The Ford 427 SOHC Cammer Engine

[@danielhackleman2140]

Hell of a show. Great shots of cars l haven't seen and been around since the 60's. Great commentary.

[@harrypotter4309]

Back in 1972, I did a thesis on this engine for the written part of my Autoshop finals, (I'm in U.K. so, the course was City & Guilds 168). The examiners found it impossible to mark me badly on my write up as they had never heard or seen anything of this engine. HaHa. Previously, in my finals at High School (U.K. Secondary School) I did my engineering shop finals thesis on The Cosworth F3L V8 F1 engine. That one confused them as well, but still got decent marks. I love anything Ford. Shame they are not the company they used to be, but then again, not many others are either.

[@BobbyOfEarth]

Strange, since it was introduced in the Jan. 1965 edition of Hot Rod magazine.

[@harrypotter4309]

@@BobbyOfEarth Strange how?? (May '65 was the first copy of HotRod that I ever had. I'm in U.K. so, it was pretty scarce anyway).

[@richardmalone4721]

Neat story! I could have used that notion on the, (very) few times Teachers gave Students FREE REIGN on subjects as my upbringing gave me knowledge other, (fellow) students weren’t familiar with. Dad was a Ford guy, but that was lost on me after detonating the 351M he installed in the ‘gifted’ ‘67 Galaxie, (winter ‘83/‘84) forcing me to help one of dads friends Sons, (he was two years ahead of me, rough, brought up in a Mopar Dirt Track Racing family) who quickly picked up on my “not knowing squat” about Engines, my focus on the Body Shop/Automotive Radiator side AND CONSTANTLY ASKING OF WE COULD STEP INSIDE HIS HOME TO DETHAW MY HANDS which were sticking to the sub-frozen tools he kept asking me to grab, ie: Non-Insulated Garage, not down with my dads sadistic lesson in thwarting my juvenile attitude/knowledge in dropping the C6 tranny down in to a lower gear and mashing the throttle so as to hear the dual glass-packs crackle while racing through the PA Turnpike trestle a quarter mile away from home, (like dad couldn’t hear🙄). Anyways, THEE ONE THING I did pick up from this arctic-lesson, this redneck elder dirt-floor future MARINE telling me, “If ya wanna a easier marque to work on, get a Chivey as those are for pussies” which I quickly DID Spring of 1984, giving dad back his Galaxy, (white privilege/SPOILED ROTTEN) and installing a 396 in to a rare factory 4 speed ‘78 Cutlass Calais, yanking the Chevy 305, slapping those engine mounts on the 396, moving the Saginaw shift triune back 4” for the M-20, which seemed like nothing AFTER LEARNING SO MUCH 3 MONTHS PRIOR-forced to “become more a man.” FORD was a better-shutting door-vehicle, just needing EVERY TOOL YOU HAVE IN THAT TOOL BOX, back when Tools were Free and LESSONS WEREN’T!!! I joined the USAF in ‘86, ALSO LEARNING LATE the value OF A MARINE, seeing the then newly released “Full Metal Jacket” while attending Aircraft Mechanic School, sitting there alone-in awe, of just how easy and had it-in the Air Force, (Basic Training). “Air-Force Sissy Girl”, what our Lackland Basic Training TI called us every morning as we fell-out in our “Tennis-Shoes” for PT, humping ZERO-WEIGHT for a measly “1.5 Miles in 15 Minutes”. Been Soft EVER-SINCE, (dads voice says from the dead, passing away when I was 20, my unwillingness in taking over the Family Business, running away from his discipline and alcoholism, falling back on the only gift I inherited, My Hands, still Soft as a hold a iPen, sketching out Landscape Designs… TMI, sry. 427SOHC MEGA-DOTTOS ! 🫡👍🏼🙏🏻🇺🇸

[@Billschneider42]

I’m a FORD guy. My first Job out of the USAF in England was asst svc mgr at one of the oldest Ford dealerships (1913). Went to the British Grand Prix Prix at Silverstone when Dan Gurney brought a “409” Chevy. When Dan would open that “409” it sounded like a bomb exploded. “BLIMEY” was all you heard from the stands. The Chevy broke an axel or it would have mopped up the field. I wasn’t around when the “427 SOHC Cammer” was introduced. I did have a 1965 Comet Cyclone that I put a Cobra cam and dual point distributor in. I could mop up 327 Chevys. Owned many Fords and presently own a Ford C-Max Energi - the best car I have ever owned (including MB 500 SL and BMWs. Love your story!!!!

[@mgbchuck6527]

More good stuff

[@brianbarry6909]

Once again great vid Thank you😊

[@thereluctantgearhead4544]

427 SOHC was the best Ford engine ever built.

[@blazer8049]

Always Top Notch!

