206 replies to this topic

[ozyozyozy]

Nice work, some good combos on here.

[Redslur]

Your engine goes to show how a basic engine set up well can deliver plenty of street power :-)

[ozyozyozy]

My first 308 had, efi heads with a clean up, 10.5-1 comp,
Solid falt tappet 540 lift cant recall duration and lobe seperation now, active single plane manifold, standard crank, 2 bolt mains(studded), vn rods, off the shelf piston, great little engine.
Made 340 rwhp.

[Struggler]

Hi guys just an update on my combo. Just to update it is a stock stroke bottom end, .060 over, flat top pistons, HQ red heads l34 spec, 5803 solid cam and a 750do holley. One of the changes made was to remove the 2" hvh spacer and fitted a 1" hvh spacer which made a little difference. Since last post have added a cold intake tray, a bonnet scoop and just some tuning.Also had to make some changes to the car, changed rear springs and couple of tweaks to the front end. Have managed to get a new pb of [email protected] at Willowbank.

 

That is getting along ! Great work Bob, keep flying that stock stroke flag !

[ozyozyozy]

Your right sloper, when you modify, there is always a compromise, improve one thing, could be bad in another way.
Choosing the correct trans combination and diff ratio is much bigger thing than most people realize.
The trans/gearbox can make an average engine,
awesome.
Just spending big money on only an engine is not the answer, thats my experience.

[ozyozyozy]

There is a vk in the US, new york area.
Likes to hit the track, they made fun of him, then smoked most of them haha

[Struggler]

CAUTION....... Thread mine !

I have posted this combo on Aussie V8 but for those that don't frequent that site it fits in well with this thread.

I have recently finished a stock stroke HQ headed 308 for myself. I really wanted a grumpy, old-school, high revving thing that would upset small children and the elderly. More importantly it had to be basic, no exotic parts, just simple enough so anyone could build something similar. Most importantly it had to be cheap !

The block and crank are actually antique HP castings I purchased as a short for $200. It was already 060 over. I honed the block, fitted some old ACL Flat Top pistons with supplied rings, a set of resized A9L rods with ARP bolts and polished the crank. Anticipating a bit of a rev I got it all balanced. The block was decked to right on zero clearance at TDC. I did do a few minor oil gallery modifications and rebuilt a standard 304 oil pump. Cam is a solid flat tappet by Clive Cams in Melbourne. 260° @ 050 with about 0.595" lift on both lobes, lobe separation is set at 105° and installed with the intake centreline at 102° ATDC. Timing set is a Rollmaster, lifters are Sealed Power cheapies.

The heads are an old set of HQ castings that had already had VN valves fitted (same size as L34). I did pay someone with more of a clue than I a few hundred dollars to port these for me, nothing flash just some tidy bowl and chamber work and cut about 0.040" off the faces. Springs are 1.460" diameter duals with matching retainers. The heads were machined for screw in studs and guide plates and utilize a second hand set of YT rockers. The Intake is an Edelbrock Torker that I spent a few hours going over the plenum and runner entries and giving it a basic port match. Carby is an old BG 650 on top of a 2" open spacer. Dizzy is a regraphed Bosch HEI from a VH Commodore. Compression ended up at 11.4:1.

Just to clarify, the only new items used in this build were the pistons, rings, rod bearings (I reused the mains), cam, lifters, valve springs, retainers, oil pan and gaskets. Everything else was lying around or purchased second hand.

I put it on the engine dyno at Westend in Sydney for cam run in and a quick tune. With a brand new set of Pacemaker 1 3/4" 4:1 pipes with a 3" collector it made 440HP at 7200rpm and 375 ftlb at 5400rpm. Unfortunately these pipes don't fit my car so I also dynoed a set of Pacemaker 1 5/8" Tri Y pipes with a 2" choke and 2 1/2" collector. These pipes picked up torque below the peak but knocked 11HP off the top, peaking a bit earlier at 6200rpm so obviously a restriction. Before fitting it to the car I cut some of the choke point out of the Tri Y pipes, making it more like 2 1/4", in a bid to pick up a bit more top end.

The motor came home and got fitted to my HJ sedan with an 8" 5500 convertor, Powerglide and 4.11 BW diff. An exhaust was fabricated that was 2 1/2" from the collectors into a single 3" Hooker Aerochamber muffler just in front of the diff. I made a 2 1/2" tailpipe that extended from the muffler, under the diff and out the back in the standard location. I found a set of 26x8.5 ET Drag slicks that were about 50% tread and headed to WSID to see how it went.

