Dry blocks are common amongst the hardcore drag cars, but for something that will be driven around, you'll want to leave about 1.5"-2" of water jacket to allow for quench cooling. I've never checked the thickness of the bores, but, unless the block is sleeved, you won't want to run the bores any thinner than .100".
The limits of the 3.8L crank is unknown. There are people making a bit over 700BHP with the factory SC crank and the 4.2L cast crank. Also, I wouldn't grind the crank any further than .010" under. The heat and surface treatment becomes less pure the further you grind it.
If you plan on running a big cam and some RPM to utilize it, you'll need a solid roller valvetrain. This entails that you will need to bore the lifter bores out and press in bronze lifter bushings to restrict the oil flow required for running the roller lifters. I believe Crower has a lifter that will help restrict the oil flow, as well, but we're talking about the "ultimate build."
Other things that you can do is step up to a 60mm cam and machine the cam journals out to accept roller cam bearings. I also don't know how far you can machine the deck, but I would take that down as far as possible, down to .250", if I remember correctly. This will reduce the weight of the rod/piston combo.
That is some good info CMac89! What kind of RPM are people getting with the
2.312" big end rods? My machinist said that would be the limiting factor for RPM
and suggested basically a 7K limit at the track.
If the 4.2 crank is doing the same 700 BHP as a steel 3.8 crank, IMO the 3.8
crank can handle much more. I have both cranks on hand but prefer the forged.
So does the machinist. We have a $500 engine sim program that
suggests 1200 HP is in our budget but you know how engine sims are LOL!
A few factors in our favor are that I have done tons of these heads, I have
a flow bench and the budget is probably one of the bigger ones we have seen
@ SCCoA due to the fact that the machinist is a bona-fide FORD FANATIC
and discounts this type of work heavily because he loves to see Fast Fords!
We also plan to Extrude Hone the heads after the hand porting. I suspect this
set will be at least a top 3 for heads used on an SC motor EVER. Also, we are
using Split Port heads with a hand built custom SC manifold. Our engine sim
specs out with a Weiand 177 c.i. blower as being just a bit large which is KEWL!
KB and other screw type blowers just make too much low end, or am I not
quite understanding the concept? The 177 makes 4-6 pounds of boost off idle
when you crack the throttle, which seems like plenty.
Our sim predicts over 400 BHP without boost but anything over 300 RWHP
will be great. Boosted would make us a true 9 second car ( oh, please do not
HATE as it is going into a Mustang
)
The car is already under 3000 pounds and boosted it will need less gearing...