Hey guys , I have been fooling with ford most of my life but I have never had a bid block. I have always had the little fox stangs with juice and gears with some good heads and they fly, but I need to know HOW STRONG is a stock block 390? I have aquired one that has been freshened up with a little bit bigger cam. I do not know much else about it. It looks and sounds very good. I am know it is best to know what is inside but I am guessing at the least it is a bit better than stock. So my main question is on a stock 4V 390 335 Hp motor, could you spray 150HP shot of N.O.S and be safe? Thanks , Jeremy
If your nos setup is perfect, and you don't use it all the time, it will be ok. The main reason the 4 bolt main web blocks were designed was the flexing and subsequent crank failure. A strong 428 that wasn't rated at 400 hp. could ruin a block with lots of rodding around town. This took about 20,000 miles as I remember. If you're going to the strip every weekend all summer, I think you'll need a new engine by fall.
Risk a for real 390 GT/GTA? Running=$$$. Grenaded=-0-. Sell it and juice a 460. PS. I've got a 390 with a busted crank takin' up space in my shop right now..it needs to go.
I love FE motors, but they are expensive to hop up. great torque, but they dont like running at high rpms in stock form. I was told by many race motor builders to use the 429-460. The FE and the 460 are totally different motors. they share no parts and mount up differently. The trannys are not interchangeable either. Just in case you didnt already know that.
I remember a guy using a forged steel crank from a 361 industrial engine in a 428. came up with a396 short stroker. Revved like a small block!still had good low end torque too. Thats the nice thing about ALMOST all the fe series motors,it all interchanges like a sbc! I love those old dinoblocks! yes I spelled it corectly ,d-I-n-o not,d-Y-n-o R.R.
Running an FE in our 63 Ford.....not a 390, but a 427..spinning it to 7800, best effort in our 3350#car is 9.63@141..all motor......the 390 may balk at the shot of n20....but it will take it for a while...think about a stroker crank...not too expensive and can go as big as 4.250...but many toss in the 428 crank @ 3.98 stroke and make the 390s a 410... M.
Mark knows what he is talking about.. Dont give the FEs a bad rap with the right combo of pieces you can build a monster. I have been running em on the street for years No Nitrous but I am not too gentle on them either. Never had one come apart on me . Parts are expensive expecially 427 pieces (thanks Cobra clone builders) but stroker kits are available and a good set of Edelbrock heads... not to mention you will have an engine that is a hell of a lot lighter than a 429/460. Dawg
Hey thanks guys, I won't be spraying something all the time. I was just wondering cause I still have some NOS parts from my last stang, and The stuff is awsome.... Thanks again, lets hear some more............
I question the accuracy of this statement. I'll have to research it, but I seem to recall reading in Super Ford many years ago that the 428 FE was in fact slightly heavier that the 429/460. This was in an article about swapping a 460 into a '69 Mustang. I could be wrong but now I gota check. I'll share what I find. EDIT: Ok I'm sure we've all seen this list before http://www.team.net/sol/tech/engine.html Says there that the 429/460 is pretty close to the same weight as the FE and is in fact a slight bit lighter.
The weight problem on an FE is the cast iron intake manifold. If you've ever lifted one of these you probably have a hernia. I bought a new '66 Ford and the first time I tried to remove the intake I thought I'd missed a bolt or two. You can probably drop 25-30# with an aluminum intake. I'm changing out the 428 in my Model A right now. Broke a rocker arm and it caused other problems... I ran the piss out of the 390 in the '66, I was 18 at the time and the only thing that gave up was the transmission. The cluster gear came out and went end over end down the road.
Well, I never used NOS in an FE, but I ran a lot of nitro through them back in the good old days (60's) and they held up really nice. If you "cure" the oiling system, they will last forever.
I was heavy into the Fox Mustangs for a long time too. The FE block will take a lot more abuse than the late model 302 block, but there are a few things to consider, like the oiling thing brought up by someone else. I would also say they are not that much more (if at all) expensive than doing a EFI 5.0 Mustang. Just as a point of refference..take this for example. Say you want to build a pump gas 500hp 5.0 Mustang. You need heads - $1000 complete, roller rockers - $350, a cam $200, an intake - $450, a throttle body $180, a MAS airflow sensor $175, bigger fuel injectors $180, an ignition - $200. Those are minimum dollar ammounts and add up to $2735 in just parts and may or may not deliver 500hp. Plus you are now in the block spliting power territory. Now say you want to build a 500hp pump gas 390. You need heads - Edelbrock = $1260, an intake -$300, a carb - $400, an ignition - $200, Rocker shaft set up - $475, a cam & lifters kit $ 180. Those add up to $2815. Not quite a $100 dollar difference. And the 390 has plenty more to give, while the 302 is ready for a new heavy duty aftermarket block and a blower (ie... $5000). Yeah I left some stuff out but it's small stuff that both engines will need and will cost roughly the same ammount of money.
