Hot Rods What type of cars make the best gassers

Jim Oddy! Right you are! Where did I get the Frank from? One of the regulars at Etown that Jim raced? I recall 5 or 6 of those guys meeting often at Englishtown, right about when NHRA merged the 'Gas & Altered' classes. Those boys put on a show that was unbelievable, wicked cars.
Thanks Larry.[/QUOTE]

OJ, I'm guessing you kind of combined Jim Oddy and Frank Mazi. They both ran Opel GT Gassers at about the same time. But that actually sounds like something I'd do.

 

Ok, I would like to get a chevy just because I have a 396 and a muncie m20 from my uncle already. And I did the math for my truck, if 8th weighs about 3000 pounds with the 360, that's would put it in A/GS I think.

As a side note I'm still not 100% sure what size the fe in my truck is, when I pulled the oil pan off it yesterday to drain the old crap out of it I noticed a big 59 on the block, does anyone know what that means?

 

You pretty much have to measure the bore/stroke to positively identify a FE unless you have the cross-bolted-mains 427; there's no useful casting marks on the block. All of them except the first-year 332 have '352' cast into the block.... And even then, if the block has been bored you still may not know. If the motor has hydraulic lifters, that narrows it down to the 352, 360 (truck-only, 352 with the 390 bore), 390, 410 (390 bore with a 428 crank), and the 428. The 332, 1960-only 352 hipo, 406 and the mighty 427 were all solid-lifters-only as there's no oil galleys for hydraulic lifters in the block except for the very rare '68-only 427 used in the Cougar. That version still had the cross-bolts, so there's no mistaking for another engine size.

There's a few other specific identifiers, but less useful; the early motors had camshaft thrust 'buttons' (similar to the SBC) but if the motor has been rebuilt, most will be converted the later style thrust plate. And the 428 SCJ block (another rare one) had extra material cast into the main bearing webs, but this is a real hard one to spot.

 

That engine looks pretty darn clean inside. Was there any junk in the bottom of the oil pan? If not, you may have a great start to turning that truck into a gasser. What transmission is behind it? Stick or automatic?

 

The engine has Been rebuilt, I thought that the 40 year old oil would have turned to sludge I guess I was wrong. It's got a 3 speed toploader behind it.

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check over on fordification.com

 

Thanks. I checked over there and found nothing. I Googled It and ended up on some website like cobrajet.com or something, on their website it said if there's two bolts in the passenger side of the block then it's a 427 and those are their for machining. Mine has those. But all blocks need to be machined so wouldn't they all have them?

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Steve that Hillman Minx was a popular car in the NW when I was there in the late '60s. I don't believe I have ever even seen one here in this part of the mid west. I do see a Willys Aero on occasion believe it or not.

About anything light made it into the gas classes, hell even heavy pigs made it into the gas classes. But light cars were the most popular. Back when I first made my way back here there was a 4 door '59 Simca that was running most of the non sanctioned tracks. I am sure that it must have been a 30 dollar car back then and the guy just happened to have a small block something or other that needed a home.

 

You don't have a 427, you have the normal 2-bolt main bearing caps. The 427 has three external bolt heads above the pan rails on each side for the main bearing cross bolts. There was supposedly a handful of early-63 406 motors that also had cross-bolted mains. The 'common' FEs (in order of numbers built) are the 390, 360, and 352, followed somewhat distantly by the 428. The FE was pretty much gone from passenger cars by '69, with a lone 390 offered in the full-size in '70 and the Mustang which still got the 428 CJ (but not the 390). By '71, the FE was completely gone from cars but soldiered on in trucks until '76.

Now, Ford did put casting numbers on some blocks, but the same number could be used on multiple sizes with different bore sizes (which is why the numbers aren't worth much and you really need the measure the bore). Look here: http://www.erareplicas.com/427man/engine/partnums.htm
One indicator that may help is motor mount bosses on the block. The pre-65 blocks only had two bolts for the motor mounts, the '65-up had three. If you find four threaded bolt bosses, it's a truck block.

You can identify the crankshaft though; Ford did put numbers on those. Ford used three stroke lengths; 3.5" for the 332/352/360, 3.78" for the 390, 406, and 427, and 3.98" for the 410/428. Casting numbers here:
http://www.fordification.com/tech/castingnumbers-FEcrank.htm
Same thing goes for the heads. http://www.hotrodreference.com/81/ford-cylinder-head-casting-numbers/

Cylinder head numbers will probably be the best indicator of year of manufacture, as least telling you how old it isn't. Many of the head castings are pretty much the same, with valve sizes being the difference and you can usually fit larger valves.

