bout ready to send my motor off to get the machine work done, just wanted to see what you guys got, what ya done to it... lets talk fe's
i hate fe's i had a theromstat housing bolt brake in one i had to rip the intake off remove the rockers and take out the push rods just to drill a little hole and use a easy out to mutch work and not worth the money i was getting paid
Had a friend who put a 428 crank in his +.060 over block to end up with a 454 It was in a factory A/FX Fairlane (66 I think) - man was that thing quick/fast/scary (good scary) !
[ QUOTE ] Had a friend who put a 428 crank in his +.060 over block to end up with a 454 It was in a factory A/FX Fairlane (66 I think) - man was that thing quick/fast/scary (good scary) ! [/ QUOTE ] That would have been a 427 block then. I guess if it was a drag car and you cemented the block but isn't.060 a lot on a 427?
WES, If'n your going to do a total rebiuild don't let anybody tell you you can go over .030 on the over bore without sonic checkin the block, there pretty thin. and if you are going to order new piston step up and buy some good ross pistons, JE or venolia because they come with A lower top ring gland for the FE's to help eliminate detonation, and spend lots of time on cleaning up the combustion chambers, meaning removing all the sharp edges and unshrouding the valves to also help prevent detonation, detonation on todays gas is really hard on them FE's. If you got the extra cash the E-brock heads are the way to go, they got bigger valves and eliminate the detonation problems but there about 12hun. Power wise,what are you lookin for, A race motor you drive on the street or A street motor to race once and a while. Check out the FE big block forum there is lotsa info. FED
FE's are flippin boat anchors!! Really alot of them are..Build a 427 Cammer!!!!!!!! If anything build the 428 CJ use lots of lift on your cam,they need it badly,like 525" and higher...if you can swing it,go roller,seems to really help out the FE's.Also Edelbrock heads are a pretty damn good bargain! but the 428 heads will work ok also.But after riding in a 61 Starliner that had a wicked 460 built for it....Its kibda hard for me to think FE..the 460 is a monster!!if you can fit it in..man its worth the dough!!
pulled the motor apart tonight, turns out its a 360, i have a good set of rods and a standard 390 crank though. hopefully it will be to the machine shop.i wanna build a pretty healthy motor, its gonna see allot of time at the strip. i plan on buying th eedelbrock heads eventually but its not in the cards(or my wallet) right now, i got some of the earlier casting heads which have the bigger ports than the ****py smog heads i have, as for cam selection, havnt gone there yet, do these motors like allot of lift. How realistic do u think it would be to get into the low 13's/high 12's?
[ QUOTE ] but isn't.060 a lot on a 427? [/ QUOTE ] Maybe it was .030" - I really don't remember - it was a looong time ago. I guess if I wasn't lazy I could do the math & figure it out... They do seem to like a lot of cam & carb. I had a 428SCJ with a 427MR sidewinder intake on it. I put a Holley 830AD on it & it absolutely screamed. It was in a '69 Mach I (factory R car) w/4-spd & 4.30 gears - it was fun, but I had to sell it in college - I couldn't afford gas - 7mpg in town, 9mpg on the road. 20gal tank & from Miami to Tallah***ee (about 480 mi), I would fill up 5 times! It was cheaper to fly round-trip than to drive one-way - but no where near as much fun! If you do start machining heads - be sure to do the intake too - the FE are more critical than most others about getting all the angles on the intake right. If you don't, you'll end up ****ing oil in at the bottom of the ports. [ QUOTE ] How realistic do u think it would be to get into the low 13's/high 12's? [/ QUOTE ] In what car? What setup? I think you can get a 390 into that power range easily, but the real art will be ch***is setup & traction. My Mach I had no traction off the line - hell, never. I could be crusing at 50-60, stomp the gas & break the tires loose. From a standing start on dry pavement, I could smoke 'em in 4th gear! So traction will be your concern...
the motor is going into a model a coupe, traction was always my biggest convern, but with the ladder bar setup and some nice big meats for the track im hoping i can get it to stick some of the time, i think it will always be a problem in such a light car. i really wanna drive this car hard
In a model A, piece of cake. you seen my 4 door merc it ran 12:34 at 112mph with med-riser dual quads ,cast iron long exhaust and A lunati 536/536-288/301 hydraulic cam. it even has power brakes and power steering. If'n you are goin to use Iron heads put the CJ valves in em, big improvement. try to find A C7AE-6090-R or up to C9AE-6090-R head, very common but have no smog **** and for run of the mill heads the ford guys on the FE forum recomend them. FE's really run when you start getting the duration up or close to 300.If you can get your hands on a set of adjustable rockers you want em, any performance cam will need them and they have a better rocker ratio, A 1.73 to a 1.76. DSC motorsports in CA has all the parts and decent prices. FED
WES, I have never broken any myself. I used the med-riser shaft supports they have a slit cut into the sides so when they are bolted down they clamp the shaft unlike the standard ones where the shaft floats in the support and enables the ends to break. the med-riser stands are cast steel and the cobra-jets are cast aluminum. I see them on ebay now and then for about $150, well worth the money if your going to run any kind of spring pressure. PRECISION ENGENEERING also makes new billet aluminum ones that are really nice and have a end support but they are more expensive. I bought A complete set that are investment cast stainless with big axle rollers and billet stands but they were pretty pricey from rocker arm specialties. good luck FED
good to know, i need to get all the machine work before i go and spend stuff on extras i dont need,,,, but i plan on buying em eventually..u dont know anyone with a 428 crank to sell do ya?
i got a 390 in my merc which i had for 3 years now never had a problem, seems like it doesnt want to die
428 cranks are getting rare and expensive, but keep in mind that **** is making new stroker cranks that have an even longer arm. Not probably a budget move, but an effective way to get inches and torque....... By the way, my coupe had a 390/C6 in it in the 70s. Not a real fire-breather, but it definitely could keep up with traffic.
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