[bbbentley]

The 427 saga or the Good, Bad & Ugly:

Last July, I buy this "homemade" 427 using a late 70s 289 casting 454 block. It was not blown up. The guy could not find the balancer or distributor or air cleaner. Later he found the last 2, but would not give them to me. Is everyone crooked in this country? He said that he was mad because the heads (69 291 castings) were worth what I gave for the engine. Not my fault. Guy admitted he was not an engine guy and was disappointed that it was not a true 427. Besides the engine did not sound right, according to his late father in law, but no one investigated the problem. 1st picture is the day I bought it and it is in the back of my Explorer. The Good: Balanced 11:1 closed chamber square port with intake, CC Magnum 280 hyd. cam. The Bad: Problems found, detonation had beat the bearings to the copper at the top rod end on all 8. Blown head gasket on #7. Block has a sleeve and there is a slight taper getting bigger in the bottom of the bore. Crank needs turned. No biggie. Ugly: Bearings, crank needed turning, pistons fly cut valve pockets, no attempt to debur and smooth radiuses to prevent detonation. A cam that did not adequately bleed off effective compression.