2.7 Hot Rod rebuild advice.

[MFX]

Hey guys,

Some of you may have seen my Home Built Hot Rod build vids on youTube.
The body work is coming to a close and it is coming time to sort out the engine.
Currently I have a 2.7 with the typical pulled head studs according to the previous owner. I have never personally tried to start it.
I looked at many different engine options. Originally I thought of putting a 3.2 into it and be done with it, but due to the complete lack of engines available that has been side lined.
The other factor is, I have come this far with the car now (body wise) it would be a cop out to just put in a running engine.

So all of that brings me to my current situation, which is I am looking at building up the 2.7 I have.
My rough plan is to build a nice hot rod engine with somewhere between 200-250hp. I am not looking for a high revving twitchy unreliable track engine. The car is planned to be a nice street car that does the odd track day, and possibly a tarmac rally.

I have a very good machine shop to take care of that side of things.

What I would like some opinions on are;

Can I get that sort of reliable power from a 2.7? Can I get what I am looking for with the standard P's and C's?

Is it worth taking it out to a 2.8?

Also I would be keen to get the engine in and running with the current CIS to get it back on the road, with the plan to develop it to an EFI in the future (possibly with ITB's).

Any suggestions and recommendations are more than welcome. I have searched on here and read what I could find including Wayne's books.

Thanks,

Jeff.

[lvporschepilot]

Assuming you have a 7r case, which you probably do, the mag case can be very strong as long as it is shuffle pinned. That said, it's my understanding the consensus of the community is to only consider shuffle pinning if you're shooting for north of 250bhp from one of these cases. There are plenty of instances with single plugged engines running raised compression, 92mm barrels, 37 or 38 intake ports/36 exhaust ports, GE60 or SC60 type cams, and MFI or EFI, headers, making in the mid 230s at the wheels with these motors, which translates to around 250 or so reliable flywheel bhp. For a light 74 couple that's great power to weight.

If you wanted to go a bit further you could twin plug, run higher compression with 92mm cylinders, and open the intake ports to say 39-40mm intake ports, 37-38mm exhaust, run 47mm intake valves, run 46mm EFI with 1 5/8 headers and make 250+ at the wheels or around 280 crank. I would undoubtedly shuffle pin a motor such as this though.

[pemz0r]

I am running a 2.7 e cam 9.8:1 with webers.

I prefer the E cam low end power band, it's great for autoX and around town driving.

The drawback to mag cases, is that they need machine work
shuffle pinned, bypass, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqfzCsiOE4M

[al lkosmal]

Jeff,
I've been following your posts/videos and really like your DIY approach. I am away from the shop right now, but feel free to contact me regarding 2.7 hot rod engine builds. I've done a few, both with Webers and with EFI/ITBs (my preference) and think that the 2.7 RS+ spec engine is one of the best for canyon carving, etc.

X-Faktory - Home

regards,
al

[MFX]

Thanks guys. I need to qualify, that I am definitely more about reliability over power, and I am not looking at spending my life savings on this engine. I am more looking at some sensible mods to the engine I have. I.e. if my P's and C's are Ok, can I reuse them and what sort of power could I expect with some good cooling and intake mods (ITB's and EFI), along with a cam etc?
Could I keep the current cylinders (if they are OK) and just get higher comp pistons?

Pemz0r. What sort of power do you think you are running? What did you have to replace internally?

Al you have a PM.

[lvporschepilot]

You can build a great street engine for a reasonable amount. I would not recommend reusing your low compression pistons and cylinders. The cylinders can be reused but they'll need to be sent out to be serviced.

If it were me and I weren't looking to go crazy, I'd go with slightly higher compression pistons with 92mm QSC cylinders (there's a P& C kit available but make sure the barrels measure ok), retain single plug, open the intake/exh ports a bit (say 37mm in, 36mm exh), run a DC40 cam (valve springs req), then an ITB EFI setup to run fuel and spark. You're super reliable and in the 250bhp range with such an arrangement. This setup won't require it to be revved too high thus reliability and longevity.

[MFX]

Originally Posted by lvporschepilot

You can build a great street engine for a reasonable amount. I would not recommend reusing your low compression pistons and cylinders. The cylinders can be reused but they'll need to be sent out to be serviced.

If it were me and I weren't looking to go crazy, I'd go with slightly higher compression pistons with 92mm QSC cylinders (there's a P& C kit available but make sure the barrels measure ok), retain single plug, open the intake/exh ports a bit (say 37mm in, 36mm exh), run a DC40 cam (valve springs req), then an ITB EFI setup to run fuel and spark. You're super reliable and in the 250bhp range with such an arrangement. This setup won't require it to be revved too high thus reliability and longevity.

That actually sounds just like what the doctor ordered. I suppose it is up to the tear down now to see what is actually salvageable.

[Mick_D]

Originally Posted by lvporschepilot

If it were me and I weren't looking to go crazy, I'd go with slightly higher compression pistons with 92mm QSC cylinders (there's a P& C kit available but make sure the barrels measure ok), retain single plug, open the intake/exh ports a bit (say 37mm in, 36mm exh), run a DC40 cam (valve springs req), then an ITB EFI setup to run fuel and spark. You're super reliable and in the 250bhp range with such an arrangement. This setup won't require it to be revved too high thus reliability and longevity.

This sounds great, but you're looking at over $10K just in parts, before machining. I dunno how much the cams will cost, but Clewett's ITB/EFI kit runs $7300 or so and as set of pistons and cylinders will easily be $4K. I guess nothing's cheap any more

[MFX]

I am not sure if I will go down the path of valves.
I have been talking to Al ^ and his suggestion sounds good.

EFI/ITB intake/fuel
E-cams
9.5:1 JEs
SSIs
Dansk 2in-1 out muffler

My car is a 74 but it has a 75 5 blade fan engine in it. It currently has some sort of aftermarket headers on it (with no heat exchangers) which I can investigate further into what they are when I pull down the engine (the engine is currently wedged in behind my make shift spray booth). My plan is to make my own heat exchangers for the headers I have and to cut open and modify the standard exhaust also. I was also talking to Al, mentioning that I will probably get the engine running with the CIS back on it to start with, and then progress to the ITB's and EFI, as I think that would make for some interesting episodes, and it gets me into the car sooner

I suppose now I need to finish painting the car, so I can get the engine out and start tearing it down. Then I will be able to see what I am dealing with.

Jeff.

[lvporschepilot]

If you're going to stick with CIS at first, do a bit of research regarding max cam specs you can run with that arrangement, but I think you will be limited to about a DC10 or so.