Quick proven clevo recipe

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Joined
Aug 21, 2013
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My Car
73 Blue Glo Mach 1
Been talking with my engine builder mate re making quick hp gains with a clevo thought I would pass on a proven combo.

A simple recipe for a 450+ horse clevo is as easy as this.:cool:

CHI 190cc 2v's

roller rockers

RPM AirGap manifold

750 DP

MSD ign

3.75 inch stroker crank by RPM,Eagle or Scat(or 3.85)

I beam rods(Scat over eagle)

OTS F246 Crane solid or similar (hyd roller)

standard vol oil pump

large capacity pan (7 litre)

1 7/8 headers

This combo has hit high 520s with TFS 2Vs at about 6000rpm

 
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True - However......

It will barely make 200 hp at 3000 rpm.

It will also get less than 12 miles per gallon

Winding it to 6K is fun but is not going to happen very often on the street even with deep rear end gears (3.70's will be a minimum).

With an automatic you will need a very high stall converter making it very awkward to drive on the street.

Stroked Clevelands do not wind up as fast or as high and 6k is pretty close to the "go bang" point for this set up unless superbly built.

To take advantage of this you will have to upgrade everything behind the engine and then getting it to hook up will take even more money.

This set up is great for a light duty low 12 second drag strip car that with effort could be street driven.

I have built several of these over the years for strictly street driven cars and every single customer has pulled them out within a year and had me build them something less brutal.

We did put one in a kit Cobra that had a peak 630HP at 7500 rpm.

He ran a Lenco style transmission.

He ran a 5.30 gear and had 2 full size truck batteries in the trunk for weight.

He had a full 4 link rear suspension and the rear tires almost touched in the middle.

That car was stupid fun!!!! It got driven everyday rain or shine!

He was nuts (and rich)

- Paul

 
I've had very good luck with the 400M in my '79 Bronco. I performed a stock rebuild in 2000 using Federal Mogul main and rod bearings, upgraded the rods with ARP bolts and polished the beams. I would certainly not hesitate to drop one of these engines into a Mustang, particularly if I were able to find a small block bellhousing variant (early 70s I believe). With a stock stroke of 4.0" and one of the strongest factory cranks ever made, topped with a set of 4V heads the 400M will make a very serious 500 hp powerplant with very little investment.

Mine is only a stock 2V headed 400M with 8.5:1 compression. However, with SEFI-EDIS8 from a Windsor retrofitted to it, along with a good double roller chain without the stock retard, torquey cam, and long tube headers, my truck dynoed at 330 hp and get this: 450 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 RPM. It moves the 5500 lb Bronco like a sports car and is dead nuts reliable. I've got 75,000 miles on it now and couldn't be happier with it.

 
True - However......

It will barely make 200 hp at 3000 rpm.

It will also get less than 12 miles per gallon

Winding it to 6K is fun but is not going to happen very often on the street even with deep rear end gears (3.70's will be a minimum).

With an automatic you will need a very high stall converter making it very awkward to drive on the street.

Stroked Clevelands do not wind up as fast or as high and 6k is pretty close to the "go bang" point for this set up unless superbly built.

To take advantage of this you will have to upgrade everything behind the engine and then getting it to hook up will take even more money.

This set up is great for a light duty low 12 second drag strip car that with effort could be street driven.

I have built several of these over the years for strictly street driven cars and every single customer has pulled them out within a year and had me build them something less brutal.

We did put one in a kit Cobra that had a peak 630HP at 7500 rpm.

He ran a Lenco style transmission.

He ran a 5.30 gear and had 2 full size truck batteries in the trunk for weight.

He had a full 4 link rear suspension and the rear tires almost touched in the middle.

That car was stupid fun!!!! It got driven everyday rain or shine!

He was nuts (and rich)

- Paul
Paul you are correct

I should of stated street/strip build, oh and I never said it was going to be cheap ;) just how easy it was to produce good hp from a clevo. I somehow think everyone is a drag racer at heart and forget there are lots of folks that just enjoy good strong regularly driven street beasts :D



I've had very good luck with the 400M in my '79 Bronco. I performed a stock rebuild in 2000 using Federal Mogul main and rod bearings, upgraded the rods with ARP bolts and polished the beams. I would certainly not hesitate to drop one of these engines into a Mustang, particularly if I were able to find a small block bellhousing variant (early 70s I believe). With a stock stroke of 4.0" and one of the strongest factory cranks ever made, topped with a set of 4V heads the 400M will make a very serious 500 hp powerplant with very little investment.

Mine is only a stock 2V headed 400M with 8.5:1 compression. However, with SEFI-EDIS8 from a Windsor retrofitted to it, along with a good double roller chain without the stock retard, torquey cam, and long tube headers, my truck dynoed at 330 hp and get this: 450 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 RPM. It moves the 5500 lb Bronco like a sports car and is dead nuts reliable. I've got 75,000 miles on it now and couldn't be happier with it.
Love that low down torque. A mate had a delta 88 coupe with a real mondello engine it was well over 500 ft-lbs at 2200 crazy burnout car

 
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Mine is only a stock 2V headed 400M with 8.5:1 compression. However, with SEFI-EDIS8 from a Windsor retrofitted to it, along with a good double roller chain without the stock retard, torquey cam, and long tube headers, my truck dynoed at 330 hp and get this: 450 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 RPM. It moves the 5500 lb Bronco like a sports car and is dead nuts reliable. I've got 75,000 miles on it now and couldn't be happier with it.
Stock pistons? No pinging issues? MAP vs. MAF?

Might have to PM you on this - EDIT - Are you Shaker666 on FSB? If so, I won't trouble you; I found your build thread - sounds like an interesting build that could be put to use on a '70s Lincoln.

