thoughts about 540 BBF build up

Tony K, The crank preparation should be pretty similar with either rod except for the size of the journal, so the crank prep should be a similar price. The pistons for the big block chevy rods with 1.420" compression height are getting to be standard pieces that you can buy in JE SRP for example for about $425-500. This same piston should work with the 240 six cylinder rods. The only problem is the rods only have a .9751" pin diameter and they would need to be machined out and bushed. So by the time you do the rod machining for the six cylinder including resizing both ends, shotpeening, new rod bolts, etc. you would probably come close to breaking even. Then with a 4.44" bore you can have 523 cubic inches with the six cylinder rods or 513 cubic inches with the BBC eagle rods. 4.44 is a safer bore. All I'm saying is the price is going to just about break even and the big block chevy set-up will be alot sturdier. Keep in mind that article was written probably 15 years ago and the racing rods are WAY cheaper now than they were then. I'm not saying the six cylinder rods are a bad deal, just offering some other options that have become affordable in the last several years. Believe me I'm trying to work on a budget myself.

I even saw the entire 513 rotating assemble advertised recently including: eagle 4.140" crank, eagle 6.800" rods, JE SRP 1.42 flat top pistons, clevite bearings, and JE rings for $1299. That price is very difficult to beat with any kind of a bargain set-up.

wouldnt the load/stress on the cranktrain be less in a boat then in say a huge 4 x 4 or even a street/strip combo? After hearing of failures of the 514 crate motor I have my doubts about factory style I beam rods in high HP large cubic inch big block stroker combos.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
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Look what i found.This is the article in full.Hope this helps..

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker/540a.jpg

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker/540b.jpg

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker/540c.jpg

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker/540d.jpg

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker/540e.jpg

Mike_R, where did you find the 513 eagle assembly for $1200? That is almost too good to pass up and should have flat top pistons too.
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I saw them advertised in the Mustang "Race Pages" at a place called Wynne Speed.

I know I couldn't believe the prices either. I don't know if this was a special deal or an everyday price, but with rings and bearings included it's a real hard deal to beat. If you talk to them mention the advertisement in the Race Pages. They had real good individual prices advertised on the pistons, rods, and cranks too.

thanks tim for the article....wynne speed is in jackson,ms. sort of
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On 2002-01-02 20:48, qtrhors wrote:
wouldnt the load/stress on the cranktrain be less in a boat then in say a huge 4 x 4 or even a street/strip combo? After hearing of failures of the 514 crate motor I have my doubts about factory style I beam rods in high HP large cubic inch big block stroker combos.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
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When I read the article, it said he has one in his tow vehicle pulling a big ass boat with a total vehicle and trailer weight of 18,000lbs. No problema for tens of thousands of miles.
The author's credentials seem very solid, he has had lots of these motors with years on them. In fact a follow up piece reads "With the re-run of the 540 Ford story in the April 2001 issue of Hot Boat, you may remember the 1980 Bronco with the 540, used to tow my 38' offshore. Well, it now sports 80,000 miles on the odometer, and has yet to experience any mechanical difficulties. Since the original 1995 story, several hundred 540's have roared to life across the country with no failures reported. It has been a joy to help many guys fulfill their 540 dreams through the last 6 years, and fun to have been the author of Hot Boat's most popular tech story." Doubt if you want, but I think this is massive testimony to the strength of well prepped factory pieces.

It will be easier to buy a cast steel crank made for BBC rods and buy 6.8" BBC rods, but it certainly won't be the same cost. My guy offset grinds cranks for $175 and if I didn't bush the small ends, I would have $180 into my modified rods, a chunk of which is in the ARP Pro Wavelock bolts. So even today the dollars are materially different.

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'69 Mach 1 SCJ 428, toploader, Detroit locker 3.91
65 Fastback project, 422 Windsor C4 9" 4W disks





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: R Code on 1/4/02 2:30am ]</font>

Okay, now that this article has been posted and I read it, it turns out to be a different article than the article I was thinking of. It does sound like a pretty neat set-up that must be pretty durable.

Now with that being said, the issue of $$$. I wanted to try to gather the parts to build a similar set-up about 10 years ago and I was never able to come across a set of 240 six cylinder rods cheaply. If you already have a set of the 240 rods then you're in a pretty good position. You can have the rods all reconditioned and bushed and maybe have couple hundred in them. That's not a bad deal. If you have to buy the rods from a refurbisher you're probably looking at at least a couple hundred for the rods themselves. You add that to the $200 you spend on bushing resizing and good rod bolts and you're talking more like $400 for the set of rods. That makes the $380 Eagle H-beams look pretty good.

Some places will offset grind the crank for $175, as mentioned. But if they'll do the six cylinder sized journals for $175, they will also do the BBC journals for that much or possibly even less. Generally the less material removed the cheaper it is.

Also if you want to save some money in another area, go with 4.44" bore and not 4.500". The 4.44" pistons are more standard and cheaper. You're talking probably $450 for 4.44" vs $600 or more for 4.500". Plus the block would be less likely to need sonic testing with a 4.44" bore. $4.500" is pushing the outer limits and sonic testing is not cheap. Not every block will be capable of 4.500".

Pistons from Venolia direct(w/ spiral locks)-
Piston p/n 4881 $103.00 ea. (racers price)

Pins (not a Venolia part)-
BB Chevy .990" x 2.930" $14.85 ea.

Not cheap but the rep said w/ the shape of the dish and dome it has excellent quench characteristics and very detonation resistant w/ the 460 iron heads.

JL

Tim R

thanx for 540 article via E mail
after looking at that price sheet from Drew Marine I guess I will go elsewhere if ever I get a chance to go BBF in the stang. Know doubt they have a good product but you/I could build something satisfactory for cheaper.
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