C5AE block with screw-in softplugs; Interesting HiPo head

[Bossbill]

A friend of mine sent me this pic (why not more?) on this C5AE block with screw-in soft plugs and possible head studs. Was this done in the 60s?

The HiPo head has had a rocker arm shaft added. Can't say I've seen this done as it looks very FE style.

Any racers want to chime in?

[98SVT - was 06GT]

RANDY.........

I think the 302 tunnel port heads had rocker shafts. Any pix of the ports? Screw in plugs were probably done as part of someone's race prep on the block. The whole casting number might indicate something odd.

Found a pic of TP heads

[Royce Peterson]

Looks like aftermarket rocker shaft stands to me. Not like the '68 Tunnel Port 302 used.

[gt350hr]

  +1 The tunnel port used two bolt stands like a 312 . Those are single bolt like an FE. The screw in core plugs are NOT ford issue either. They had a square hole , not hex.

[shelbydoug]

Huh. I had to go and research that but it's true on the small blocks using square drive core plugs but the 427's use hex drive? Why is that?

[gt350hr]

   Probably the size. 1-1/2 is far more common and available at most any hardware store.

[CSX2259]

Hard to tell but the main caps don't look like anything special.

[Bossbill]

Rear cap is a C2 and no HiPo caps elsewhere.
The crank counterweights appear polished and crank has a lot of drilled holes on no.1.

I didn't recognize the rocker shaft as coming from a common vendor.

[gt350hr]

   I would need some "detail shots" to be of more help to the mystery.

[rhjanes]

Just a total spitball here, but any chance this is a marine prepped engine?  Or some industrial application, where it's going to used at idle to pump water from a well for 24 hours a day for years, or it locks up. 

[Royce Peterson]

A speed shop in New York used to sell a setup that was very similar. That shop was Vindicator Racing, I don't know if they made them or just carried them. It's old school stuff and not something that anyone would do today but it was sorta normal back in the 1960's. Likely an old racer's build, no telling what kind of racing.

Rear cap is a C2 and no HiPo caps elsewhere.
The crank counterweights appear polished and crank has a lot of drilled holes on no.1.

I didn't recognize the rocker shaft as coming from a common vendor.

[gt350hr]

 Besides Drake ( Vindicator Racing) there was a company out here in CA that offered a set up like that. It used an external oil line through the valve cover to supply oil to the shaft. Few sets were sold and the company folded. NOT a Ford manufactured assembly.