FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Just wondering, what's the most horsepower you guys have head of being pulled out of a grey motor, normally aspirated and supercharged.

Cheers

Weedy ;D

Hi Weedy.
I have a mate down here who owns a "JWF Italia" that is powered by a Grey motor. It has a Vauxhall steel crank & SERIOUS head work. This car pumps out 220bhp. He had a REPCO HI-Power Crossflow head on it at one stage, but could actually get more BHP out of a standard head that had all the extra work done. It is an incredibly fast car, as being a 60's fibreglass kit car, it weighs just over 900kg.
Eldred Norman (Of the "Norman" supercharger fame), claims 250bhp is acheivable from a blown Grey, not much more info, but this guy was NOT known for making exaggerated statements.
I am aiming for about 150bhp with my Norman & the other goodies I have. It should be still streetable, but make all the right noises.

THEN, there is a fella I know in South Australia who is building a tough Grey with a "Dunstan Rotary Valve Head". He is also someone who doesn't do things by halves, so I am sure this is gonna be a super hot Grey.

Hope this helps,
Rob J

So many people that I have known who have hotted up Grey Motors have been very dissappointed because as we know the Grey only has a 4 main bearing crankshaft and while we spend so much time and modification to the top end of the motor - ie  head, ports, carburation etc, in most cases its the bottom end of the motor that usually gives up the ghost because it can not handle the increased torque and horsepower, so when looking at doing any modifications remember to do all of the motor, not just the top half
Russell Bates  FCPV

Hi guys
Back in the good ol days of racing, 200 hp normally aspirated grey's were common place and 250 was achievable with a Norman. Most of this power came from top end mods with basically stock bottom ends. The bottom end ends will handle the power if preped properly, ie, main cap bridges, properly ground crank, good h/balancer ( Massey Ferguson tractor h/b's were commonly used) and a lightened flywheel for good measure. Done properly, the greys could pull big numbers and were virtually bullet proof.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Tony

i installed a hot grey,that i got from an old bloke in Victoria in about 1986-7 who had it in a speedway sedan in the 60's until the 3nd year of chevs when it became uncompetitive,
Dave Bennet from perfectune in Moorabin put it on the dyno and im not positive anymore but it was around the 150hp mark,it had big ports,big valves , a very serious shave, forged repco pistons, bridged crank support,lightened flywheel and good unknown harmonic ballancer, i never lost a drag against warm 192's and a few 253's around Dandynong . it was running twin carbs of unknown jetting and was very quick,i took it right off the speedo two or three times and was still pulling each time but i was starting to get worried as the brakes were still drum and tended to make car a little wobbly under brakes (read no brakes)

Hi Weedy,
A mate of mine runs a 48/215 in the Historic Racing (Group N/Appendix J), although I don't know how much horsepower it puts out, I think I could say it's "sufficient". The car pulls about 135mph down the straight at Eastern Creek (Yes, with drum brakes!!). He's been racing it for about 9 years now and although he regularly uses about 7500rpm, he's only broken 1 crankshaft in that time. The trick is, as Russell said, meticulous preparation, Main bearing strengtheners, a decent harmonic balancer, etc.

Hope this is informative.

Cheers,

Graham.

150hp No worries.

Here is a dyno chart of Ellis's

Havn't dynod mine yet but hoping for around the same.

http://www.thegreymotor.com/2014/09/ellis-french-grey-racer.html ($2)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cbTES0usGms/VA-BNPODwQI/AAAAAAAAAUg/C2yWjADYjZk/s1600/10677003_10204576111103841_1831941928_o.jpg)

Ellis has one lumpy humpy - 150bhp from a n/a grey is a pretty serious effort. Repco were only pulling 160bhp with the HighPower head, and even then only on alky at 10:1.

Cheers,
Harv

Similar horsepower to Ellis with 3/14 flat tops, awesome headwork, wild cam triple SU's etc.
Bit of footage from the street stage at Longford Revival Festival at the week end, about 3:40 into the vid with a little bit of air under the left front of 53.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBFjzLBRaw

I will start a post with my footage from the weekend. Flying mile, Street stage and 1/4 mile sprint, if someone could direct me on how to upload vids
regards
Weddo

Bill, the best way is to upload to youtube then embed.

When you are on youtube the link is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiYcVX7rsxc

FiYcVX7rsxc  <--- Thats the important bit.

When you compose a message click the small youtube button and put that bit between the tags, then you can see it in the page.

aZBFjzLBRaw Video

How cool is that!!! Got to love the 50s,60s, & 70s cars. Look and sound SO much better than the modern things. Glenn

Awesome Weddo... that thing sounds fantastic. Welcome to race it around my house any time  ;D.

Cheers,
Harv

I recon this one has got some horse power also:

ZYWMXs5NAxI

I notice the  Dyno sheet was flywheel so Im guessing around 110hp max at the wheels for the Ellis French engine.

Gary

I'd like to see what you can get out of a Norman.

I know 2 guys with supercharged greys, both have billet cranks.  No dyno reads as yet but one guy is hoping for the most HP ever but his is a few years away from the dyno at the moment.