Dave Martin - Upstate Super Replicars Daytona Coupe

   I start all my cars with an engine - I think it's what defines the soul of the car.

In this case I started with a 1970 351 Cleveland with 4 bbl heads.  I actually 

bought it 2 years before I sold the Cobra and had it rebuilt by Kenny Duttweiller

up in Saticoy - .030 over and internally balanced for high RPM's on the highway.

While all this was going on I considered my induction options - how can I make 

this car different when complete?  EFI? Paxton vintage Supercharger over a 

Holley?  Dual turbo's?  E-Bay!

   Yes, you heard me right.  A little known piece of folklore about Cleveland's is 

that they were originally meant for NASCAR and in the early '70's NASCAR 

contracted Ford to design and produce 100 6-pack intake manifolds to combat 

The Mopar Menace of Richard Petty.   The contract became useless when 

the rules were changed so a destruct order was sent out on the intakes.  Some 

survived but the exact numbers are unknown - guesses range from 5 to as many

as 9.  To say they are rare is an understatement... and into this story comes an

auction on E-Bay with one of rare ones up for sale, after some seriously heavy 

bidding, I've got my rare Cleveland.

   While I was waiting for this rare intake to find me, I also picked up a couple of 

others to round out the collection so, add 1 Edelbrock Performer, 1 Blue Thunder

and of course I held onto the cast iron stock one just in case.

5/26/06 Update

The Daytona Coupes had an unusual setup for the radiator.  They basically flipped

the radiator so it faced down - opposite the Cobra - and cut a hole in the hood.

They than added some aluminum ducting to bring air in the front opening, through

the radiator and ducted out the top of the hood to then flow over the windshield

and top of the car.  This added a tremendous down force on the front of the car

thus resolving the "lifting" at high speed problem it's Cobra bretheren had.  It took

me about two days to fit the shroud and radiator to my satisfaction.  The

radiator is a custom Howe Racing affair that has the inlet/outlet positioned 

correctly for this application.  Right now I've got protection cardboard on it to

keep the dings out of the fins.  Now the question is can I successfully mount fans 

on the front side so you don't see them from the opening in the hood...  

11/26/06 Update

Finally!  Engine and Transmission mated and installed!  I decided to go with a 

Tremec T-500 to get the more favorable gear ratio and I wasn't going to put

more than 450 horsepower through it anyway.  I also opted for a 5 speed since

everything I've heard from guys that have 6 speeds is they never use the 6th!

I ended up having to slice the passenger side foot box flat - the top half jogged

out into the engine bay about 2" and 351 Cleveland's are very wide hipped.  It's

off to the header/side pipe guy in January so it's really starting to look like a car.

August 2007 Update

Using the method described in a tech article in Kit Car Magazine, I fabricated a

set of stainless steel upper and lower radiator lines.  I had the welding shop add

a 1/2" bung fitting to the highest point on the upper hose.  I plan on running a

remote tank on the passenger foot box which will place the radiator cap on the

tank at the highest point in the cooling system.

August 2008 Update

Finally!  Paint finished earlier this year and the final integration, while taking allot

longer than planned for, is getting to the final point of being able to complete 

the registration process with DMV.  Engines in and through run in, everything

adjusted - sounds SWEET!!!  So here's what I've got...

Nothing is ever easy and this engine install wasn't.  My first hurdle was in

finding an appropriate pulley / belt set for the engine.  Cleveland's don't have

allot of choices - the stock pulleys run the fan off of the power steering pulley!

With going to a high amp alternator and adding air conditioning I really needed

a serpentine setup to avoid slipping but I had a front spacing problem of only 3" 

from the crank dampener.  I ended up having Joe a Hawaii Racing in Simi Valley

custom build and fit a serpentine setup using separate belts.  He made the 

brackets from billet aluminum and hand selected the right pulleys.  Not as much

money as a "front runner system" but I really had little choice.  Fit and finish is

great and definitely worth it.

The second problem is in hood height - or air cleaner clearance.  I've got four

different intakes measured for height and the Blue Thunder I'm using is a clear

1.25" higher than the stock steel, 1" higher than an Edelbrock Performer.  

Trying to fit an air cleaner underneath the low hood is a trick.  I ended up 

taking a K&N Custom 66 air cleaner assembly, which started out at 4.25" high.

I flipped the bottom lid around and cut off the extension lip which took 1.25" off.

I then cut out the bottom lip holding the air filter off and added an aluminum

plate to the bottom which allowed the air filter element (at 3" tall) to sit lower.

Final result was an air cleaner assembly that was only 2.5" tall from the 

carburetor throat.

Now to see what it does on the road!!!