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Half-Price Hardware: How To Build A Budget 347 Stroker Motor (cont.)
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Pro Comp also supplied the cylinder heads. They're close copies of an
Edelbrock Victor Jr. casting, giving them a large 215cc intake-port
volume. Troy Bowen at Ford Performance Solutions set up these heads with
the proper spring heights for Probe. He also did the valve job and a
small amount of bowl porting on these units.
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The heads were extensively CNC ported, to include all ports and the
combustion chambers. As you can see here, the CNC program ran out of
casting material to whittle at the outer floor of the exhaust runner,
but that shouldn't amount to anything.
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A glance at the combustion chamber in the Pro Comp heads shows the
2.055x1.600 stainless steel valves and CNC-machined witness lines. With
a modern chamber, these should prove to be fast-burning, high-motion
heads.
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Here's something different--a Funnel Web single-plane intake manifold,
as built by the Parker company of New Zealand and supplied by Pro Comp.
As Probe stated, "It's supposed to work great if you can fit it into a
car." By that they mean it's a rather tall intake, so plan on a scoop
atop your 5-inch-rise hood. The intake is fitted with bosses for
injection or nitrous, along with drill-out fittings to allow a
rear-water crossover pipe.
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There's nothing secret about putting the rotating assembly in the budget
347's block, so we're skipping the assembly photos this time around. The
block is a 1974 production casting, which makes it distinctly stronger
than a late-model, thin-wall, 5.0 casting, but not as beefy as a modern
aftermarket block (nor anywhere near as pricey). This block took a
4.040-inch bore, which isn't unexpected in a block this old.
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At a hopeful 500 hp inside a stock two-bolt block, Probe opted to
install one of its steel, blanchard-ground main stud girdles. The steel
has expansion characteristics similar to the block's main bearing caps,
which should provide some main-bearing rigidity.
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Several good aftermarket timing chains are available for small-block
Fords, and Probe uses a variety of them in its engines. Probe engines
usually come with a mechanical fuel-pump eccentric. It's a must with a
mechanical fuel pump, naturally, but doesn't hurt a thing should an
electric fuel pump be used.
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June and "Pinto" were the two Probe techs who assembled the budget 347.
June fit the cylinder heads and, as shown here, he likes to do this with
the engine on its side. He thinks it's easier, and stray stuff doesn't
fall down into the short-block that way.
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The Pro Comp cylinder heads are fitted with 1/2-inch head-bolt holes,
while the early block has the smaller 7/16-inch bolt holes filled with
like-sized ARP studs. To retain some stud support, these shouldered
washers were fitted to all head-stud holes.
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Degreeing the cam and dressing the valvetrain was also standard stuff,
so photographically we'll again jump to conclusions. The pushrods came
in at the 7.200-inch range, which is perfectly normal. The rocker arms
are 1.6-ratio Probe roller-tip, roller-trunion aluminum units.
Valvespring pressures are 130 pounds on the seat--we'll see how that
works on the dyno at 7,800 rpm.
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June also enjoys mating the water pump and timing cover on the bench,
then fitting the assembly to the short-block. The water pump is made in
the USA and sold by Probe as a private-label part. Probe's been selling
this water pump for three years and none have come back, so it seems to
be a good pump.
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With the engine just about assembled and with little chance of stray
parts falling into it, the oil pan was installed. The first step was to
install the oil-pump pickup, which attaches to one main-cap stud and the
oil pump at the other end.
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As with all small-block Fords, the oil-pan gaskets and rubber end seals
should be carefully aligned and given a touch of sealant. Pay attention
to getting these gaskets flat and interlocked as necessary to avoid oil
leaks.
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Bolting the big Funnel Web single plane into place was straightforward.
We suppose the bolt holes in the manifold are elongated to accommodate
large angle-milling cuts.
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During our photo shoot, the final fitment was a Pro Comp distributor.
It's another budget part (you'll need to assemble your own wire-terminal
ends), but it's said to have a good magnetic pickup and other internals.
For dyno duty, we'll fit either a set of Probe's aluminum valve covers
or use our usual Comp Cams polymer covers. Furthermore, the water pump
might come off in favor of an electric unit. Either way, it promises to
be fun.
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Barry Grant/Demon
Dept. 5.0
1450 McDonald Rd.
Dahlonega, GA
30533
(706) 864-8544
www.barrygrant.com
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Coast High Performance
Dept. 5.0
2555 W. 237th St.
Torrance, CA
90505
(310) 784-1010
www.coasthigh.com
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Ed Iskenderian Racing Cams
Dept. 5.0
16020 S. Broadway
Gardena, CA
90248
(323) 770-0930
www.iskycams.com
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Federal-Mogul/Fel-Pro
Dept. 5.0
26555 Northwestern Hwy.
Southfield, MI
48034
(248) 354-7700
www.federalmogul.com
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Parker Racing Components
Dept. 5.0
P.O. Box 187
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia
07 4122 1636
www.parkerracing.com.au
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