Horsepower

tinkirk

tinkirk

Senior Member
Just throwing this out there for idea's.

Whats it take to get one of these little F4's to make more horsepower let's say up there around the 70 number mark?

Thank You in advance
Tinkirk/Terry:rolleyes:
 
can be done with overhead valve conversion.

try the Miller High-Speed head, great quality and works very well for Touring cars.

Of course you can get more HP, but the limit will be your wallet.

John
 
Sparky said:
HC head, better cam, modern carb, overhead-valve head, etc. Check out the dyno charts here: http://modelaparts.net/
Click to expand...

what i'm seeing for the simple part of it is a stock model A with very little upgrades does not produce a lot maybe 10 hp
so it looks like again all it takes is cubic dollars how much a person want's to spend

Tinkirk/Terry
 
" Speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?"
That's been true since the first hop-up part was made, and still true today. A lot depends on what your goal really is.... a hill-climber, vintage race car, "touring" motor, etc.
As far as what can be done, all the normal speed tricks. High Compression head, bigger valves, boring w/ lighter pistons, cam, multiple carbs/downdraft carbs, header, cutting the flywheel, V8 clutch and pressure plate.
If you really have deep pockets, you can buy an aluminum block, 5 main crank, overhead valve conversion, some fuel other than gas.
I'm sure I left out some things.:)
Let your conscience be your guide. Good Luck
 
tinkirk said:
Just throwing this out there for idea's.

Whats it take to get one of these little F4's to make more horsepower let's say up there around the 70 number mark?

Thank You in advance
Tinkirk/Terry:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

To answer you specifically; a 6½:1 high-compression head, a Stipe IB340 camshaft, oversized ( 1.750" ) intake valves with the valve bowls opened up, port match the intake and open up the draw-tube to 1.250" with a flowed Model-B carb, and a rebuilt distributer with a Stipe cam and a good coil will get you very close on a dyno. Other items such as an exhaust header, 2bbl carburetor, hotter camshaft, etc. will give you a little more power, but in my opinion look for ways to increase torque instead of adding Hp. Torque will allow you to pull a higher gear ratio which increases mph.
 
tinkirk said:
what i'm seeing for the simple part of it is a stock model A with very little upgrades does not produce a lot maybe 10 hp
so it looks like again all it takes is cubic dollars how much a person want's to spend

Tinkirk/Terry
Click to expand...

Hey Terry,
'a stock model a'
If that is your starting base, putting equipment like OHV head(more compression and more hp) is , most likely down the road, going to cost you more $ to do it right. That is, if you start with a stock base rather than a strongly rebuilt base, then the stock base will likely come undone at weakest parts first (cam gear/bearings, etc).

If you just want to see how long a stock a engine will last with MORE hp, than I'd like to see results of that experiment also :) !

This is why 'cubic dollars' become involved, to buy parts and labor for base that will (possibly/maybe/should:rolleyes:) take the added hp and make you happy driver.

If you really want to know what is takes to make more hp , think breathing !
An engine with the most/best breathing capability with be capable or making more hp, i.e.- exhaust piping, intake type and improvement, carburation improvement, valve improvements, bigger bore , porting and on/on. ALL these take $ for equipment and labor....good luck.
 
This 1931 engine put out 40hp at the flywheel when new. After spending thousands of dollars, I have dyno'd 60hp at the rear wheels. I suspect that I could have purchased at least four SBC crate engines for the same money I have in the A. As everyone has said, "speed costs money...how fast do you want to go"
 

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Bolt on stuff, HC head, single downdraft carb, good ignition, ARIES muffler will get you up to around 60. Add a decent cam, dual downdrafts, will put you up in the 70 range. Beyond that....Check out Jim Brierely's book. He has a new edition coming out soon.
 
Remember you have that little flimsies crank shaft down there. We just got back from the hill climb with my home built over head on a model A engine. With 6 guys driving it it broke 3 flywheel bolts.That was turning 4,000 to 4500 rpms.

You can make them fast but it could also shorten there life.
 
johnneilson said:
can be done with overhead valve conversion.

try the Miller High-Speed head, great quality and works very well for Touring cars.

Of course you can get more HP, but the limit will be your wallet.

John
Click to expand...

I have been told that the Miller head requires firewall modification.
 
Yes i agree on the sbc
As could build on of those I have more than enough parts to build a lot of fun power but
I'm looking at the F4as a challange
What i have so far
4" bore
New rods & pistons from AER
Insert mains and rods
1.730 intake valves 1.5 exhaust
Counter weighted crank
Stipe 340 cam
Hoping to get at least 20+# off the flwheel
The one thing I will be missing right now is the induction part
I just wanted to see what other people would think
 
Throw on a higher compression head at least 6-1, bore out the manifold and put a B carb on it and you wil be very happy.....
 
I put a K&N air filter on mine. They promised 5-10 more horsepower. I sent them an email but as of now hey haven't sent me the additional hp!
 
tinkirk said:
. . . Stipe 340 cam. . . I just wanted to see what other people would think
Click to expand...
Which Stipe 340 cam? If it is the Stipe IB 340 you won't be making that much horsepower with what you've spec'd. (IB stands for 'Improved B'). If you get one of the the Stipe Road Runners, like the RR340, which is a more agressive cam, you may reach your coveted 70hp. You can see the spec's for the IB340 and the RR340 cams on Vince's website.

Keep in mind a lot of horsepower or torque in an A is useless unless it has a very wide power band, necessary because you have only three widely spaced forward gear ratios. Unfortunately, mods to increase power inevitably raise the RPM for power peaks and narrow the band as a percentage of operating range. Increased HP also becomes diminished in effectiveness if the power peaks are thousands of RPM above stock because you will not be able to shift that non-synchro trans quickly enough to keep on top of that power band.
 
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