-Kurt

 
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I have built several of these over the years for strictly street driven cars and every single customer has pulled them out within a year and had me build them something less brutal.
I've seen this happen fairly often where guys want lots of hp and build a "street/strip" car that is horrible to drive on the street. Then they pull the engine to replace with one with street manners. Expensive lesson.

 
I have built several of these over the years for strictly street driven cars and every single customer has pulled them out within a year and had me build them something less brutal.
I've seen this happen fairly often where guys want lots of hp and build a "street/strip" car that is horrible to drive on the street. Then they pull the engine to replace with one with street manners. Expensive lesson.
The great part was I was the one that used to get paid.

- Paul

 
Mine is only a stock 2V headed 400M with 8.5:1 compression. However, with SEFI-EDIS8 from a Windsor retrofitted to it, along with a good double roller chain without the stock retard, torquey cam, and long tube headers, my truck dynoed at 330 hp and get this: 450 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 RPM. It moves the 5500 lb Bronco like a sports car and is dead nuts reliable. I've got 75,000 miles on it now and couldn't be happier with it.
Stock pistons? No pinging issues? MAP vs. MAF?

Might have to PM you on this - EDIT - Are you Shaker666 on FSB? If so, I won't trouble you; I found your build thread - sounds like an interesting build that could be put to use on a '70s Lincoln.

-Kurt
Haha yes, my screen name is Shaker666 on many other forums, including the Corral, FSB, EECTuning, etc.

As far as pistons go, I believe they are Badger/Dynalite cast slugs 0.030" over. I used good quality Speed Pro plasma moly rings. The lower intake is a ported GT40 for a 351W fitted to the 400M using Price Motorsports billet adapter plates. The upper intake is Ford 5.0 Cobra. Ford 65mm TB, Cobra 70mm MAF, 30 lb/hr injectors, EEC-IV computer and harness, but modified to accept EDIS8, so there's no distributor anymore. Coil packs, cam sync sensor for sequential injection, and crank position sensor with 36-1 trigger wheel, of course.

No pinging. Spark curve is completely adjustable on the laptop.

 
Having built a beast of an engine and now trying to make suspension changes to allow me to utilize it's power, I can understand the folks that pull the engine and go with something less radical. If I can't tame the beast at least a bit, a cam change will be in order. In the meantime, my Caltracs are on the way.

It would be helpful to know what suspension work is necessary for our cars at specific power levels. What I have found is that with 300 RWHP, a manual transmission and a 3.89 rear gear Radial TA's aren't adequate tires-but that the BFG Gforce Radials did a good job of hooking up with 5 leaf rear springs and factory replacement shocks.

Now at 500+ RWHP those tires are not even close to getting any traction. Hopefully Caltracs, larger rear wheel and tire size, relocation of the battery will give me some improvement.

 
I have a relocated battery (in the trunk) and some pretty wide tires (295-50-15, soon to be 315-35-17) and I still roast the 295s because they're BFG Radial T/As. I'm currently debating whether I can afford a set of Kumho Ecsta XS in 315, but the Nitto 555 and Sumitomo HTR Z are almost $150 more affordable per tire. All of them are also Z rated so should hook up at least slightly better than the H rated BFG. I removed my rear sway bar and I find the car handles better without it, although I have a Total Control 1.125" front sway bar, lowered suspension with 620 lb front springs, and some serious chassis stiffening (cage, subframe connectors), etc. The Bilstein shocks also made a huge difference in handling performance.

 
I removed my rear sway bar as well and I agree, though there is a bit more body roll. I don't think the speed rating has anything to do with bite (it may in fact be counter productive) as speed ratings require the tire not to produce excessive heat at speed and traction seems to improve with a softer compound and sidewall-both of which add to the heat.

Which 6 point roll cage did you use?

 
The cage was custom fabricated by CC Racing in Vancouver, BC.

The speed rating of the tire generally also means a softer compound, so that's why I was saying it should hook up better. I had a set of Kumho Ecsta SPT (not even a full on Z-rated summer tire) on my blown 5.0 Mustang and those tires were so much better than any H rated tire that I was able to get traction under boost in the rain!

 
I'm doing to junkyard turbo build.. should make more power than the block can handle for cheap.

 
I'm doing to junkyard turbo build.. should make more power than the block can handle for cheap.
Interesting I like the sound of that. Share the knowledge old son

:cool:
I will when I really start working on it. I'm not sure where I was going with my comment lol, I had a couple beers yesterday. sorry

 
I'm doing to junkyard turbo build.. should make more power than the block can handle for cheap.
Interesting I like the sound of that. Share the knowledge old son

:cool:
I will when I really start working on it. I'm not sure where I was going with my comment lol, I had a couple beers yesterday. sorry
Lol beer. I have a couple of near new stock wrx turbos in the shed. You had me thinking :)

 
Interesting I like the sound of that. Share the knowledge old son

:cool:
I will when I really start working on it. I'm not sure where I was going with my comment lol, I had a couple beers yesterday. sorry
Lol beer. I have a couple of near new stock wrx turbos in the shed. You had me thinking :)
I'm probably going with a master power 76mm or a used precision if I can find one locally. I would even put a centrifugal blower on it if I can find one cheap enough, it would simplify alot of the plumbing. I am already running megasquirt fuel injection on the car so adding forced induction is really just a matter of fabricating everything and tuning it and I have the tools, garage and willpower to make it happen. I'm pulling my engine tommorow just to clean it up, but I'll pull it again when the weather is cooler to start fabricating. I'm hoping to keep the stock manifolds but I might need to weld up some custom headers out of schedule 40 piping.

 
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