[@timrayburn2461]

Great video

[@mr.hainie2543]

Maybe you could have used another picture of Pete Robinson around the 13:05 mark. This photo was taken a split second before he was killed when he hit the guardrail at Pomona. In the photo you can see the ground effects air dam under the car and the front tires are coming apart. R.I.P. Sneaky Pete.

[@johnblood3731]

I think Pete was the first top fuel cammer to win a nhra national event

[@richardmountz3865]

Great glimpse of the golden years.. Who says you can't live in the past...

[@stevennewman8276]

Man i really enjoy ur videos. I cant get enough of the black & white dragster still shots. Im always searchn for em. Keep it up!

[@jakobquick6875]

Brian Lohnes is not a.i. And an old school drag nut😊 Check him out, pops showed me, never looked back

[@markgarvey8888]

Thank you sir! This motor has always been a favorite of mine. Seeing how many people tried their hand at this motor was kind of surprising, to me. Just a bit before my time.

[@jacksonmarshallkramer5087]

That is such a badass.

[@hankthayer7425]

I don't doubt that Kalitta ran a cammer in some of his cars, I saw his cammer powered rail at the Garlits Dragster Museum in Ocala, FL. But the version of the "Bounty Hunter" you show at around 7:30 clearly says "Boss 429" right behind the front wheel well. Great video, just couldn't help noticing this detail.

[@BustedNut-]

I love this channel! Nice work👍

[@andyharman3022]

Kalitta was gassing. Timing chains stretch, just as sure as the sun comes up in the morning. Take off the timing chain cover of any modern OHC engine and look at the extensive tensioning and guide system. Gears are the best way to drive overhead cams.

[@gr5535]

Excellent Video 👍🏁

[@jims2286]

Love the cool vintage pictures Great!!!

[@LanceisLawson]

I saw cammer drag cars race in 1966-67. In general the cammers beat all GM cars and were more than an equal to the Hemi.

[@jimcushman5060]

Great job!! Very informative. I could never afford one but had a bunch of FE’S. Thanks again .

[@tomnekuda3818]

I got to work on one of these one time, and one time only. What a magnificent engine but expensive to manufacture compared to the Chrysler Hemi. I was working mainly at that time on the Ford 427 wedge engines....another super engine. Pete Robinson came up with a gear set that totally replaced the chain...very expensive but dealt with the "chain stretch" and the variance in the timing from cam to cam.

[@icewaterslim7260]

I liked Pete Robinsons geared cam drive conversion. Mostly just because the looks of the chain don't appeal to me as tidy or solid even if chain stretch weren't an issue. Camshafts aren't roots superchargers. Lots happens when they lose the connection. If i were running a cammer in AA/FD and were filthy rich I'd have bought the setup if Pete were sellin' 'em.

[@johnwilkerson2195]

Awesome video alot of cool drag cars!

[@edsmachine93]

Very good video! Nicely compiled cars and history. This had to take a great deal of effort and energy. Thanks for sharing. 👍 Have a great week.

[@ToddWright2]

I recall two Cammers running at New England dragway. One was a Top Alcohol funny car and the other was a Top Fuel pipe rack. The last years I saw these cars was in 1980 or 1981. I don't recall who campaigned these cars, but they were both run as exhibition only as the owners were well aware of their rarity and didn't want to destroy their motors pushing for ET. I used to go to the track with my friend Barry - an avid photographer - but he rarely took pics of anything non-Mopar. Too bad that, as if he had shot the cars I could give names and drivers to these two wonderful examples. As an aside, we also ran our own junk with the most fun being a '73 Duster 360 that we all threw some of our junk parts in and got it into the 12.6x in normal air for the princely sum of $600. Total. That was in 1988-89. Cheap thrills, but we never named the car as it looked much, much worse than it ran.

[@martymorse2]

There were always some great Funny Car shows at New England Dragway(NED.) My favorite in the late 60's through the 70's were the Wednesday night Pro Stock shows with Grumpy Jenkins, Herb McCandless and Dyno Don Nichalson to name a few. Great memories of attending races from 1968-81. Moved to Central Illinois which only had a local 1/8th mile Drag strip called Coles County Dragway. In the late 80's through late 90's I tried not to miss the Big Go at Indy each Labor Day. If you've never been to Indy in late August you have missed out on the greatest show in Drag Racing. Thanks for the memories from NED.

[@andyharman3022]

There was a single-engine modified pulling tractor called The Little American in the late 70's, early 80's that had a supercharged cammer on alcohol. Sweet-running tractor, but couldn't beat the Chevies.

[@styrenerelics]

This is perfect timing. Building in 1/25 scale model kits. I just found a nice 427 in my parts box and was thinking of using it to build rail or funny. Great video as always. Thanks

[@Red-rl1xx]

Cool video! I've got a 1/16 scale model of this engine.

[@cobracharmer6178]

I bought 2 427 SOHC's at NAPA about 18yrs ago? 1 supercharged and the other 2 4's.

