Technical Ok, Ford FE gurus let’s talk

I'm still on the hunt. I talked with a guy up around KC that has a few bare blocks. He's 5 hours away though....

Is there any reason a guy couldn't use a 352 block with the later cranks and rods, buy pistons that fit the 360? That should give you a standard bore if you open it up .050". Any differences other than the bore on the 352 blocks? I'll have to go back and re-read this entire thread.

 

If you go with the 352 block and you are buying pistons get oversize 352 pistons. 360 pistons are actually 390 pistons and leave the piston .040 farther down than 352 pistons. Compression height 352 1.8- 360 1.76 I look for 1963 up 352s to build a 390 you can start out with a standard bore

 

Good to know.

 

As SunBeam said, Be careful with 360 pistons and wrist pin height. There were differences between the early 360's used in Edsel's and the later low compression pickup 360's.

Most 352's can be bored out to 4.050" without any problem, but that may be the limit depending on cylinder wall thickness. One of those things you just have to measure and find out. I am building a 352 right now for use in a '60 T-Bird that got a 4.25" Scat stroker crank and 4.050" bore. There was plenty of cylinder wall, but it will never go to 4.080" and last very long.

 

My guess is I will be buying the 445 stroker kit for it. I just need a good block.

 

Then you are going with custom pistons, so it won't matter.

 

Yes sir. I just don't wanna end up with some funky pin height on one extreme or the other.

 

You end up with a funky pin height with the 445 stroker, just due to the geometry. Typically a 6.7" BBC rod is used, with the 4.25" stroke and a standard 10.170" deck height, putting the piston at zero deck results in a 1.345" pin height. quite a bit shorter than the stock 352's 1.823" or even the 390's 1.667" pin height. Even though I had gone over the dimensions a bunch of times, it still surprised me how short and "small" the pistons for the stroker kit are, especially when I was used to handling the stockers (and large diesel pistons at work). They look very racy, perhaps even F1-ish.

This is the only crappy pic I took of the pistons before stuffing them into the block.

 

That is a great idea! I was under the impression you had already obtained a block, so I have not been actively looking for a 360/390 block. I will start looking again, since we are practically neighbors ! lol





Bones

 

Didn't read all the way through, but just chucking out my 2 pennies worth after building quite a few FEs......For an intake, don't bother with a regular Performer as they are a quarter step better than a stock 4 barrel, all you're really gaining is the weight loss. A Performer RPM is where it's at, even for torque, and they're dang near the same price as a Performer. A 445 cube stroker is going to want at least a 750 cfm carb.

Oil system mods: You want to restrict oil to the top end (you can actually use Holley carb jets to do this), as the oil doesn't drain back out of the top end/heads quickly enough and you can starve the pump. A windage tray helps tremendously, especially if you're going to do a stroker. Clean and chamfer all the drain back holes in the heads and block. Use a one piece rear main, the split seals almost always leak.

If you're going to use the stock rocker shafts, especially with stronger spring pressure, you NEED to get a set of rocker shaft supports, otherwise you'll break off the end rockers when the shaft snaps, losing all pressure, which happens when you least expect it. (also when torqueing the shafts down, be very careful to do it in steps, as you can snap the shafts at that time also). You can get complete rocker shaft assemblies in the aftermarket, do not get Speedmaster, I've broken quite a few rockers when trying to cheap out on the budget when I was just learning these engines (snapped Speedmaster pictured). For affordable assemblies, PRW stainless set ups are good. I got sponsored by ProMaxx for autocrossing my daily pile F100, so I'm running their cylinder heads on that engine, but they are basically a copy of the Edelbrocks. Pretty much any Ford engine likes split duration/lift, with around 6-10 degrees more on the exhaust side and .010-.020 on the lift....you can get decent performance out of most common stock heads with a simple port and bowl clean. If you run stock irons, and they're so equipped, ditch the valve "rotators" as they're heavy and lead to valve float. I've run irons and aluminums, the aluminum heads are almost always worth it....best place to get an engine and trans is just to find a rusted out '70s Ford truck and buy the whole thing. I'd post more pics, but most my FEs are in OT vehicles.

