Gorgeous 482ci Ford SOHC Engine Purrs on the Dyno

The beauty of the aftermarket shines in this stunning EFI-fueled 482ci SOHC recreation that also provides a healthy 760 horsepower for its owner. Built by Keith Craft Performance Engines, the polished gem will go into a Kirkham Motorsports Cobra roadster.

An inside look at the SOHC timing-chain arrangement.

“It’s a street car but the guy road races it a little,” Lance Smith of KCPE tells EngineLabs.

The 427 Ford SOHC is the legendary outlaw engine that Ford built in the ’60s to challenge the Chrysler Hemi in NASCAR. But it was quickly banned and went on to serve the Blue Oval well in drag racing. In later years, hot rodders adapted the SOHC engine to street rods and nostalgic racers, but quality parts became scarce. Then enthusiasts like Robert Pond Motorsports and Bill Coon developed the main components for the engine, and the rest of the aftermarket filled in with their specialties to provide today’s engine builders with all the tools necessary to assemble a durable and performance-minded SOHC recreation.

Keith Craft started with an aluminum Pond block that was honed to 4.250-inch bore.

Views of the polished 482ci SOHC build by Keith Craft in progress.

“The Pond blocks are pretty user friendly,” says Smith. “We also align-honed the cam journals (the SOHC uses a stub shaft in the original cam location to support the primary cam drive) and a little bit of oil galley work.”

On the dyno the engine pulled 760 horsepower with peak torque of 625 lb-ft.

The bottom end consists of a Scat 4.250-inch-stroke steel crank, Scat H-beam rods and Diamond 10:1 pistons. A Melling oil pump is housed inside a custom Kirkham pan that is needed to fit inside the tight confines of the Cobra chassis and body.

Keith Craft CNC machined the Bill Coon heads to its specs, adding Ferrea 2.350/1.750 valves, PAC beehive springs and T&D Machine rockers. Comp Cams custom grinds the two cams for KCPE, and the shop will use either Pond or Coon chain drives. On top sits a Hilborn 8-stack EFI manifold fitted with FAST injectors and controlled by a FAST ECU. Most of the hardware and hard-to-find specialty parts for the SOHC engine come from Precision Oil Pumps. MSD handles the ignition.

KCPE cranked the shiny beast up to 8,000 rpm and also recorded peak torque of 625 lb-ft, so it will definitely complement and motivate that little aluminum Cobra.