Full Effort Flathead (Keith Dorton Build)

[FL&WVMIKE]

Very high end and expensive build for Land Speed Record racing.
VERY informative Youtube video on the build. Very cool stuff!!!
My apologies if it has already been posted. I don't get here much, but thought many of you guys would get appreciate it.

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

[ford38v8]

Miike, that was fabulous! Thanks for posting!

[Zeke3]

A great video!

[Bored&Stroked]

The video and associated build is very interesting - and a lot of the work and the associated custom parts are quite impressive (and costly). I can see modern build techniques all over it - dry sump, vacuum pump, belt-drive, needle bearings on the CAM, etc..

From my experience, I can't imagine the amount of money that was spent getting to that 247 HP number. A lot of high-end type work and extremely high-dollar custom components . . . though the final HP number does not justify it in my mind.

The top-end is what is preventing a higher horsepower number - as the ports are actually quite small (porting was quite conservative in my mind) and the intakes are not big enough. It won't flow enough to make the HP it should.

But, we also need to consider that it may make more HP than they are showing - at higher RPMs. Lots of folks really don't share their true dyno numbers (usually because they are not as impressive as they claim - but maybe not in this case). So who knows the final truth.

Also, why all the work to setup the two 4-barrels and the tunnel ram - when a mechanical 'Hilborn Style' injector would probably have delivered the same or more HP at a much better cost.

Anyway, I hate to be such a critic of a really cool and documented/shared build, but if I was the customer, I'd be looking for the HP to be a lot more than 247. I know . . . easy to say from my chair and my computer screen.

Lastly, I wish them well at Bonneville and I hope they are able to set a record - given the MPH mentioned, should not be that difficult and they deserve some success after all the $$$ and time spent on this build.

Okay - back to my normal day . . . LOL

[Ronnieroadster]

Sadly a normally aspirated flathead running at Bonneville needs to make a LOT more HP to get any kind of speed. Especially in a full body coupe which is the style of car the engine is going into. Just getting to 130 MPH is going to be very difficult.
Ronnieroadster

[Bored&Stroked]

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Originally Posted by Ronnieroadster

Sadly a normally aspirated flathead running at Bonneville needs to make a LOT more HP to get any kind of speed. Especially in a full body coupe which is the style of car the engine is going into. Just getting to 130 MPH is going to be very difficult.
Ronnieroadster

I'm with you . . . was just trying to be "nice".

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Ronnieroadster

Sadly a normally aspirated flathead running at Bonneville needs to make a LOT more HP to get any kind of speed. Especially in a full body coupe which is the style of car the engine is going into. Just getting to 130 MPH is going to be very difficult.
Ronnieroadster

Although the classes have been reconfigured since then, we turned 136.77 in the equivalent class with a coupe in 1954.
We had a LOT more engine than they have.

Did you notice the 5 main crank that they seemed to completely ignore mentioning. In the video, they appear to not use that feature. That is one thing we never had back then.

They do have a lot of nice stuff in that engine though.

[FL&WVMIKE]

I think this is partly where 'reality' and 'legend' meet. It's hard to flow enough air through the stock block flathead architecture to LEGITIMATELY make strong power numbers, especially at 6k rpm at 313ci. They tested on a short 1 mile stretch of El Mirage with a very restrictive air cleaner setup on a very finicky induction, and came within 10 mph of the record... so they are likely competitive. We'll see how they do. It will be interesting to see what happens if they can successfully re-route the exhaust like they did at first. I am curious about the exhaust manifolds they used. I'd think with the effort they put into the induction, the exhaust would be a bit more streamlined.

Not sure if that was a true 5 main crank, or just a lightened area? The rules did say an OEM factory block with OEM deck height. I think it's a cool project. But truth be told, I also expected a bit more out of it. I guess those old engines are just hard to move ample air through.

[Ziggster]

Watched that twice. Some ingenious engineering IMHO. Wished they would have shown the other intake they tried as well. Is the “secret” trying to create a swirl effect in the head? Curious as they wanted to keep that from view. Will watch the related vid on a “stk” engine.

[Ol' Ron]

Horsepower is determined by the amount of air you can get into the engine. One reason why a blower works so good. Back in 08 I built a 294ci engine for a fellow that was going to run an Eaton blower aay for street. The engine was the same as afew othhers Ive built including the Hydro engine I dynowed at 174 @4800 rpm. When he got the dyno results the engine had produced 235hp@ 4500 rpm on 3.5 pounds of boost. No fancy stuff in this engine, just allot of air.
Gramps

[chain drive]

where can you get the rear main seal like the one in the viedo?

[Ronnieroadster]

Originally Posted by chain drive

where can you get the rear main seal like the one in the viedo?

That's actually a modified chevy seal to use one the crank seal surface diameter needs to be reduced to the gm size. For a street engine its not worth the effort and additional expense to do the modification.
Ronnieroadster

[chain drive]

thank you ron no gm parts for me

[Ronnieroadster]

Originally Posted by chain drive

thank you ron no gm parts for me

I say no agent orange