390s as any other FE are expensive to build and well worth the money. I don't know that I would run one on squeeze if I didn't know what was in it. I did read a series in a MOPAR rag a few years back where they took a junkyard 318 and poured the juice to it trying to blow it up. Couldn't be done until they upgraded the ignition. Has nothin' to do with trying to make your FE laugh but I just thought I'd throw that in for grins. Back to FEs, they are not a revver from the factory but they can be made to spin if you weant to invest the cash. I probably wouldn't expect it to live much over 6K for any length of time without makeing some major mods to the lower end. you can cross bolt 'em just like the 427 and that makes all the difference in the world. Back in the day ('65?) the 427s that spun way up in the ear splitting range had bumps on the tops of the pistons that hit the valves to close 'em. But I think you can get around that with more modern valve gear. But those kind of revs and the money it take to make 'em just isn't necessary. Build torque, get a light body and taller gears. My old man used tell folks this when they came in the shop, "Speed costs money, how fast do you wanna go?" That's basically what you're talkin' with an FE.
I would not put a 390 on a bottle at all. I had the 4v 390 in my 67 Cougar that bastard hhad some grunt. it was able to tear the case apart on a C6. I have been wanting to make a twin turbo fuel injected 390. That would make one hell of a ass kicker. Around where I grew up everyone says 390's can't take rpm's. I pushed mine to 7000 at least once a week of course it was modified all across the board. The coolest mod it had was the rail roller setup. If your gonna use silly fog go with a 460. If you want a swap pan for a FE into a fox body complete with pickup hit me back I know of one a friend is selling. He bought it because he is building his own lightning. Turns out the pan won't work in the truck so hhe got a rear sump now.
hey guys, thanks again for the input. Also i am not putting this in a fox, i am putting it in my 66 Wagon. I am just using the fox cars for examples. I just figured that a weak 302 block could take 150 so could a 390 and be ok. As one guy stated about the money, I had heads cams and everything you could buy for the injection on my stang and it made about 350 HP, then add the 150 spray I had 500 HP. I was just thinking that I could take a stock 335hp 390 spray 150 and then have almost as much power, and shit loads of TORQUE...... I'M not trying to build a race car , I just sold one. racing and trying to get every tenth just took the fun out of it for me... My dad takes his 66 fastback and my brother takes his mustang too, and I just want my wagon to be some fun . I am not going to juice it all the time but that will be onwe good sleeper, especially when I get the wide whites...... Keep the good info coming I need to learn all I can about these FE's..... Thanks guys...... I am adding a pic of the 390 I just got....
In my message I mentioned Aluminum heads and with a aluminum intake there is a weight advantage between the two. Here is another link for Ford engine weights.. http://tc.ne13.com/FordEngineWeightsV1.html These are stock engine weights 427= 658lbs 460=730lbs 429=727lbs from the above site. Dawg
check out http://ford-trucks.com they have a FE forum and there's some guys over there that know these motors inside out
I bought a 1966 Fairlane GT 335 HP 4 speed car brand new; got 12 miles to the gallon on the high way. Built a deep sump baffled oil pan added factory ford tri-power, headers, and advanced the cam 4 crankshaft degrees to move the power curve more mid range and got a consistant 18 mile per gallon. The car was tough to hold in a lane of traffic when power shiffed into 2nd gear. Top speed at 6000 rpm by the tac with 3.28 gears was 164 mph. Only did it once! I'm currently running a cross bolt 427 with tri-power in my 57 T-Bird. FEs Rock.
Edelbrock RPM heads, RPM intake, Supercomps, 750DP, 248/248 duration .610" lift solid Comp Cam, CC roller rockers and shafts, recon stock crank and rods and heavy ass TRW pistons, balanced. Will sit at 6k all day long and won't break a sweat. Sees 6k every time it's out. Redlines set at 6800. Don't think I'd want any more in a street car, it's a handful how it is, its a monster... Probably a legit 450HP/450ft-lbs. Used to run nitrous... 150HP shot of N2O is nothin' for a big block. Hell, it's barely anything for a small block... Keep the gas-o-line to it and it'll be fine.
If all your going to spray is a 150 shot I say buy the Top SHot. There very safe and the way they operate it's not likely you will have any lean out problem May want to back the timing off to 32 degrees or so.
If it were me and I have had many Ford engines and are very happy with them , if you want to use Nitrous and get away with it without any worries , just go buy a salvage yard 460 and add the nitrous and you will have a fast ride ! The 460 can take a lot more abuse than a 390 plus you will have to put a lot of money in the 390 to get to the power of the 460 . If you get a early higher HP 460 with a 150-200 shot you will be surprised what you will have for little money . Now that is cheap racing and it works very well ! I would take a 460 any day of the week to race over any of the lighter engines Ford made . There is nothing better than the torque of a big block ! If you have never had one and you buy one, you will never go back to a small block again ! Just my 2 cents worth of Ford power !
I'm planning to swap a stroker FE into my "57 Bird. I'm interested in the details of your 427 conversion.
"I don't know that I would run one on squeeze if I didn't know what was in it." Porknbeaner Porknbeaner hit the nail on the head with that one statement. Having my fair share of FE experience, (my screen name is not for a 427 chevy) I'd say that unless you built it to wail on it, it's gonna bite you back if you try.
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