Some of you may have never seen a pre-guide plate small-block head. Guide plate heads have large round holes as the guide plate keeps the pushrod positioned. On early small-blocks, a rectangular hole with semicircle ends does the job.Some of you may have never seen a pre-guide plate small-block head. Guide plate heads have I initially hoped the 331's horsepower level would be 360. Joe Sherman thought 400. We were both wrong. Try 409 at 5,800 rpm and 416 at 6,100 rpm. That's 101 ponies more than factory fuelie provided, for those of you keeping score at home. Sherman feels a street engine should never have to rev over 6,000-6,200 rpm, more or less. This was certainly a performance eye-opener. So was the engine's torque output. It produced 390 to 400 lb-ft from 3,500 to 6,000 rpm (and probably more under 3,500 rpm). The small diameter main exhaust pipes from our Hedman headers to the mufflers and smaller tailpipes may kill off 10 to 15 hp due to increased backpressure, so I imagine we will fabricate some custom tailpipes. We didn't rebuild this original engine to drag race, per-se. We've owned this piece of real estate since 1970 and plan to cruise around in Southern California and Nevada. We do plan to reinstall the Rochester Ramjet fuel injection-strictly for comparison's sake. We have a G-Tech Pro SS electronic accelerometer and will compare the 750-cfm Edelbrock induction to the 650-cfm constant flow port injection after the car is running. Questions? Send out an e-mail to dougmarion@aol.com We always used glue to hold the intake port gasket in place before the manifold was installed. Joe Sherman puts glue on each entire intake port surface. Why? Simply to guarantee a leak-free gasket.We always used glue to hold the intake port gasket in place before the manifold was instal We took this photo to reveal that we did not enlarge the intake ports. Joe Sherman just ground down any casting bumps and lumps. He also smoothed the short side radius way inside-in each port.We took this photo to reveal that we did not enlarge the intake ports. Joe Sherman just gr Lubing the rocker arm cup and half-ball is a must. 1962 327 ENGINE OUTPUT & SPECS HP RPM Torque Vol. Efficiency 266.4 3500 399.8 105.7 296.0 4000 388.6 102.0 340.0 4500 396.7 106.5 374.1 5000 393.0 105.0 397.3 5500 379.0 107.1 409.0 5800 365.7 106.4 414.0 6000 362.4 107.0 416.5 6100 358.6 107.4 COMPRESSION RATIO: 9.9:1 THUMPER CAM PART #12-600-8 INTAKE VALVE LIFT .513-INCH EXHAUST VALVE LIFT .498-INCH DURATION @ .006 : 283 INTAKE / 303 EXHAUST LOBE SEPARATION ANGLE: 107.0 DURATION @ .050: 227 INTAKE / 241 EXHAUST INTAKE MANIFOLD: EDELBROCK PERFORMER RPM #7101 CARBURETOR: EDELBROCK 750-CFM AFB # 1407 IGNITION: STOCK TOTAL TIMING: 36 A/F RATIO: 12.4 TO 13.5 After gluing and installing the gasket, Sherman then tapped every inch of the gasket with a hammer to make sure there were no air pockets. He wants the gasket to do what it was created to do.After gluing and installing the gasket, Sherman then tapped every inch of the gasket with Each Comp Cams pushrod tip was treated to some red assembly lube. You never want to start up a new or rebuilt engine dry, as wear will increase dramatically.Each Comp Cams pushrod tip was treated to some red assembly lube. You never want to start Somehow, our timing cover got lost at home. Joe Sherman lent us this timing cover and a later edition bolt-on timing pointer. When Sherman degreed-in the cam, he found where top dead center (TDC) was, so he cut down the pointer to point exactly at TDC of cylinder number one. Sherman also did not like the looks of our original and very rare 1962 finned harmonic balancer, so we bought a new one without the inside cooling fins.Somehow, our timing cover got lost at home. Joe Sherman lent us this timing cover and a la We took this photo just to mention that the water pump and pulleys, distributor, spark plug wires and Moroso valve covers were all Joe Sherman items. We did not know if the engine's original finned aluminum valve covers would fit over the roller rocker arms. We also did not have any valve covers with internal baffles. Sherman did not want oil blowing out past our push-in valve cover breathers, so he bolted on his triedand- true Moroso covers.We took this photo just to mention that the water pump and pulleys, distributor, spark plu We grabbed a box of spark plugs we bought years ago, thinking they were extended-tip plugs. But they were stockers. Wow-416 hp with stock spark plugs. The engine should pick up 4-8 more hp with extended tip spark plugs. Also, the ignition spark was coil-only. There is more power to be had with an amplifier from MSD, Crane or Mallory.We grabbed a box of spark plugs we bought years ago, thinking they were extended-tip plugs Joe Sherman Racing Engines' Super Flow 901 is on rollers and is portable. The control board isn't. His mufflers are Hooker turbos. They reduce noise, not power output. Sherman ran the 331-cid engine at 2,200 rpm for some 10 minutes in order to let everything reach operating temperature, to check for leaks, and to double-check the ignition timing. The engine's idle is lumpy at 900 rpm but not like a racecar. That's good.Joe Sherman Racing Engines' Super Flow 901 is on rollers and is portable. The control boar After six dyno test runs, Joe Sherman removed his valve covers to check for any loosened rocker arms. He insists on using poly lock nuts, not the usual pressure nuts that grip the stud threads. Note the Comp Cams Beehive valvesprings.After six dyno test runs, Joe Sherman removed his valve covers to check for any loosened r The silver stuff on the threads is Joe Sherman's antiseize. The light black around the circumference is from the unleaded gas, says Sherman. Hopefully, you can see a slight discoloration at about 60 percent up the electrode from the far end. Sherman says this is how you correctly read a spark plug. A discoloration at this spot says that jetting and combustion are both excellent.The silver stuff on the threads is Joe Sherman's antiseize. The light black around the cir SOURCES Joe Sherman Racing Engines 7-14/-542-0515 www.joeshermanracing.com COMP Cams Valley Head Service Edelbrock Dept. 5.0 2700 California St. Torrance CA 90503 310-781-2222 www.edelbrock.com « | 1 | 2 | View Full Article By Doug Marion Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