 

You don't need a GM body to run a 396. That is the beauty of hot rodding you can shove anything into whatever you can make it fit in. LOL

 

Yeah, the west coast had a bigger import presence for some reason. Used to see all sorts of weird imports. Some of it was military guys bringing home cars purchased overseas (with all the bases in the NW) but many of the local dealers took on imports as a 'side' business.

 

I'm not much of a fan of gm, and I'm one of those "keep it pure" guys. So I don't want a chevy in a ford or visa versa. The only off brand motors I would stick in something are really a nailhead or a hemi. That's about it.

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Ok thank you I guess I'm going to pull the pan off again to read the crank. Thanks.

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I was never aware that a Buick or a MOPAR was an off brand. Glad you schooled me on that.

 

Lol, I English well. I would rather have a ford in a ford.

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Around southern Ky, northern Tennessee most gassers were 48-51 Anglia, 33, 37 then 40-41 Willis some being 4 door body's with the rear doors welded shut, 50-52 Austin, Henry J. around here all these had straight axles, then there were a few Chevy II, Falcons etc but not many, also had a deceased friend that ran a 55 Chevy in D the E gas with the stock ft.end, 327 and Hilborn injection.

 

You really have to decide what body style you like, and then see if you can find one that's reasonable. No one can make that choice for you here.
But we CAN criticize the hell out of it. LOL ,so make it good.
...and no fake spindle mounts on the front, huh?

 

What is a fake spindle mount?

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Damn, that's nice!

 

a late model wheel or new wheel that gives the appearance more or less of a spoked spindle mount American but has a flange to bole to your hub.

Here is a spindle mount American


And here is a fake


Gassers didn't run spindle mounts anyway. Spindle mounts were normally found on altereds and dragsters.

I am not a purest when it comes to brand just so you will know right up front and can ignore anything that I have to say about going fast. I still stuff the fastest or the bestest that I have in anything I can find to stuff it in. I stuffed an inline out of a gremlin in a '54 Ford once, a 440 wedge in an OT Chevrolet. My '46 Coupe was powered by Cadillac, it had a Ford for a while but the caddy was just right. My A will be GM powered, probably my small block just because my big olds won't run on pump gas and both are currently in my stable. This is the short list and someone once said that I would stuff a 318 Cummins in a Toyota of that was what I had. They were correct of course.

That's hot rodding 101 you take the best of what you have and stuff it in the best of what you have. I get brand consciousness, well I get that it exists, I don't for the life of me understand it. What I understand is rebellion, hot rodding was built on it, just because it has gone main stream doesn't change its roots.

OK off my soap box.

Lets see more of the old jail bar pickup. I like 'em.

 

- too bad that you are in such a hurry and do no take the time to search a given site for the information that you are looking for - example - fordification.com - has a technical section that covers most info under engine/transmission Ford V8 identification and Ford FE engine block casting numbers, etc. also- www.mre-books.com has casting numbers info too - that 59 casting number that you posted a pic of is only one casting number on block - take a longer look.

 

Cool I never heard of wheels like that. I assume there is some special braking system in order to do a burnout then.

And yes, I agree to what you say about motor swaps. It was how it was done back then. I just don't get the people who build big expensive show cars and trucks, like a bronco, and put a ls in it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of buying a ford?

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I guess I was getting fed up with my phone, the page is tiny and really tedious to navigate. I will hopefully find stuff when I go on it on a desktop.

Thanks for the help.

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Not really, they only had rear brakes. And they did a burnout the same way I do, which is to put it in high gear, and give it some gas....

(I have front brakes, but no line lock)

 

That's very interesting. Either way I think I'm sticking to normal wheels as I plan on driving on the street where I'm pretty sure front breaks are required. I don't have 3 grand to spend on just wheels anyway.

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yeah, you want normal wheels. And they don't need to cost much...I have a couple hundred bucks in the wheels on my car. Skinny old aluminum front wheels are kind of hard to find.

 

Hows about this little Red Monster

 

It's pretty cool, I can't say I've ever seen one in before.

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I've grown found to tri-5 T-Birds as gassers. They may be a little out the junker price range, but I love the look of a nose high front bumper-less T-Birb with some Hillborn stacks coming out of the hood and some slicks poking out of the rear wheel wells.

 

Here's my '46 done that you could use until Duellym gets his pics. It will be used to tow my Anglia and Champ Car projects. Stock suspension but 3" chopped. Work your magic: