FE's are only expensive if you start getting larger cubes or into rare/old speed parts. You can build them reasonably easy. Mean gene is spot on about the 410 combo. The last 410 I built was my favorite motor ever and had just as much punch as the 428 I have in my truck now. As far as your multi carb 360 don't bother, the 360 doesn't like a lot of carb. Put a single four on it, headers, and a cam and you'll be shocked. A good multi spark ignition like an msd or simila really helps the poor burn from having the piston down in the hole too. Just be careful, FE motors are about as addictive as drugs and before you know it you'll have enough shit to build 6 motors in your garage. Sent from my SM-G900V using H.A.M.B. mobile app
6? Jeezus... Got 9 427's, 4 428CJs and an SCJ, a 391, 5 390s and a couple 352s in the shop right now- and I just sent a 416 starter kit, nice late 390 pickup block, LeMans rods, a 428 crank, and new 410 + .030 pistons- for $1100 out the door a couple hours ago. Main bores are good, as it ain't a Chebbie, so bore & hone, square the decks, new cam bearing and put the lowers together- el cheapo torquer
In this case there is no substitute for cubes with all the aftermarket stroker kits out there. Just watch out for compression .030 over 360-390 block and 4.25 crank =444 inches and big compression numbers choose carefully.
Just cut out the ring ridge at the cyl top and install a 390 crank. The rods and pistons will fit. you get 30 more cubes and raise the compression. Cost of the crankshaft and gaskets. I use the cast iron exhaust manifolds off a 330 F 600 truck. They are center dump & flow pretty good. you have to weld the center exhaust port closed on the manifold. its not used with pass car and light duty truck heads. The restrictive factory exhaust manifolds really hurt the performance of FE,s
You guys keep thinking that genuine Carter AFB's look out of place on an FE. I have two 625's running solid linkage on my shop truck 390 on an Offy intake. Driveability and power are awesome, and I won't tease you with the fuel economy. Jon.
Sorry to dug up this old thread, but I don't feel like making a new one. This is kinda my thread anyway. So I went to the junkyard the other day with one of my buddies see if I could find maybe a 4bbl intake for semi cheap, we went there after school so we didn't have much time to look around for trucks. We did however find a couple old t-birds. One of Wich I got some valve covers off of. I need a waterpump pulley and while I was there I noticed they didn't seem to have the same looking water pump on them the part the pulley bolts to looks alot bigger on the engine in my truck, I know mine is a newer engine, I think from a truck, so would It use a different pulley? BTW I don't remember if I said this or not the truck I'm referring to is my 47 jailbar ford.
I also wanted to ask what the difference is between a 360 and a 361 edsel. I can't seem to find what the compression ratio for a 360 is but I've seen (on Wikipedia) that the 361 used 10:1. Thanks in advance.
The 360 was only used in light-duty trucks, so the compression ratio was kept down in the 8.4:1 range for use with regular fuel.
Architecturally, not sure what would be different between the two. The 361 was the first FE (1958-59), the 360 was the last (1968-1976). And yes, 8.4:1 for 360's.
Is there any internal difference to the 390 merc fe, over the ford 390? Sure like the stamped merc valve covers.
Depends on which 390 you're looking at. But for most practical applications, there's no major differences.
Was just curious about the internals like crank or rods. It is a 1967 mercury 390 2 barrel. The flatheads seemed to use a better crank then fords back in the day, wonder if any of that carried over.
Cranks will all be the same. IIRC, Ford used the same rod in all but the 427s, with some 'HiPo' versions getting an 'upgraded' rod with larger bolts but based on the same forging.
Ford changed the timing chain gears in the 460 in the 70's to make the cam run retarded for emissions. Did they do the same thing in the FE motors? Pop had a 2 barrel 360 in a pickup, and it was a real dog. It was never meant to be a hot rod motor, granted, but it sucked gas and never really had much power either. He put almost 200,000 miles on it before he replaced it...with a 390, w/ a 4 barrel. He said if it was going to drink gas, it might as well run. Very informative thread.. Starting to at least see why some of the 70's technology/EPA regs made the vehicles suck.
I love FE's, I had a 390 powered Galaxie and it ran great. Mine had a mild cam (don't know the grind), Edelbrock intake, dual exhaust out of cast iron headers, and... a 500cfm Holley four barrel. It is incredible how good it performed with that smaller carb. Whacky thing, it had a posi rear with 2.71 gears, cruised great on the highway.
Check again Old Wolf. The 361 Edsel is very much an FE, (E-400 in Edsel's nomenclature, due to it's torque rating). The 410 (E-475) used in the 1958 Edsel Citation and Corsairs was the MEL motor. Not to be confused with the 410 FE used in 1966 and '67 Mercury's (simply a 390 block stuffed with a 428 crank). The smallest MEL ever produced by Ford was the 383 used in Mercury's There was also the Truck version of the 361 used in medium duty trucks. That was technically an FT, but shared many components with the FE engines. Stronger blocks, forged cranks, etc for truck use. Edsel 361 (E-400)
I have a question about the FE series. Not real familiar with them.Have been told that a 360 can be made into a 390 simply by using the crank,rods and pistons from a 390 in the 360 block.Have heard pros and cons.Thanks for any info. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
360 and a 390 have the same bore. 4.050" The 360 uses the same crank as a 352. Just drop a 390 rotating assembly into a 360, and presto, instant 390. The other option is to take a 428 crank (with 390 rods and pistons) and drop it into your 360 block for a quick and easy 410. No block work is required. Be aware, that the 410 / 428 crank was externally balanced and all other FE cranks are internally balanced. This means different flywheels and harmonic balancers. The down side is that most 1970 and something 360 heads were low compression with smallish ports that do not flow well on high performance engines. For a street 390 that won't spin much over 5000 rpms, no problem, but when you start getting more cubes and twisting it up good you can run into flow problems. The upside is they had hardened valve seats for use with unleaded gas.
Let us not overlook the FACTORY use of an AFB on a 427 F.E. In the mid-1960s, Dearborn Marine had a 427 F.E. motor for use in their boats. The correct carb was a 5905 S AFB 4-bbl. I don't know how hard these are to come by, but I got mine off of an insurance claim sunken boat. The motor went elsewhere--I only got the carb. Wish I had gotten the manifold! -Andy Carlson Ojai CA
Wasn't the E-400 just an overbore on a 352, like around .030-0.040? And only because the Edsel was supposed to be a bit more upscale than the Fairlane counterpart.
Hi frozenmerc.Thanks for the reply, and confirming the info that I had been given over the years. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
The 59 edsel also the heads have machined combustion chambers , same head as a c1 ,but very desirable ford only machined the chambers the one year as it was too costly
"Let us not overlook the FACTORY use of an AFB on a 427 F.E. In the mid-1960s, Dearborn Marine had a 427 F.E. motor for use in their boats. The correct carb was a 5905 S AFB 4-bbl. I don't know how hard these are to come by, but I got mine off of an insurance claim sunken boat. The motor went elsewhere--I only got the carb. Wish I had gotten the manifold! -Andy Carlson" Andy, methinks your typing finger slipped off of the 3 onto the first 5 Jon
Yeah...deep water hindsight. Did you have adequate oxygen in your tanks, or forget the 9/16" wrench for intake bolts?
If you install a 428 crank with 390 rods & pistons the pistons probably will stick out above the deck of the block. A 360 already has 390 pistons. there isn't and difference in the length of 390 and352 rods. the 360 has a 352 crank. and the 390 piston pin location puts the piston down in the bore. I think the 428,s also used a different piston pin height ? I have in my hoard a 1958 FE that's a 332, same 4 inch bore as a 352 and shorter stroke. I always thought there would be some potential to drop that crank into a larger bore block and build a high RPM FE engine? Also the later 390 pistons have dished tops. The 64 and older had a flat top. The early 352,s also have a flat top piston. the 65 and later where dished.
Old Wolf, you have been given some bad information. There very much is a difference in length between 352 and 390 rods. 352, 360: 6.540" 390, 406, 410, 427, 428: 6.488" You are right, The piston pin location does vary between stroke lengths. The 410 / 428 engines had the shortest compression heights at 1.675. 390's (406's and 427's) had a compression height of 1.745". 352's were even higher at 1.839". So when you put the shorter 1.745" piston on the 6.54" 360 rod, the piston ended up 0.146" in the hole. The fun combination is a 427 block with a 352 crank to make a 396 ci, 9000 rpm screamer. Ford tried that combination to get around the weight penalties NASCAR was imposing on the full sized 427 ci Galaxies. The 396 fit the class rules in the smaller, lighter Fairlane and made some pretty good power.
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