With the 2 1/2" tailpipe fitted it went 12.1 at 109 MPH. I immediately ripped the tailpipe off and lined up again were the car responded with a string of 11.8's at 113 MPH. More than happy with that I drove it back on the trailer and towed it home.

For what it's worth that day was 34°, the car may go even faster on a cooler day. I also weighed it at the track, 1507.5Kg with me in it. Gearing could be even lower, it only crossed the line at about 6200rpm.

Anyway..... Mission accomplished ! The car sounds ridiculously grumpy, goes like a train and still cruises around town quite well. I couldn't be happier !

Edited by Struggler, 02 December 2017 - 12:57 PM.

[Shiney005]

Is there a part number for that cam Struggler?

[Struggler]

Is there a part number for that cam Struggler?

 

Yep, it's a 379B

[myss427]

You have a knack of getting the best out of not much.

[Struggler]

You have a knack of getting the best out of not much.

 

Thanks Brett !

[ozyozyozy]

While this thread is getting updated, had my engine out for a rebuild this year.
1 new little end, new bearings, rings, timing chain, new valve springs.
Went to rebuild the trusty 650 carb, manage to strip a screw, oh well my fault, not a thread that is easy to repair so made 1 carb out of 2 as i had a 750 sitting around(was given to me) which had some bad parts in it.
All back together and on the dyno, had to play with the carb a bit, the little 308 pushed out 444hp at 7100rpm on the hub dyno.
With the bigger carb and my setup doesnt seem to feel like i have lost any drivabilty, i fact on my setup feels like i have another approx 200-300rpm more usable range.
Very happy with the old girl.

[myss427]

Big revs for peak power there, must be a very aggressive cam. To think back when the A9X's were racing they had a hard time getting 400 hp out of them. 

[Redslur]

Good to see some updates finally. Now that I have finished my stroker engine, I am going to do a 308 as well. I am also going a non stroked 308 with HQ heads. I already have most of the parts to go but need pistons, rods and a few other small bits and pieces. I also want an old skool grumpy engine and the cam I will be using is a COME racing solid at about 256@50".  Hoping to get 400+ out of this sucker too using a torker manifold with mild port HQ heads :-).

 

Good work Struggler! I am a novice compared to you when it comes to engine building but over the last few years have had some good success with 355's and 308's.  Hope I can get this one right too :-). 

[ozyozyozy]

Camshaft is a solid roller crow duration 252/260 @50
596 lift 108 lsa
Its grumpy but quite drivable, been a targa/race car must work well with the foot pinned in top gear aswell as dealing with peak hour traffic to get to a targa show and shine.
Also gets driven in temps from -2 to 40 degrees.
When cam first fitted it made 345rwhp, been working on making everything more efficent, manifolds, carby and generally the car aswell.
Wont lie been hard work at times, holdens have there issues.

[myss427]

Camshaft is a solid roller crow duration 252/260 @50
596 lift 108 lsa
Its grumpy but quite drivable, been a targa/race car must work well with the foot pinned in top gear aswell as dealing with peak hour traffic to get to a targa show and shine.
Also gets driven in temps from -2 to 40 degrees.
When cam first fitted it made 345rwhp, been working on making everything more efficent, manifolds, carby and generally the car aswell.
Wont lie been hard work at times, holdens have there issues.

 

Looks like you have nailed the combo! I think the easy part is building the motor, the hard bit is getting it to work.

[ozyozyozy]

I am pretty happy with it.
Always will be someone with more power, more something.
Shows the little 308 does have potential.
Will say the wngine is only as good as some of the parts its attached to, clutches, gearboxes, diffs can help make a good engine great.

[Redslur]

I love how people are still playing with them proving all the doubters wrong. Bet there is more 308's in boats than Ford engines.  Chevs maybe a different thing though.

 

Go the old 308/304....

[TK383]

Crap photo, can't find a better one tho:

 

20161029_073533 by tony knight, on Flickr

 

jason 365 dyno by tony knight, on Flickr

 

All red motor, red block & HQ casting iron heads, 365 cubes, roller cam, dry sump, E85 - hillclimb/circuit race engine.

Was only pulling 3" of vac with the dry sump on that dyno pull - had a vac leak from a rocker cover, now pulling 10" vac so will be up a handful of HP.