SOHC in a Bird

The coolest car I ever saw was a '57 Bird SOHC 427 drag car. Disregarding cost for a minute, could I put a SOHC + C6 in a small Bird street machine? Could I find the parts to make it driveable?



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I'm not authority on this, but remember back in the early 70's being in a fellow's shop and seeing a SOHC sitting in the corner. It had been in the owner's '55 Crown Victoria and taken out because the owner could not make it run well at lower RPMs to make it streetable. Technology has come a long way since then. Now if you want to throw enough money at it just about anything is possible.

















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Yes it will fit you will have to make motor mounts, and if it is a crate engine you will still have to take it apart and go throught and retime the chain and o other modes, there is a guy with Ford Motor sport who is an expert on this subject SOHC's his name escapes me at the moment good luck$$$$$$$$$$



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The gentleman you're thinking of is John Vermeersch. He has (or at least, HAD) a

'61 Starliner that was 'Cammer powered.

VERY cool.



On the subject of that SOHC early 'Bird,

though, you're in for a lot of work and

a lot of money - and as for "driveable",

that's a relative term if ever I heard

one. I will say, however, that the SOHC

mill was NEVER intended for a street

environment. Indeed, Ford only had to

build 500 of the things to homologate it

for NASCAR, but declined to do so. I'd

say, offhand, that the answer to finding

parts to make it 'drivable' would be NO,

or at the very least, you'd be looking

at some obscene amounts of cash.



A modern 429 or 460 could make just as much

power (especially the stroker models) with

much less expense. A mild 460 could easily

crank out nearly 500 horsepower with the

right parts and still be very drivable.

500 hp isn't quite SOHC territory, but in

a small early 'Bird, it'd be hard to keep

up with.



Of course, if you're interested only in

'shock value,' the 'Cammer is second to

none.





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