Herman's Factory Five Racing 65' Roadster Build Site

May 2005

5/15/2005 - Since the last entry in April, not much of anything has happened except building a cradle for the engine. The cradle is necessary to assemble the drivetrain ( engine plate, flywheel, clutch, bell housing and transmission. ) The steel engine cradle I bought will not work for putting together these assemblies so a different type of cradle needed to be created. I found a 10' ft. long 4x4 redwood stud that was left behind many many years ago; I don't remember what it was for but it was enough material to build the base for the cradle. I used some old 2x4's for the uprights leading to the motor mounts. I did buy(4) 4" casters rated at 300 lbs. load each, and 8' ft. of 2x4 to make a support under the oil pan near the rear of the motor (to keep it level); miscellaneous lag bolts added up to a total of about $75 materials.

Today, I decided was the day to test the cradle and I will admit, it's not bad.

*EDIT 7/6/2006* The cradle photo is kept since it shows the design of the cradle, even though it was never used on the new CHP 347 Stroker motor.

5/28/2005 - Today I sealed up the engine again. I was careful this time trying to ensure I didn't over do it with the silicone seal. The engine was then lifted onto the cradle and installed the Lakewood engine block plate and the flywheel. I put the started up to the block plate and eyeballed the gears; appears it will engage the flywheel. I used some ARP thread seal left over from the engine build and sealed up all 6 of the flywheel bolts. Torqued all bolts to 80 ft-lbs. The Lakewood scattershield went on next. Then using a magnetic base and dial indicator, I measured the parallelish of the bellhousing, relative to the flywheel; measured .009"; Ford recommends a maximum of .010". Next, was the run-out and here is where I ran into a little issue. Looking at the back of the bell housing, I set 0" at 12-O'clock. At 3-O-clock, I measured -0.22". At 6-O-clock, I measured .015" and at 9-O'clock, .007". Dial indicator went back to 0" at 12-O'clock. I repeated the rotation and received the same results.

Based on a maximum run-out of .015" from Ford, I believe I will need a .014" off-set dowels.

*EDIT 7/6/2006* While the reading on the old motor no longer apply, I found the steps used for dialing in the bellhousing is useful for others so I've decided to keep it in my journals.