhaust coating and piston skirt and bearing coatings as well. those are the main ones i'm looking at and if the budget will let me i'll do others as well. i'm also planning on stainless lines and possibly a stainless tank too, we'll see how it all plays out once i actually start on it, hopefully next spring or summer.