Hi Group. The little I have read about Doane Spencer, indicated that he was
really a remarkable individual.
Is there something written about him, and exactly what he did on the Tigers,
that is available?
Larry
Tom Hall wrote:
> At 10:59 PM 2/24/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> >So that's the reason Doane Spencer used a sleeved, 5-bolt 289, bored to
> >Tiger, 260 specs.
>
> No that's not the reason Doane used the sleeve process for his
> motors. He did it to produce a variable deck height. Remember that these
> were the early days of small block preparation, and individual creativity
> and development made all the difference in the world. Doane used 289
> gaskets which fit the OD of the sleeves and left the sleeves protruding
> from the block at the crush height of the gasket. This allowed the sleeve
> to essentially contact the head surface and protect the gasket from the
> full cylinder pressure and heat generation. I don't know, and I doubt that
> few do, exactly what static compression ratio he designed for , but I'll
> bet it was well into the mid teens. Head gasket failure was typically a
> major failure point for small block Fords running this kind of
> compression. Leave it to Doane to figure out a way to make more power and
> with higher reliability than the other competitors of his day. He
> certainly had a magic touch and from todays perspective it's a shame he
> selected or was selected to provide his talent on such a short lived
> venture as the Tiger Racing Program instead of something more successful
> such as Shelby's Ford Development or NASCAR where he might have made a more
> historically meaningful and visible contribution. The combined technical
> contribution of the original old LA Basin Hot Rodders is astounding.
>
> Tom
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