Is the Proformanceunlimited 400HP 390 Turn-Key a fair deal?

[sideoilerfe]

That's a lot of compression for iron heads running on todays crappy fuel. Hopefully premium fuel will be sufficient. Pretty good cam you got there. It's very similar to the one I have. Mine is a little smaller though. I would think yours would make its most power between 2000 - 5000 RPM.

[robroy]

Hi Thunderfoot and Sideoilerfe,

Yes I will definitely be posting lots of photos and videos of #50 just waking up to the dawn of its second life! I have a pretty good video camera and I'll get some video of 0-60's from inside the cab, and from the perspective of a bystander.

Sideoilerfe, yes it's pretty high compression, but according to Steve it will be perfectly happy with the pump fuel, as long as I buy the premium (92/91 octane) stuff. He probably knows since he's built lots of these before! But I agree that it does seem pretty darn high.

Thanks for the comments on the cam shaft! 2,000 to 5,000 RPM sounds like a good fun range, especially since with the gears I've got in the truck now (3.73), it won't take more than an instant to get over 2,000 RPM anyways.

So if this cam shaft is similar to yours, how would you describe the characteristics of your engine with it installed?

Thanks for all the great advice and encouragement.
-Robroy

[DuckRyder]

I'd call it a mild to medium cam, without all the specifications it is difficult to say with certainty.

(intake centerline and lobe separation in particular.)

The intake closing is what determines the dynamic compression, but I'd say you shouldn't have any problems with 10.0:1 on 92. Mine has 10.6:1 and gets by on 93. Intake closing is 68 degrees on mine.

[sideoilerfe]

So if this cam shaft is similar to yours, how would you describe the characteristics of your engine with it installed?

Well, our engines are different. I have a stock cast iron intake, stock valvetrain and a 600cfm Holley. It's got 9.3:1 compression compared to your 10:1. I have MSD 6A and the MSD pro billet distributer. At first I just used the 6A box with the Durospark distributor but went to the MSD and honestly, the distributer made the bigger difference than the initial electronic conversion did! It's more responsive with the MSD distributor.

The cam is pretty good. It is a Crane 343941.It starts to wake up at about 1800 RPMs. Now, keep in mind my truck is a hi-boy with 4.10 gears and we all know these are not light. I towed a 3000 LB trailer up a fairly steep but steady hill and I shifted from 2nd to 3rd at about 2500, then when I got to about 2200 RPMs in third, I gave it about 2/3 throttle. Then at 2600, I stood on it. I had no problems with that hill towing that weight. It wasn't long before i shifted into 4th at 60 mph. I kept it at 60 at that point because it was fast enough with that much weigh and drum brakes. It never pinged or sputtered. It's a strong workhorse of an engine. I've hot rodded it before and it's got some balls. I've bounced it off of 5800 a couple of times. I don't recommend that with stock valve train but it runs pretty good. BTW, I have exhaust manifolds with single exhaust.

The next FE build will be better. Aluminum heads/intake, roller cam, stroker crank, ect.
I've towed the same trailer up the same grade with my 68 F250 2WD stock 360/C6 3.73 gears and it did a steady 42 MPH.

[robroy]

Hi Robert and Sideoilerfe,

Robert, thanks for letting me know about running the high compression engines on pump gas! And for your analysis of the cam. I didn't ask for all the specs because I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand them yet. But this engine has really piqued my interest in learning more about how engines work.

Sideoilerfe, that's very interesting to hear about your engine and your experiences with it! That sounds like lots of fun.

Thanks guys!
-Robroy

[fomocoguy]

If you really want to know how your engine would do in a High Boy with 4.10 gears I'd be happy to borrow it from you for a while and give you all sorts of good feedback on how it pulls the ol' crew around. I would be willing to do that for you. Really, I would.

[robroy]

Hey FomocoGuy, thanks for your generous offer to save me the bother of breaking it in!

The engine has been within fifteen miles of my house now since Friday, and I've faced some obstacles that have kept me from picking it up! On Friday I was stock at work until 9PM. Then this morning I took my work truck to the freight yard, but the engine wouldn't fit in the back! The top just went *bonk* in to my camper shell!

When Proformance Unlimited gave me the crate measurements they didn't mention that their the numbers didn't include the pallet! So it was about five inches too high to sneak in the back of my truck. Can you imagine that? Standing there, only feet away from the engine, knowing that I'd have to leave it for another whole day?

So I took the camper shell off after work today and I'll hit the place again in the morning!

As I understand it the box will include a DVD with the live run video on it, and my top priority will be to load that on my computer and share it with ya'll. I can't wait to see and hear it!

-Robroy

[robroy]

The engine is now in the back of my truck! It came with a packet of papers, including a CD with more photos and a video on it.

The video is 5MB and my web server's Internet connection isn't too fast, so you'll need to be patient. Here it is:

http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/Num50_390.wmv

I'll post the other pictures (including photos of the internal parts) and some photos of the moment I opened the crate soon!

Thanks to everybody who helped me pick this beauty out.
-Robroy

[SteveC]

that monster sounds awsome

[stangconv]

Looks and Sounds AWESOME!!

Nice work!

[sideoilerfe]

Cool. I like the mustang they painted on the outside wall!!!

Congratulations.

[robroy]

Good morning! Thanks for the nice comments guys.

I find myself watching the video on constant repeat! My girlfriend was most impressed with Doug's New Jersey accent and didn't seem inclined to sit with me through 1,000 video iterations.

What do ya'll think that funny sound is right when it first kicks over? And does anybody else notice that it sounds like the idle is surging up and down a little bit? This could just be an artifact of the audio recording method, since I don't see the tach' wiggling at all.

Thanks again!
-Robroy

[fomocoguy]

What do ya'll think that funny sound is right when it first kicks over? And does anybody else notice that it sounds like the idle is surging up and down a little bit? This could just be an artifact of the audio recording method, since I don't see the tach' wiggling at all.

Thanks again!
-Robroy

I'm pretty sure that sound is the belt sqealing that they've got running the water pump. It's pobably an old worn belt they throw on all the test engines; I wouldn't sweat it. As for the idle, I wouldn't worry about that until you actually hear it in person. I bet it's just like you said, a funny recording. Anyways, congrats! That thing sounds mean. Now I want to get going on building one....

[DuckRyder]

I think the sound at the beginning is the starter, there is no transmission or throwout fork grommit/rubber to muffle it.

The idle sounds like a mild cam lope, perfectly normal for a 400HP 390 and part of the reason that it sounds so good... You can probably tune most of it out if you want, although I wouldn't.

[Thunderfoot]

You're going to have some Fuuuuuuun with that

All sounds normal there to me too.

I like how he has the pipes through the wall with the mustang painting