I am burned smooth out on the shop build. I need a distraction. I have wondered what were the Ford FE goodies that are rare or super desirable? I am always looking for dress up stuff... Post up some pics opf the goodies. I recently picked up a good set of Cal Custom valve covers from a non-Ford guy for cheap. Pic for reference only.
Yes, sadly I have a thing for FE's. Have had most but never had a cammer. Still have the 427, 406 and a few 390's for different flavors.
No real speed parts but I did have the Cal Custom valve covers and air cleaner, plus an Edelbrock Streetmaster intake. Yes the air filter is stupid high.....but I got it on a closeout. A real KN for $14 brand new, it was cheaper then a stp paper one.
Edelbrock F380 tri-power manifolds I used on my Mysterion reproduction. Had to weld, drill, and tap aluminum plugs on one intake port near the Edelbrock script to simulate the version that had them since I couldn't find originals with them. That's the port Ed used for the vacuum advance.
Hard to find down here but I have some [/ATTACH] The 3 x 2 on my street rod is from a 60's speedway stock car with the Moon rocker covers, The 6 x 2 Edelbrock is a ML F68, tucked in the corner next to my blower set up is a Say-Why-And twin 4 bbl and my Grant Flamethrower, cheers
This stuff is my happy place. I don’t get the same feeling when I look at a Coyote swap, regardless of the amount of fabrication.
The bad thing about many of these old valve covers is that they rarely have inside baffles and if you use vented caps they spew a lot of oil out of them. I had a set of these years ago, I was constantly wiping up oil around them. Some covers have cast-in bosses inside that can be drilled/tapped to install a baffle, but it will require some fab work. And for guys that are new to FEs, there's a tin baffle under the intake that mostly covers the lifter valley. Make sure you have and install one, especially if using an early intake with the oil fill and a road draft tube. Failure to have one and at certain high RPMs enough oil vapor will come out of the tube to make people think you're fogging for bugs. Even if you're using later valve covers with the oil fill/PCV, it will push out more vapor without one.
I have a set of Ford early script covers that were chromed years ago. That's probably what I wil end up running. They came off an early Tbird, someone was "upgrading". I didn't get those for $50 though...
Some more FE stuff came my way. The sidewinder intake was one of mine years ago. It has come back to me.
I had a bunch of FE speed stuff growing up . Found a PI aluminum intake in s**** yard , bought it for s**** weight price . Sold it for $35.00 thinkin I cleaned up on this haul . It has shown up at another friends stash in the last few years . I told him how much I sold it for . I think he felt taken advantage of paying his purchase price . It had one blown out push rod hole
Most of those intakes ended up being s****ped (at Ford's direction), which is why they are so hard to find now. Ford discovered that the exhaust crossover under the plenum would rot from the inside out from the acids formed when the gases condensed, letting exhaust directly into the crankcase. They recalled all of them, replacing them with cast-iron copies, which is why the 428CJ came with a cast iron intake. Maybe the best aluminum street intake ever built for the FE in terms of performance (with the possible exception of the even rarer Sidewinder), so much so that Edelbrock made an exact copy briefly (the S427) until Ford sent them a cease-and-desist letter. Right around 1970 I was at a local yard (Hecker the Wrecker, I'll never forget that yard. Gone when the state extended the 512 freeway right through the heart of the yard. I swear they had one of every '50s/early 60s car ever built) looking for some parts. The guy took me into a back room to look when I spotted three black-painted FE 4V intakes in a pile. I wander over and look, these are aluminum! I ask how much, and he explains why those are all bad and not for sale... I should have persisted, but was still a dumb kid. If you're lucky enough to find one, block off the heat riser p***ages if running iron heads. Aftermarket aluminum heads don't have the heat risers, so no worries there. Took me almost two years scouring online to get mine.
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