Technical Ford FE 352 ID help

some FE engines had a mirror image 105 (I always called it a 501) instead of the 352 cast on the front of the block

 

I’ve had 360s a couple 390s and a 352.

the 352 was the best out of the bunch

 

Well the manifold and heads are right, like I said earlier, stock exhaust is still intact too. Somebody musta just gave up on the 4bbl. Pwr windows n seat, factory black with red black interior. In full disclosure I don't care how fast or "good" it can run, just was wanting to be sure it was all it was supposed to be. Check this*****, the door code is identical to a Hi-Po. Hence my "WTF is it?!?


'Y' code, manual trans, axle spec open. Has the mega front suspension too, haven't checked the brakes yet. Basically the HI-PO got st wagon front suspension, but also got 5 leaf rears and 3" driveshaft. 4 leafs, std shaft. Frame number matches the tag. Weird. Wild...

 

There were some hi performance 352s in 1960. 360 HP. They had an aluminum intake.

 

Yeah I got pretty clubbed up at the HD front suspension and door tag. It's not a Hi-Po, just a kool set of coincidences.

 

Good looking car!!

 

Bitchin car….

 

Not Hi-P.O., still, can’t sneeze at a 300hp 352. Even 2V 352s have snort.

 

I love FE Fords. My first, bought with my own money, truck had an FE. I was 16 and was in Heaven. Mom and Dad only let me buy it because they never figured I’d get it running. The hillbilly I bought it from told me it was a 390. I wasn’t smart enough at the time to measure bore and stroke when I had the heads off of it. Looking back, it was most likely the 352 that the F-100 was built with. It didn’t matter, it was a V-8 and it was mine!! Those full size Fords you guys pictured are Gorgeous!!! One day, I’ll have another FE, even if it’s a more door!

 

Early FEs have cast iron rocker stands , adjustable rockers , breather in intake . Good parts. Toss the iron intake and water pump , nice carb , intake , exhaust manifolds , you will be in love .

 

The 352 was nothing to sneeze at that motor is as tough as they come. That kind of mileage it's most likely a 352 have fun love them 60 starliners they got the 60 Chevy beat in the looks department in my opinion.

 

The retainer*****on cam can have a new double roller timing set with a little machine work. I opted to keep mine as I didn't want the expense and risk of a new cam and HYD lifters with all the break-in horror stories.




I machined the cam sprocket and used a recessed allen bolt to make room for the VW clutch release bearing I used for cam retention. The spring is bolted to the timing cover that pushes on this bearing.

I really wanted a Cloyes double roller set, and the only original option was a Melling silent chain.

 

One thing about the Edsel Pistons had the right compression height

 

Ok, found it.

B9AE 6015B

Research says it's a 1959-60 352. Nothing more. Strange that B9AE 6015 is a Y block as well, I guess the 6015B says it's a 352. Yes, I know the visual difference, it's is clearly NOT a Y block and the casting date might be NOV 59 but the date gig is hard to see.

 

On Ford part number/engineering numbers, the 6015 is the basic number, it tells you what the part is. 6000-6899 denotes engine and mounts. 6015 is an engine block. The prefix (B9AE) gives you date and application, the suffix (B) denotes the actual part or changes to a part. Ford is the only manufacturer I know of whose part numbers tell you what a part is.

 

Ok, last one on this for now and I'd like candid real opinions so have no fear. The Starliner faithful know well the vaunted hipo variant and how desireable that would be. They have to have a select few OEM features that show it was indeed built that way.
1st and formost the VIN tag has to be a 'Y' code and show a '1' for the trans (or 2 for an O/D ) indicating a stick shift and in each hipo case I was able to see the axle code was blank. Got that.
It has to have a HD sway bar up front which some specs say .625 (not very HD IMO) but mine is huge, more like 7/8.
Got that.
It has to have the Ford HD shocks on all 4 corners. Yup, that too.
Has to have 3" front brakes. Uh huh, got that.
Should have a 3/8 fuel line to feed the 360HP 352. Check, it's there.
Should have electric wipers too and, you guessed it. Also present.
There's 3 things it doesn't have as follows.
The brake line up front is supposed to follow the core support crossmember vs the tubular one under the engine. Mine's under the engine.
It should have 5 leaf rear springs out back but I have the 4s although they're coupled with the big OEM shocks.
Should also have a 3" driveshaft and mine is 2 3/4.
So before the opinions fly I'll add that this is a 14,000 mile original car. None of this stuff has been added or altered, no part switching, not a car pieced together. What was being done was a previous owner got hold of power windows from a parts car and was adding them to it. That's it. The rest is intact and unmolested. So back to the 1st sentence, I'm interested in how something with such features came to be? Did Clem and Louie build the wrong car at the plant? Did a savvy customer check some boxes of kool stuff? Did municipal or other govt cars get based on the hipo platform and receive these select "upgrades" as a matter of course? I only have enough postwar Ford knowledge to be dangerous but I know some of you folks here know this stuff as well as you know the names of your kids, so help a brutha out. Thanks...

 

Hopefully one of the Ford-o-files on here can post up a copy of a 1960 order form. Obviously the box for 360 Hp Hi-Po brings a number of different parts options with it, but I would be willing to bet there were other options that covered some of those same parts as well, especially the suspension upgrades. It all depends on who checked what box, could be just luck of the draw. My experience has been that there was no set standard for any government agency. It varied drastically from state to state, and even from agency to agency (State Patrol vs. DNR vs. Public works, etc.)

 

I don’t recall if you posted the build date, but in an era of running changes, it’s not unreasonable to expect that a 1959 build (early) 1960 Ford, particularly a low production 360 hp optioned one, would not contain all the bits and pieces of a late production version.

This could happen for a number of reasons, including but not limited to vendor parts availability, late engineering releases, durability or performance issues requiring spec changes, etc.

It’s a dynamic industry, and wasn’t as process driven 64 years ago as it is today.

 

I'll agree with @FrozenMerc ... I'm sure most of those bits were available as options on more plebian versions if you knew what boxes to check. Throw in a little confusion on the****embly line with an oddball order, that could account for some of it. The fact that Ford used the same 'Y' code for both the 'standard' 300HP 352 and the HiPo didn't help either. We've become accustomed to 'packages' which if you ordered the HiPo is what you received, but you used to be able to order a lot of this stuff 'ala cart' so to speak, particularly on export or fleet versions.

What doesn't it have? The HiPo also had cast headers, solid-lifters-only blocks, 15" wheels with dog dish hubcaps, and goodies like power steering and brakes and A/C weren't available. I can tell you from experience that lacking power steering on a FE-equipped version makes for some serious steering wheel wrangling at slow speeds. You may have had a buyer that initially wanted the HiPo but when faced with this may have opted for the standard motor but went for as much of the other bits as possible.

 

Power steering; a newer-than-the-rest slave cyl bracket was put on. I would say somebody was going to add that feature too, but ONLY the frame bracket. Nothing else, no pump was ever on the engine. The master cyl was taken off (not a power version) which has me thinking PS & PB were going to happen some time in it's history but never happened. I have the OG cylinder, so those are 2 things that add to vs help settle the mystery. A local 60 Starliner enthusiast who has a hipo was as intrigued as I about the number of "gotta have its" on this car. In fact he said he got a govt vibe looking at it too. I don't want it to be something it isn't, I just want to be able to speak intelligently about it.

And no, just std manifolds, regular 4bbl 352, iron intake, and the number as found and reported above. Car was built in Atlanta and has an oil change sticker from 1971 showing 5,122 miles from a Georgia service place, a Kendall oil brand sticker.

 

Oh, don't be such a "Crabby Appleton". . .