Update: ’50s-inspired 4.6L Makeover Shines in ’32 Highboy Roadster

Update: New photos from Dave Simard’s shop provides a closer look into the buildup of the 4.6-liter engine. Additional views show more of the intake manifold fabrication, how the front drive was set up and other tricks used to create the illusion of a ’50s race engine.

Inspired by a racing flathead from the ’50s, the nostalgic-themed 4.6-liter Ford engine in Jim Farley’s ’32 roadster certainly invokes the competitive spirit of that era. The engine was built by East Coast customizer Dave Simard, who also massaged Farley’s all-steel highboy into shape. The car was recently a contender for the prestigious America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award at the 2013 Grand National Roadster Show.

“Jim and I were looking at early powerplants,” remembers Simard. “One engine that interested us was a twin-cam conversion on a flathead built by CT Automotive in the ’50s for lake racing. It was on the cover of Hot Rod.”

The Hot Rod cover engine that helped inspire the 4.6L build.

Farley, who is the global product boss at Ford, and Simard studied other engines from that era, including Offys. Overall, Farley had a vision that would channel the creative juices of early IndyCar racers.

“The idea was to build a car that a crew chief of an IndyCar team in the 1950s would have built if he’d build a roadster back then,” Farley told Autoweek‘s Mark Vaughn before the Grand National Roadster Show.

Simard proposed modifying a Ford 4.6-liter modular engine.

“The front of block is fairly smooth and the timing cover is clean,” explains Simard. “I told Jim, if I redesign the valve covers to make them truly look like a dual overhead cam and get rid of the coil packs, we can achieve a look that’s representative of that era of race engines.”

Simard hand-formed .060 sheet aluminum and welded the various pieces together to fabricate the valve covers.

“I used the stock mount locations but made studs with acorn nuts to resemble the engines of that era,” adds Simard.

The classic 8-stack induction started as an original 1955 DeSoto Hilborn fuel-injection setup. Simard then fabricated an all new manifold that exposes the Hilborn hardware — including the throttle blades that operate normally — but hides the actual EFI injectors, fuel rails and sensors underneath in the lifter valley.

Clockwise from top left: a view from the driver's side; Note how Simard covered up the electric water pump with a distributor cap and used an old coil to cover up a cam sensor; closer look at the detail work of the injector stacks and the manifold.

The intake manifold starts with an original '50s Hilborn but the electronic fuel injectors and fuel rails are hidden. The Hilborn fuel lines are used as vacuum references for the MAP sensor. The alternator is disguised as a generator.

A 4.6L DOHC engine similar to the one that Simard started with to build the ’32 project.

“Those original Hilborn fuel-injection hoses are now vacuum lines,” says Simard. “They go through the original barrel valve and manifold block to the MAP sensor.”

The 4.6L engine’s original serpentine belt drive was discarded in favor a fabricated pulleys and V-belts to drive the fan and an alternator dressed up to look like a generator. An electric water pump is also disguised to look like a distributor on an ’41 Ford. An old Ford coil was also hollowed out and positioned over the engine’s cam sensor on the driver’s side

The headers were built from scratch and lead to a collector made from a ’36 driveshaft tube.

“That was a popular thing to do, back in the day,” adds Simard.

The crate engine wasn’t modified other than the fuel injection makeover, so the highboy should have about 400 horsepower for motivation.

Jim Farley’s ’32 highboy was a contender for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster.

 

About the author

Mike Magda

Mike Magda is a veteran automotive writer with credits in publications such as Racecar Engineering, Hot Rod, Engine Technology International, Motor Trend, Automobile, Automotive Testing Technology and Professional Motorsport World.
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