[@NormanSilv]

Terror of the So Cal Drag Strips too!

[@redlion9199]

What a great video ❤ Mopar was afraid of the 427 cammer. The 427 top oiler The 427 side oiler The 427 tunnel port. See what Ford did went overseas to make history with the 427 gt40 ... Yeppers Le mans Ferrari 4 years in a row... Best by the Ford gt 40 . Where was Mopar??? Or Chevrolet??? Tucked their tail and run.. I guess the Italian government wouldn't lower the horse power on the Ferrari so the other Americans could draft..😅😅 I know the 427 Ford. I came across a sweet deal... I had a darling lady who thought money bought everything. A 67 Shelby GT 500 with a 427. 😊😊😊😊 A fkn a$$ kicker. Loved it. 19 k in 85.. Me my heart 💓 is not that cold.. she would have bought it for me.. I didn't let her 😢😢 LoL Sometimes I dream 😊😊😊

[@sauletto1]

Excellent video !

[@cobracharmer6178]

Connie Kalitta was running a BOSS 429. @ 7:15, says so on the front fender.😃👍

[@chadkent1241]

He ran the Cammer until Ford forced him to switch and he HATED the BOSS on nitro. Never resulted in the success he had with the SOHC

[@colubrinedeucecreative]

Really cool! Thanks!

[@gregscott989]

Seems like it might have been a good engine for the Can-Am seies...maybe with an Aluminum block version.

[@KVN-1000]

10:30 Does anyone know what's that square peice on the front bumper?

[@rotorr22]

Very good job! I remember Dyno Don's PS Maverick, Dyno's Eliminator 1 Cougar, Pete Robinson's AA/FD, Ohio George's Gassers and the Danny Ongais driven Mustang of Mickey Thompson as being the SOHC movers and shakers of the day. Honorable mention to Kalitta. One racer not mentioned was Frank Jarvis of Barberton, Ohio, who campaigned an injected, SOHC powered, A/FD. I purchased one of his cammers (minus the block) back in the day and ended up selling it to go to school. Shoot me, please!

[@chadkent1241]

Kalitta is the only triple crown winner in nitro history and did it with the Cammer

[@MichaelMBarnes-f7b]

Sad ending for Mickey Thompson.

[@robertklein1316]

Mickey and his wife

[@vincewilliams5219]

Great post, Thanks.

[@CJColvin]

The 427 SOHC Cammer V8 is the baddest engine to ever come out of Detroit Michigan (as well as Ford Motor Company) in the 1960s, imagine a 427 SOHC Cammer V8 in some production cars like the 64 Ford Galaxie 500, 63 Mercury Marauder, 63 Ford Galaxie 500, 65 Ford Galaxie 500, 66 Ford Ford Galaxie 500 7 liter, 67 Ford Galaxie 500 7 liter, 69 Mercury Marauder. 67-70 Mercury Cougar XR1 Elminator, 66-67 Mercury Cyclone GT, 68-69 Mercury Cyclone GT, 70 Mercury Cyclone GT, 70 Ford Torino, 66-67 Ford Fairlane GT, 68-69 Ford Torino GT, 65-66 Ford Mustang, 67-68 Ford Mustang, 69-70 Ford Mustang Mach 1, and the 67-70 Ford Ranchero (which would make it an Elcamino slayer) or heck even some Canadian Fords 🇨🇦 like the 65-66 Meteor Montcalm S37, 67-68 Meteor Montcalm S37, 67 Meteor Rideau 500, and the 70 Meteor Montcalm S37. Also don't forget seeing the mighty 427 SOHC Cammer in some Aussie Fords 🇦🇺 as well mate like the 66-69 Ford Falcon, 70 Ford Falcon, 70 Ford Falcon Ute, 71 Ford Falcon GT, 71 Ford Falcon Ute, and the old 71 Ford Falcon XB GT. Heck even some Italian (or any European) Super Cars with the almighty 427 SOHC Cammer V8 like the DeTomaso Mangusa, DeTomaso Pantera, the DeTomaso Longchamp, DeTomaso Vallelunga, and the DeTomaso Deauville.

[@chadkent1241]

I love the Cammer and it was Definitely the beast in that era, the modern twin cam fords have since eclipsed the legendary 427. No cammer has run 5.67 @ 265mph, the Coyote has. No cammer ever went 300.4 mph yet an oe cast 5.4L has AND did so in the standing mile. The 4.6 4V has been 5.88 @ 256mph. The crown has since been passed on.

[@CJColvin]

@chadkent1241 Thats because those engines has boost while the Cammer does it NA mate.

[@stevenbrowningsr1144]

That engine would have been a real killer in the early mustang. My 66 got airborne with the 289.

