Thread: 28 Ford with Big Block Chevy Newbie Questions

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Hey guys! Proud to be part of a new car club. Mostly I work on VW Diesels and some gasoline V-dubs but my father-in-law just gave my wife and I his 28 Ford Roadster. Got a bunch of questions but go easy on me because I'm new to anything with more then 4 cylinders and a carb.

402" L-78 Chevy High performance block (396 bored over??)
8.5:1 C/R
Forged steel crank, pistons, and rods, 4 bolt mains
Wieand 6-71 Blower
Twin Holley 600CFM Carbs
4 speed manual tranny. (damn those ratios are close)
Jag '63 rear end
vertex magneto ignition (?)
unknown cam
alum. heads
unknown valves, springs, rockers
Hooker 1 7/8 headers 4" collector- no mufflers or anything (yea it's loud)

Anyway here are the questions....

1. He uses some sort of Harley Davidson motor oil in it. Since I'm used to using Mobil 1 in everything I own what flavor of Mobil 1 should this motor be using? (10-30 20-50?)

2. The redline on the tach is set to 7k. Can that be right? going to dyno it in 2 weeks don't want to blow it up. (no rev-limiter)

3. He was running 87 octane in it and it pinged like a sob, I put in Sunoco 94 and it runs a crap load better. Is that enough to support this motor? (don't know how much boost to scared to look down while foot on gas )

4. What kind of HP does this thing make? it's a beast to drive, I don't think i've ever had it over 4k rpm's wide open. (sad I know. Tires just smoke like crazy and wheel hop MT Sportmans 33x19.5)

5. Makes sort of a popping sound out of the exhaust on the right side. Already have new plugs, rotor, cap, wires in with no change. I'm changing the leaking header gasket right now with copper gaskets. (also trying to burn thru my mix of 94 and 87 octane)

6. What water temp should I be running at. He said to let it warm up to 160 before taking off, I see 180-200 driving around town. Is that about right? How high can it go during Woodward Dream Cruise before I need to shut it down? (WDC= 12miles of parking lot traffic)

That's if for now I guess. This thing is cool as hell.