406 Cleveland Shortblock

[MeZapU]

A friend of mine has been wanting do build a different engine for his fox mustang. He decided he wanted to go the Cleveland route and started picking my brain about a combo. After him getting a nice core engine off of Craigslist, we pulled it down to the virgin shortblock and pretty much only reused the block and some of the hardware. After almost a year he amassed the funds to buy the parts to build himself a stroker engine. Several custom parts to get a low boosted compression ratio. .020" overbore, Ross forged dished pistons, Eagle Forged H-beam rods and forged neutral balance crank. Lots of machine work and blueprinting. So glad I have all the tools to assemble. Even camshaft bearings. Saves time and money vs having extra machine shop expenses, and I can control every aspect of the process.

Still unsure as to what heads/valvetrain he will end up with but I'm sure we will be commensurate to utilize the shortblock to its potential.

Just thought people here might like to see some pictures. Stir up some ideas.

 

[Totalled]

Oooo... Very nice! Are those t-myer cam bearings?

 

[mycoses]

Looks like a Windsor crank so beware of interchange problems. I had a 393C stroker w/ Windsor crank and had some problems. If you use a Cleveland timing gear set you also need a special spacer and watch the contact w/ the keyway. I found the keyway only contacted the crank gear a very small amount so I went with a special Windsor –cleveland timing set with built in spacer on the front of the crank gear for better keyway contact. The Windsor snout keyway did not fill up the entire slot on the crank gear . less keyway contact less stability. Windsor crank snout is a different diameter than Cleveland so push the crank gear on the snout before assemble to check for a tight fit on the snout. If you use a Cleveland damper check the fit on the snout and make sure the pulleys line up before engine installation. You may have to use a Windsor damper with a spacer to get proper snout fit and alignment of pulleys. The Cleveland keyway is one piece and the Windsor is three pieces. Just sayin’

 

[MeZapU]

They are just some Clevite camshaft bearings. The oil restrictors are in the block. The rest of the bearings are their high perf versions that look all tarnished but are supposed to look that way.

The timing chain set we will be using is a Rollmaster CS3130. Made for this crank and this combination.

 

[barnett468]

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please feel free to correct me if im seeing something incorrectly, and im not trying to criticize the work, but it looks like the front cam bearing is in so far the the oil hole in the journal is exposed on the right side of the photo which will cause the oil pressure to be lower than it otherwise would.

it also looks like that hole extends all the way out to the front of the block.

.

 

[MeZapU]

The bearing is flush with the front of the cam bearing bore. Sometimes these journals are machined as such that you cannot completely cover the 4 o-clock hole. It's not a big of a deal IMO as some people would lead you to believe as long as the camshaft endplay is in spec.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Did you consider a 1 piece rear main sdeal conversion, or are you using a standar 2 piece seal, if so did you go with something better than the black felpro?

A number of stroker cleveland users including myself have experienced rear seal problems in recent years. Mostly when running Scat cranks. The better brown seal Felpro 2902 IIRC worked for me on my recent repair this summer, and a new company is making it and selling it these days since Felpro discontinued.

If I build anouther, the block will be machined for a windsor 1 piece rear main seal.

Look like you are doing a great job

 

[MeZapU]

Well, it's not my engine and the owner didn't want to spring for the premium rear main seal. I've never had bad luck with installing the std seals so I'll see how it treats him. Come to think of it, I've never had bad luck with any of the two piece rear main seals. On any Ford engine. I honestly do not understand why they are notoriously denigrated. I believe it stems from improper installation and attention to detail. They all worked fine when the factory installed them... The crank is a forged Eagle.

 

[barnett468]

The bearing is flush with the front of the cam bearing bore. Sometimes these journals are machined as such that you cannot completely cover the 4 o-clock hole. It's not a big of a deal IMO as some people would lead you to believe as long as the camshaft endplay is in spec.

ok, got ya, thanks . . yeah a small leak wont make much diff and in fact, it will just oil the end of the cam and the cam chain a little more!

 

[MeZapU]

There are oil restrictors feeding the cam journals anyways.

 

[basstrix]

That shorblock is looking like an awesome foundation for some major HP! If it was my build, the only thing I'd add is lifter bushings with 1/16" holes. I saw he's installed the restrictor kit...the bushings will cure the top end oiling issues suffered by the cleveland and make it bulletproof up to 7000 RPM.

Looking forward to more pictures as the build continues!

BT

 

[MeZapU]

This build was planned with a blow through turbo setup in the future. Hence the low compression dished pistons and the rpm limit will be around 6000ish with a custom street grind solid roller cam. With that set of variables it was deemed that bushing the lifter bores would not be necessary and the engine would support around 700hp behind a C-4 with a 2800 stall.

 

[DK73]

Wow that's one beauteful engien build!!! Regards Lars:coolphotos::goodpost::bravo: