We were amazed when Harrop and Dandy Engines grabbed hold of a stock 7.3-litre Ford Godzilla crate engine last year, smacked a TVS2650i blower on it and cranked out 1015hp without even lifting the rocker covers.
Considering Ford only quotes these things at 430hp in standard trim, it was impressive – but the power duo weren’t going to stop their development there. Having pushed the standard mill about as far as they were willing, Harrop Engineering tasked Frank Marchese and the Dandy Engines crew to make the (originally aspirated) Godzilla boost ready.
They tore down the 7.3-litre bertha to get it ready for some forged fruit, and Marchese was full of praise for Ford’s engineering effort. “I think they’re amazingly built, and very robust,” he said.
“Hence why I could see why we could keep throwing power at it and it just kept taking it.”
The new rods (left) compared to the originals (right)
The rods and pistons were replaced with beefier units, along with the basic shopping list you’d expect for a boost ready V8. “[We fitted] a stronger piston, stronger rod, a steel top ring to put up with the heat we’re going to throw at the cylinder pressure, a boost profile camshaft and valve springs,” he added.
The crankshaft is the original, but Marchese still modified it to suit the project.
“We added an additional roller thrust bearing, and we also machined the nose of the crank to take an extra key way, so when the blower is driven off of the main harmonic balancer, it doesn’t rely on the bolt holding it on – it actually has a key way to lock it.”
The original harmonic balancer was replaced with an ATI one, and the rest of the pulleys were switched for Harrop’s prototype 12PK units, as Heath Moore from Harrop explained:
“Something we have a lot of experience with and are excited to test is the 12PK,” he said. “So double the belt width – which will be excellent for holding those higher loads.”
Other mods included some light polishing and porting on the original heads, with just a slight bump in compression. While Marchese did switch out the original push rods, he opted to keep the lifters standard. “They cope very well with RPM and boost we were throwing at it,” he said.
The oil pump was the other major item that was changed, but he says it was nothing to do with the flow or strength of the original.
“I would’ve loved to have the standard oil pump in it, but the engine has been designed with a rear sump, [whereas] most Fords in Australia have a front sump,” said Frank. “So the sad part is that we had to remove that factory pump – that’s beautifully designed – and we just run an external pump and adjust it.”
The same TVS2650i blower that was used when the engine was standard got bolted back on, the only difference being the 115 millimetre prototype Harrop throttle-body which replaced the original 102mm mouth.
Also carried over from the previous test was the Fueltech FT600 ECU and pump E85, so the boys could accurately measure the back-to-back results of the new mods.
Marchese said he was impressed from the first pull. “First up on 12.5psi of boost it made 1100hp straight away on a lower RPM than what we were turning last time,” he said.
Frank Marchese (left) from Dandy Engines with Heath Moore (right) from Harrop Engineering
Some more tuning saw the Godzilla make a peak of 1317hp and 1158ft/lbs on 19psi, revving over 7000rpm. “Getting the fuel-curve right and the ignition-curve right, it punched out 1300 pretty easy,” he added.
In comparison, the 1015hp and 988ft/lbs the engine made in standard form was on 20psi, so over 300hp was found from the upgrades and goes to show just how capable these monsters are.
The next video in this series will see Harrop unveil the project car it’ll be slotting this mammoth engine into, and to say we’re a bit excited is an understatement.
Keyword: Video: Harrop-supercharged Ford Godzilla V8 makes 1300hp