 

Good advice. I appreciate the info. I have never built an FE. I have owned a couple, but that's it.

This is not gonna be a rip snorter, full on race motor. I just want something to have some rumpity rump and to tow with it. I need reliability over anything else.

 

Right on, I drive my F100 nearly every day here in Montana no matter the weather, from -30 to 110 above. They're great engines. Definitely clean and chamfer the oil drain backs while you've got it apart and if you stroke it run a windage tray. If you're running the stock rockers and shafts, definitely get some shaft supports like these eBay jobs I'm linking. There was a company named Precision Oil Pumps, and the guy was super, super into FEs and a great fella to deal with and his parts were all American made (Dennis was his name, I believe). I just tried looking him up again and his website is defunct, so probably went out of business. But you'll want to run some brand of supports, the stock rocker shafts fail all the time unless you find a fairly rare set of factory hardened shafts out of a 406/427/428. I have had the run of the mill shafts snap with even just a little higher spring pressure on a .533 lift hydraulic cam just putzing around town. Big block Buicks have the same issue.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115891938953

 

You might check out Brent Lykins Motorsports. He specializes in FEs and has some unique bits for these.

 

I have talked to Brent quite a bit. Super nice guy.

 

I would assume the way to go would be to buy the entire kit.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pqx-3240622

 

That is exactly what I have in my daily driver/race truck. Can't beat it for the money. I probably have 50k miles on the set up.

 

Verified. I like it.

 

I just checked the website for "Precision Oil Pumps" and it came right up.. not sure what's going on there.. I bought his billet oil pump drive shafts for one of my builds a couple years back.

 

Yeah, their website is a no go for me. A lot of folks have let their static websites go in lieu of FB etc.

Precision Oil Pumps
(559)325-3553

 

Just checked myself, and the website is back up as of right now, I also couldn't get on it a few weeks ago. Doug (hey, I was close with "Dennis") is a great guy and knows FEs very well. I've gotten custom pushrods, rocker stands, oil pumps, and a lot of parts from him. Highly recommended.

https://stores.precisionoilpumps.com/ford-fe/

 

That one worked. Thanks.

 

Well good news. I was in a meeting today with all the other managers in our flight program. I was talking with one of the other car guys I know and he mainly likes mid 70's Ford F100's. I asked if he knew where I could get a good FE and he said he had a complete 360 out of a 74 F100. He's just down the road in Ft Worth, so this may be the deal I have been waiting on. Supposably, it was a running, driving truck.

 

So what valve covers are out there for the FE? I'm not crazy about the "powered by Ford" ones. Did Cal Custom have anything cool?

 

I was a fan of the factory cobra jet finned covers. No names on them. Second choice would be the thunderbird units. The Edelbrock units are nice if you want black.

 

I had a set of the factory CJ valve covers and they were stolen.....makes me sick.

 

Moon makes the best looking finned ones, IMO. But they have no PCV or oil fill holes. And they are spendy.

 

I figure I would have to have the filler holes. I don't know enough about FE's yet to know what my options would be for breathers and oil fill.

 

Ansen makes short and tall versions with just about any logo you could want (in addition to plain). I run their plain finned covers on one of my engines. Top notch quality and American made:

https://www.ansenvalvecovers.com/collections/ford-fe-short-valve-covers
https://www.ansenvalvecovers.com/collections/ford-fe-tall-valve-covers

The Mercury covers are cool, and there are just plain round from the factory and the pent roof covers are reproduced. You can also find old school M/T and Holley covers, Holman-Moody, etc....lots and lots of different options from the factory, Thunderbird, FORD, etc.

 

I like the original Cal Custom ones.. bought a set from JC Whitney back in the mid 70s.. they have oil fill holes on each side. Put a PCV valve in the right side valve cover..