Got it home and it's in the garage, just out of truck. Makeshift til I get it on my stand. Gonna clean it up and see what I done got
Looks like a very good starting point! Protect that air cleaner and the valve covers! Did you ever cough the number of engine mounts ….on both engines? Bones
Everything seems there which is nice car. Doesn’t look like it’s been stored in a swamp either. Looking at the mounts I think that’s from a TBird, in which case I think I’m right in saying the intake will be flat for a 64.
Kinda! The four wheel drive truck engines were rear sump. But the oil pump obviously stays in the front, for a little bit of depth! If you buy one….its the sump, the pan and the bolt! Bones
The most frustrating part of your build will be stabbing the distributor on that stinking hex shaft!!
Ugh, and you can only hope that the collar to hold it in place is pointed in the right direction. Whoever built the 390 in my T-Bird installed the pump shaft with the collar on the oil pump end, so anytime I pull the distributor, I listen for the "clunk." One of these days, I'll pull the pan and flip it around.
Air cleaner is 60-early63. Intake is slanted. Im pretty sure that is a 63 galaxie "thunderbird special" 4v 300hp engine. Engine mounts look like 63-64 type.
That is exactly what I thought. I was told it came out of a 64 Galaxie so it looks to be true. Thank you for looking at it.
This does help but these are still heavy blocks. My comparison was a trip to the machine shop with a 428 block and a 409 Chevy block, the Chevy was much lighter.
There is a very easy procedure for stabbing Ford distributors ! But us Ford guys try to keep that secret from the brand x guys! lol Bones
James , do you know if you put aluminum heads, intake , water pump on an FE , it will weight about the same as a stock small block Chevy ! Bones
I always thought that just putting an aluminum intake on an FE would not only make the engine quite a bit lighter, but it would also lower the center of gravity of the whole car.
Several ways to install a Ford dist. 1st: Take a deep socket the same size as the shaft and tape it to an extension so you can't drop it. Turn the shaft slightly until you reach the desired spot. 2nd: Install dist. where you think it will be correct, hold slight pressure on the housing and use a breakover to turn the crankshaft some until it falls in place. Turn the engine backwards to the timing mark you choose and see if you have the desired location.
Compared to most of its '50s contemparies it's a lightweight. Yes, it weighs more than a Chevy 'W' motor (the lightest of the 'big inch' '50s design motors and basically a reworked small block) but is lighter than nearly all the rest. And unlike most of those, it's fairly easy to shed weight off a FE.
The OP is planning on a 4-speed behind whichever 390 he elects to use, and I have been giving him some pointers about what to do for over a year. The only thing CRS has reared up on is the flywheel. @Crazy Steve maybe you can chime in on whether the T-10/Top Loader change also required a like flywheel?
Well, you have the various flavors of trans/bellhousing bolt patterns, car or truck bell to deal with, but FE flywheels are pretty straightforward. There are two ring gear tooth counts, the '58-64 153 and the '65-up 184. You want the later count, that allows the use of the later style starter (cheaper/easier to get/more reliable). It will fit any bell. You can swap ring gears on a manual flywheel if needed, cut the old one off and heat the new one to install. The flywheels themselves are all interchangeable with the single exception of the 428 flywheel. That motor is externally balanced at the flywheel, all the others are internal. Pretty much everything you'll need to know is here.... Technical - FE Manual Bellhousings: What are the REAL differences between them? | The H.A.M.B.
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