1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Im building a 1971 Ford Torino 500 hardtop. It has a 302 2v Autolite 2100 carb completely stock engine with a C4 and a 9inch rear. I also have stock Iron cleveland 4v heads and the matching Iron 4v intake and just need a block. Im trying to decide to either run T/SA or U/SA with the 302 2V or G/SA or F/SA with the 351C I just need a block and a Holley 0-3310C or I could just build a footbrake bracket car. Im not really shur what direction I wanna go or what would make the most sense? I also have a Jim Paquet C4 4800 stall converter.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Isn't that like the Starsky and Hutch car? Put a red stripe on it and make it the reverse paint job. Was the Torino available with the 429? Godd luck in what ever way you decide to go.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

From U to T you drop .4 on index. Cant take enough weight out to compensate for that.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

The Starsky and Hutch is the next generation Torino. It was a Gran Torino and that generation had a full frame as opposed to this car being an unibody.

Roland

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

If I'm right, your head numbers need to be


D0OE-B 302/140

D1AE-CB 351C/240


for stock.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Exactly actually this car is pretty light at just around 3,000 ibs and thank you firesale anybody know who can build a badass Autolite 2100 carb?

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Yup, but I don't know if he wants too..You might find out soon.
HP too high on the 302.. Should run under, but not a lot , without opening the wallet wide.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Bob Oliver at Competition Carburetion
Sun Valley NV.
775-331-5609
Nice guy by the way!

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

So i looked in the guide. Is the 429 not considered a good combo at 350hp? Lots of compression big bore short stroke .500 lift cam.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

There are actually 3 different versions of the 429 4 barrel engine available in a 70 Torino. The base "Thunder jet" has the Autolite 4300 carb and standard heads , the Cobra Jet has a bigger hyd. cam, bigger valves and ports, and a Rochester Quadrajet (REALLY!), and the Super Cobra Jet has a solid lifter cam , the big heads, and a Holley 780. All the 4 barrel 429s had pretty high compression, and NHRA rolled the HP below factory a while back. A number of 71 Mustang Stockers are using the 429 SCJ engine, see no reason why the larger and heavier Torino couldn`t work too. But the 70-71 Torino is a pretty heavy car, I did not look at the Classification Guide, but a factory 429 70 Torino my buddy used to have was well over 4000 pounds with a skinny driver behind the wheel. The 351 Cleveland 4 barrel engine was also available, but he 70 had a smaller cam, and unless things have changed, are not able to use the big Holley carb the 71-72 351 C 4 barrel is allowed to run. With a 302 2 barrel, I doubt you could get the Torino light enough to get near the top of U/SA, let alone T.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

I just took a quick glance at Dwights site, and unless it is a misprint, the 302 2 barrel engine in a 70 Torino is rated at 220 HP, which is at least 70 HP higher than the same engine when used in a Maverick/Comet/Mustang/ Fairmont. Forget about U/SA if thats the case!

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Careful. Thats a 1970 Torino with 68 and 69 heads allowed. This is a 1971.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

71 Torino 500 2 door hardtop:

302/210 @ 3305 lbs.
head D0OE-B 56.7cc 9.46 cr 2v

351c/240@3454 lbs.
head D1AE-CB 72.9cc 9.2 cr 2v

351c/285@3544 lbs.
Listed as Cleveland in Stock Car Guide. Not identified as Cleveland in the Engine Blueprints. Same head as 351c/240
head D1AE-CB 72.9cc 10.7 cr 4v

351(c/w?)280 Not listed in the Stock Car Guide. Do not use.
Not identified as Cleveland in the blueprints. Same head as 351c/240
head D1AE-CB 72.9cc 9.03 cr 4v


EDIT: Always start with the NHRA Stock Car Classification Guide. If its not there you should not build it for class racing. The Class Racer reference site is based on NHRA info, but is not official. NHRA does not refer to CR when tecing your car.If CR and NHRA dont match, go with NHRA specs.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

While I understand your intention for "official" verification, I would think the opposite strategy would be most beneficial. Start with Class Racer Info, then go to NHRA data to verify. You will find access to the information you need so much quicker and easier to understand from CRI than NHRA has the capability to provide. Plus, if you are doing research there is relevant data available on CRI that simply is not available anywhere without doing calculations and time spent on other sources. By the time you wade through all the obscure data on the NHRA website just to find where all the information is, you can already have your decision made by using CRI.

The '71 302 2bbl is rated at 162 for stock eliminator. Not as good as some of the later 302 2bbl engines, but not unreasonable.

The 351/240 Windsor and Cleveland 2bbl engines are probably not good choices.

The 351/285 Cleveland 4bbl engine is a proven competitor, though expensive to build.

The 429 would also be very expensive to build, though can be competitive.

The 351/280 engine you reference is a Mustang-Cougar engine only.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Was also looking at doing the 285hp combo I have the heads and intake but need a block and the Holley carb

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Dwight: I meant to say that after I hit Post but it was late. CRI helped me see that my hair brained ideas were not workable faster than NHRA. Thanks for making this tool available.


EDIT I was wondering about the 302 2bbl listed as 210 and 162. Is 210 the factory rating and 162 the NHRA adjusted rating? I had to look close to see the 162.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

The biggest problem I see with the 302 combo in U or T class is weight. The Torino weighs about 350 lbs. more than a Comet/Maverick combo.

The min. weight w/ driver for U is 3410 for the 71 Torino and 3030 for the 72 Comet/ Maverick. These figures are according to Dwight's site. A very useful source for info.

I ran one of these very cars in the mid 70's. Fun and different.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Class is without driver in Stock. Shipping weight/factored hp.
All cars are allowed to run at the class minimum .