[@garycarbonneau499]

​@@stevenbrowningsr1144my 67 Mustang fastback with the 427 duel staggered quads , top loader 4 speed and 4.11 rear 9in. could tear the tires off the rims!

[@josephsouza9951]

On the Tasca Ford Mustang, Was owned by Tasca Ford, ,Bill Lawton was the driver, Bill Lawton owned Lawton Moving Co. He was a Super Driver in his day.The car was tuned and prepared by a super wrench named John Healy

[@BobbyTucker]

If that 427 "Cammer" engine was used in factory production cars, the way I understand your question, there would be so many lawsuits from the devastation that would be caused. If you look at what's going on with this Chrysler "Hellcat" for one, these kids are out there killing themselves in them. It would have many negatives and the engine would be pretty much non existent, I could be wrong but there's many others who have yet to share thoughts. I really enjoyed your show and I'm going to be a new subscriber, thanks for sharing with all of us.

[@thereluctantgearhead4544]

People were a lot smarter back then. Factory racecars were sold and many still exist today.

[@thereluctantgearhead4544]

Fools are all buying up the hellcats. Just a big fat status symbol for low IQ materialistic bottom feeders

[@Wingsoficrus]

Sad, Ford definitely got the raw end of the stick when NASCAR outlawed the Cammer, as good as the Chrysler 426

[@andyharman3022]

Chrysler told NASCAR that if they approved the Cammer for competition, they would build a DOHC 32-valve version of the 426. They even built a prototype mockup to show they were serious. NASCAR wanted to prevent an arms race on their racetracks, so they outlawed the Cammer.

[@halseyknox]

Ironic that most V8's are single overhead cam, such ai in my 05 tundra. Some engines are dual overhead as well. Look at the modetn day Coyote engine. Timing chain was not thd issue as it was cam timing. Ed Pink has a great in depth interview about this motor. The last interview before died. R.I.P......the guy was a legend

[@bultacowally]

What do you think controls the cam timing there einstein??? As soon as the engine was run for ten minutes the timing chain starts to stretch and gets slack in it. Then the cam timing starts changing. Once the cams are timed right any change at all in the timing chain length will have an effect on cam timing. DUH???

[@hotrodfeguy]

For 66 Ford had intended to make it available in the line up. Was even in some dealership sales books.

[@earleburtonjr9292]

Close enough

[@Bbbbad724]

The SOHC was a truly legendary engine, and its based on the Ford FE wedge. The obsolete FE? I don’t think so. It was and is an American Legend.

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

👍🏁🏁👍

[@Bbbbad724]

Henry II would not put it in a car for the exact reason, lawsuits and insurance claims.

[@randallbates9020]

I am originally from Rhode Island and Tasca Ford was the best show around, they still race to this very day. I am 60 now so Tasca has been racing FoMoCo products for a very long time. Screw Mopar and its crying baby fans. They couldn't dominate so they just eliminated the competition through the rules committee even though they got away with anything they wanted, right down to the ridiculous huge wing cars of the early 70s. Chrysler products are electrical nightmares and body rot queens. Bunch of cry babies. Lol. Now to own a Dodge you proudly support Fiat... LMBO 😂😂

[@wesleycook3181]

when the gear set replaced the timing chain,everything changed that engine can easily make 600 hp would have won daytona

[@themopar426]

daytona no gear design developed by drag racing!

[@chadkent1241]

Sneaky Pete Robinson developed the gear drive.

[@chadkent1241]

In single 4V it was rated 615 hp and 657 with dual quads

[@chadkent1241]

​@@themopar426 sneaky Pete Robinson developed the gear drive

[@BillyLintzenich-wf7sk]

Rather than doing the gear drive setup it have been better if someone had come up with a belt drive setup.

[@humblewisdom8976]

If the mustang F/C is still available for 10K ill take it!!!

[@marcosj7134]

Then Ford in complete Ford fashion throws away everything it learned with the cammer and built a wedge chamber 4.6 ohc.

[@alanarmstrong2323]

There was one but only one 66 galaxy 500 with cammer

[@martymorse2]

Natic,k Massachusetts is pronounced Nay tick.

[@Axeman428]

The rule book stated no overhead cam engines. That’s why it wasn’t allowed to compete in NASCAR.

[@earleburtonjr9292]

What if it blows up? Try again.

[@bultacowally]

shoulda, coulda, woulda..............didn't. Mopar wins.

[@icewaterslim7260]

Lol that was mean but I laughed. If you were running a factory sponsored top fuel cammer and got hole-shot and beat by a 331 you'd deserve no sympathy .

[@Arizona-mb8hg]

This engine usually dynoed at 800 hp,my friend tried to dyno one,his dyno blew up at 720 hp,.at 7000 rpm engine speed..

[@SealofPerfection]

Nonsense. As built by Ford, it made just over 500, just like any other hot 7 liter did. These myths have gotten out of hand.