ALUMINUM 430 CanAm motor

[Charles]

Before the 1969 ZL-1 motor arrived GM supplied some of the CanAm teams like Mclaren with special engines. It was a big block style motor with aluminum block and heads. It was set up to run a 'dry sump' oiling system. A characteristic of the motor was a bigger bore and shorter stroke than a normal 427. Does anybody know what the bore and stroke measurements were? It was a 430 c.i. motor with the standard '430' type (NOT 427 type) crankshaft. There were less than 100 blocks cast.
In 1970 some of these motors were modified and displaced 495 c.i. Cylinder sleeves used in the aluminum blocks created some challenges. A normal 427 used a 3.76" stroke crankshaft...
thanks

[John Brown]

Most of the CanAm blocks had a 4.44" bore. Strokes varied. As I recall, the blocks had the "Vega technology" aluminum cylinders without sleeves.

[Charles]

John, thanks for the information about the bore size in the CanAm motors! The bore spacing on a standard 427 is 4.84" which would not leave much room for sleeves. Not sure about the use of 'Vega technology' back then. There was a problem with the sleeved aluminum blocks cracking the decks. As a result builders welded in the sleeves at the top and bottom. The coated cylinder walls may have been a later evolution of the motor. The '430' motor would become the '466' motor when the bigger 3.76" crank of the standard '427' was installed. That was the combination Mclaren ran.

[Chevy454]

JoeC could elaborate, but I *believe* Grumpy ran a Can-Am block for a bit in his S/S car...

[William]

Hot Rod did a feature on this with some good pix in a 1972 issue. The block is easy to identify as it does not have provision for a mechanical fuel pump.

[Chevy454]

Huh, sounds a lot like the Gen V block...

[sYc]

If I am not mistaking, that is what they ran in Howie's Camaro.