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The seldom seen FE 332 CJ....July 30 2002 at 8:07 PM

This was found on http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/thread?forumid=74182&messageid=1028084849

This engine, year of production uncertain, should not be confused with the Boss 352 (or even the Boss 292).   It was used mostly by modified production class racers in NHRA in the '60s and beat almost every 327 Chevy it ever ran against.   (The only two loses were later found to be due to the Chevy cars using nitro so in reality, if we dare use that term here, it never lost!)

This engine had an unusual bore, 4.2, and stroke, 2.992, for 331.619 cubic inches.   This is just under the 331.645 cubic inches of the 0.030 over 327 Chevrolet small block.   The block was a top oiler with oversize ½ oil inch galleries, screw in freeze plugs, three webs at the mains, and cast in 3/8 inch oil drains from the heads directly to the pan at the back on both sides - obviously copied from the Cammer blocks.   It was also one of the first cross-bolted FE blocks.   The lightweight crankshaft had a 2.5 inch main bearing diameter and the connecting rod journal of the small block, 2.122 inches.   This small main bearing journal diameter was gotten by using unique thick bearing shells so this crank actually could be used in any FE block.   (A 3.1 stroke version of this crank was used with a 4.25 piston in the 427 block for the 352 Boss.   More on that another time.)

Since it was not drilled for hydraulic lifters it has only been seen with the factory 0.580 solid lifter cam (additional specs unknown at this time) or one of the Isky roller cams using the Isky rev kit that bolted into the valley.   With the Isky cams and their rev kit, the rev limit was between 11,000 and 12,500 rpm depending on the cam and carburetion.   The factory cam held the RPM down to 9,500 or so.

The aluminum heads (casting number CXU8-1) featured 2.15 titanium intake and 1.7 titanium exhaust valves, a weird spark plug placement, 50 degree intake valve seats, and a 60 cc head volume.   Compression ratio was 10.8 with the stock deck height of 0.025 and the stock forged piston valve relief volume of 8 cc using the standard sandwich gaskets and had a 14.5 ratio with forged Jahns domed (-8 cc) pistons, 0.015 deck height and shim head gaskets.   The magnesium roller tipped rocker arms ran on special small-bore and therefore thicker and stronger shafts.   Intake ports were raised like the high riser, but had a raised floor as well with a port opening of 2.125 by 1.35.   The D shaped exhaust ports exited parallel to the ground and required special headers - which was no problem for the modified porduction cars using fender well headers.

The factory 4 BBL intake manifold was similar to the single 4 BBL high riser although 2 inches higher, but was almost never used.   A Weiand tunnel ram with a pair of C3AF-BK 652 CFM Holleys or the C6AZ-AH 710 CFM Holleys off the GT 40 were the usual choices although some used a Hilborn injector setup.

(Copyright July 2002 by BS.)