547" A-head Build

Last year I decided to step up to a larger A-head engine to replace my aging 514 CJ engine. In the interest of saving a few dollars (more on this later...) I shopped around for a while on Racing junk and found a "fresh" 532 A460 head engine from a gentleman in West Virginia. After a few conversations, e-mails, and photos, I decided it sounded safe and the guy seemed to be straight with me, so I bought the engine complete carb to pan. I was excited once the engine arrived but since were in the middle of the racing season I covered it up and put it aside for another day. Over the winter I decided to do an inspection of the engine (this is where the story goes bad..) and found the following:

* Cast Scat crankshaft instead of a forged as advertised
* Said crankshaft was cracked in not one, not two, not three, but all four rod journals.
* Cylinder block was cracked in the main web area from the bolt hole down into camshaft area in every main except #1
* Based on my inspection came to the conclusion the engine was not "fresh"...

After licking my wounds I contacted Lem Evans for some guidance and he was AWESOME as usual. Lem set me up with a new A460 block, Scat connecting rods, custom diamond pistons, Danny Bee belt drive, as well as a custom camshaft. I worked with Nicken's Brothers Racing Engines in Conroe, Tx and they built me a great 547" (They are awesome as well!). A few details on the build:

4.30" Scat forged crankshaft
6.8" Scat H-beam connecting rods
Custom Diamond pistons, C/R 14:1
Mildly ported TFS A460 cylinder heads
Port matched and blended TFS A460 4500 Intake
Custom Comp cam spec'd by Mr. Evans
External belt drive Moroso oil pump
3 vane Moroso vacuum pump
Danny Bee belt drive
Canton Fox Mustang oil pan
Stinnet Prepped 1150 Dominator

Yesterday I finally had the A-head engine I wanted and spent the day testing it on Nicken's Dyno. We made 7-8 easy pulls with C25 race gas (they are Pro Stock racers and this is what they had on hand, recognizing it probably isn't the perfect fuel for this engine). We never pulled the engine past 7000 rpm and peak HP was 938 at 7000 and still climbing on every pull. I then swapped out the Stinnet cam for a Pro Systems E85 Dominator and made a few more pulls. In the end we had it back within 2% of our best pull on race gas. can't beat $2.81/gallon!

So why am I posting this? First, to personally thank Lem Evans for his patience and professionalism. I have worked with a lot of different people over my 20+ years of racing, but none better than Mr. Evans. Second, to thank David Nicken's and the team at his shop. They helped me build an engine that I can't WAIT to put in my little 10" tire car! I know its not the most powerful 547" I have seen on this forum, but I am THRILLED with it. And finally, to state the obvious that you REALLY need to be careful when buying "gently used" "fresh" or other engines with "only 4 passes". Do your homework and better yet, deal with people you know and trust.

I agree,anytime you are buying a race engine,ask the owner if you can pull vc's and Pan to check bearings. If he is hesitant,better walk away.
Sounds like you have nice engine now ,and yes Lem is a great vendor to buy from and work with.

Rich I am so glad, Lem got you back on track. if you ever need anything Ford parts wise Lem is the Man....

Have a good one my Friend
Randy

ive also had service with nickens bros.i was a little hesitant at first since they were/are mopar guys 1st and ls/chevy guys.i didn't know if they where on the up and up on the ford stuff.well to my surprise they are.ive had the build me a street strip 466 and frpp boss block 427 with all the scat goodies.the 427 presented some challenges but nothing major.other than the crank went internal balance instead of the 28 oz external I was expecting.the point was that wayne called explained to me what was going on.my options ect.they have always been patient with me and my questions.a great group of guys. and their only 15 min from me so even better.

I hesitated for the same reason and actually took all my parts to a different shop first, where they sat for 5 months without being touched. I called Nicken's and worked with Wayne as well. I didn't think they would bother with my stuff since they are focused on Pro Stock and Comp Eliminator customers, but they could not have been better. It is really great dealing with such professionals and genuinely good people.

Thanks for the kind words. It'd been fun to have seen what the "little" 547" had at 7,500  
 
Looks like the Nickens group did you a nice piece......go have fun  

Thats way they call it RACING JUNK its JUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well atleast your off and running. My friends daughter is married to david and they make some power there.

To the OP glad things worked out 'fer the better as the first engine sounded like a festering turd.

All of 'Yawl here have been great answering my 20 questions as a 460 Ford ain't an LS1 'fer shure.

I second that. I have used this site as a resource for good information. Thanks to the consistent contributors for unselfishly sharing their knowledge. Also to the guys he I have bought a sold parts to. You have all been great and every transaction has been very good ( especially with Randy and Ward!)!

Wow, impressive Rich! Is there any way we could peak at the at a power curve? I'm wondering how it did for torque and where the peaks were. I'm more impressed with E85 the more I use and read about it. Thanks.

You bet. I am picking everything up on Friday so I will post a race gas and E85 pull. The E85 carb performed well, but you will see from the bsfc there is still more work to do on the carb. I have dyno'd 4 different BBF enshrines with purpose built E85 carbs all from top builders, but I am still searching for the elusive power gains that I have read about. The best I have been able to do is to get back within 1-3% of the best race gas result.

Nice numbers. I too bought a short block and though not nearly as bad as yours it had its issues. The motor was extremely hard to turn over and what the machine shop found out was it had file fit rings that had not been file fit. Also it had .060 over oil rings on .080 over pistons so that would have been fun. I planned on using it as is but glad I didn't. So a good deal ended up being a marginal deal.

Still looking for a dyno sheet, even a pic!? Is the intake the later version?

I'm not sure how to post either of those things, but I am happy to e-mail them to you.

Intake is the new version as are the cylinder heads.