U/S minimum is 20.00 lbs/HP.
The 72 Comet GT (143hp/2864 lbs) is 20.02 for U.
The 71 Torino (162 hp/3305 lbs) is 20.40 for U.
71 Torino min. for U is 3240. Drop 65 lbs and this combo is a technical match for the Comet.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

The Torino is a much larger car regardless of weight.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Thanks Billy. Yes, the Torino is physically larger than a Comet or Maverick. I was surprised at how light they are since they are so much bigger.

According to the rule book, once a class is determined you add 170 for the driver and that is your final weight. Last line of the weight section for Stock Eliminator in the rule book - All cars are weighed with the driver. That is why the total is 3410 for the Torino and so forth.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Who ran that white Thunderbird with the blue nose flames and what was the combo? That was a big car that ran well and was successful.
And what about the wagons? They don't seem to hurt from pushing air.



The 351C 4bbl is a pretty rare car. Only a few within 1000 miles of me on Craigs List. 16,500 for a choice vehicle and 4,000 for a running project car. Zero blocks. NHRA has two aftermarket blocks listed, but they are not cheap.


I'm looking at 1,600 for a stock Ford long block.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

PM on the way.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Good luck getting a 70-71 Torino down to 3410 pounds with a driver.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

I am curious. Can someone (Rose Racing) or anyone that has a car like this weigh it and let us know what it weighs???

The one that I had was a low option car and I don't remember what it weighed. After all it was over 40 years ago.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

That would be Loge/ Stein Racing ..That, being an 86 Fox unit body, would be fairly light, once stripped of all the power options. That gen. T bird was actually very aerodynamically advanced in it's day. Think Bill Elliot.
Moving on....

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

We'll see on the Cleveland

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

LIMITED SUPPLY – (BLUEPRINTED) LATER STYLE “CHEATER” 67-73 UPPER CONTROL ARMS
$295.00

- Limited Supply - (Blueprinted) Later Style "Cheater" 67-73 Upper Control Arms quantity
1
ADD TO CART
SKU: ORP-1126 Categories: 1960-1970 FALCON, 1960-1971 RANCHERO, 1960-1974 COMET, 1966-1971 FAIRLANE, 1967-1973 COUGAR, 1967-MUSTANG, 1968-1969 MUSTANG, 1968-1971 TORINO, 1970-1977 MAVERICK, 1970-MUSTANG, 1971-1973 MUSTANG, Drag Racing, Road Racing, Upper Control Arms
Description
Description
This is a set of our ” Cheater ” upper arms. The term cheater refers to a trick the drag racers did to the Ford upper arms back in the day to make the shaft kit move smoother (look stock but not be stock). Anyone who has ever worked with these arms knows, they can be very stiff if they’re not put together properly. The racers will take the arms apart and spend a huge amount of time working the shaft and bushings until it worked smooth. Sometimes, they would be so smooth, you could move the shaft kit with just two fingers. We spend a lot of time on these arms and these are that smooth.

Anybody run these or the double roller upper control arms? and what do you Cleveland guys run for roller rocker arms?

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

https://opentrackerracing.com/ has all the rollerized front suspension stuff and it is excellent. I have been told that it is not legal in Stock, but is in SS, but who knows for sure? I used it on a 69 Mustang for SS/GT several years ago and the guy who did the front end alignment couldn't believe how well it worked.

If your interested in 429SCJ stuff, I have a bunch of it.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

After looking at NHRA blueprints it says for 302 valves are 1.79 intake and 1.46 exhaust.... I'm sorry but this doesn't really sound right?

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Why not?

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

George Reid's Ford Engine Parts Interchange lists all 302 heads from 68 to 78 as 1.78/1.45.

MustangTek agrees,
http://www.mustangtek.com/heads/Heads.html


Edit: So does Summit. Melling and Sealed Power stock replacement valves are these sizes up to 78.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

I'm not sure Bill did the 429 scj come in a Torino 500? I thought maybe GTs or Cobras?

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

The 500 has a 429 listed at 370hp in the Stock Car Guide. The Engine Blueprint document lists that as head # D0OE-R. MustangTek identifies it as D0OE-6090-R 70-71 429 cj/scj. It carries MustangTek's "verified" checkmark.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

PRW, These were considerably cheaper when they 1st started selling on E-Bay.
https://store.prw-usa.com/0246003-bi...l-rocker-arms/

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

I have had a good experience with the PRW rockers on my stocker.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Don't pay any attention to anything but the blueprint spec that NHRA has. They list 2 different valve sizes for the 302 1.79 1.46 1.78 1.45. Remember you have +.005 and -.015 tolerances. If you are careful you can run the same valve in either engine. You can get a Torino to 3410 with driver. We did it.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

I did not know of the tolerance rule. I cant find any 1.79 intake valves except for a 4.6 ford

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

We bought 351w valves and cut them down. You can use 1.78 valves as 1.79,but check them and make sure they are an the big side. 1.79-.015 = 1.775 so you can use the 1.78 valve in place of the 1.79. With the 1.08 carb the .015 loss in valve size doesn't make any difference.

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Stock: Cylinder Heads: Page 135 or so.

"Valve-diameter tolerance:+.005-inch or -.015-inch from NHRA Specs."

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

I got the Moser Engineering axles and spool during christmas and I still need to order Ring and pinion as well as installation kit and Spool bearings. I need to pull center section out but weather is getting in the way.... I am first going to order some transmission components before I order the rest of the rear end components because I dont see the weather breaking soon.(The car is outdoors) Bracket car is in the one car garage)

Re: 1971 Torino 500 2 door hardtop
 

Building in the drive with a bracket racer in the only garage space......You married? If so, your wife and mine could trade stories.

Sandusky, huh? Born and raised in Toledo, here. Currently a lifer in Washington State. "Staff Photographer" at Milan in '66-'67 ish.
Good luck with the build.