i was just given a ford motor. by the looks of it im told its and FE cl***. is there any way to tell what the cubic inch is without tearing it down?
All [standard] FE's rolled off the foundry line as 352's, and were then bored to final size and fitted with a corosponding crank. Only the cross-bolted blocks and the 428's were different. Unless you know the history of the engine, you need to open it up to find out.
Look at the back of the block with flywheel removed. If it has a large C cast into the block you are a lucky dude. The crank to the 428 has a 1U or a 1UB cast in it. I don't know the other #s off the top of my head. I can look them up when I open shop in the AM>>>>.
I have heard but have not confirmed (someone here might know), that the 428 were a 3 bolt engine mount while the earlier were 2 bolt? Also the early 390-406 HP blocks don't have the oil galleries drilled in the back of the blocks because of the solid cam lifters and that they also had a HP casting cast near the engine mount. The early HP engines 61-62 had standard mains and the late 62-63 had splayed mains. But apart from that I was told to pull a head and measure. Muzz
You can measure the stroke with a wooden dowel through the spark plug hole, make a mark on the dowel at TDC, and run it down to BDC and mark the dowel, measure between. If its 3.5 inches you have a 352 or 360, 3.75 inches (actually 3.784) it is likely a 390, because the only other ones with that stroke are a 406 or a 427, and right at 4 inches (3.98) it will be a 410 or 428. If its a 360 or a truck 390, the compression ratio will be low and the squish will really **** because the pistons are .100 or more down in the hole. You can use a piece of thick soft solder and put it through the plug hole in to the squish pad and run it through TDC then measure what it compresses to. A 352 or car 390 with original head gaskets will be right at .050, where a 360 or a truck 390 will probably not even touch the wire. The back of the block will be blank on "regular" blocks. It will have an "A" or "C" hand scratched from the sand mold (so it will be raised and look like it was welded on) "A" will be a p***enger car 428 block, a "C" will be a Cobra Jet block. Casting codes don't mean alot, but C6ME or C7ME "may" have the 428 mold cores for the thick bores. A sonic check is the only way to know. I have a C6ME block at .060 over 390 that is right on the margin of thick enough to use. It definitely would not have bored to a 406 or 428. You can knock a core plug out and use a drill bit between the bore cores to roughly know, but a teardown and sonic test is needed if you get stars in your eyes on what it is. D3TE and D4TE blocks are usually truck 360s and 390s, cast at MCC and usually have mirror image "105" where "352" is usually at. These were cast after the car production stopped for the FE, some got thick bores and can bore to 406/428, but most didn't and can barely go .030 over 390. Again, sonic checking will be the only way to tell. These blocks will have the 428CJ "extra rib" in the main webbing, but that doesn't mean its a 428 block, it can have either bore core patterns. Heads, C8AE-H are the most common, and came on 360s and 390s, D2TE-AA are off a truck 360 or 390 and have induction hardened seats, which means nothing once you grind them. C1AE-A and C4AE-G is the most common early 352/390 head, pre '66, and there are number of other castings that you'll find less often. Pre 1965 blocks will have two bolt motor mounting bosses, all later ones will have four. The late block bolts right into an early car, but an early block in a later car will need a plate adapter (easily made) to bolt the mounts to and the plate to the block. Hope this gets you started.
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