Hot roddin an Edsel??

Hi there,

My pal Joel just bought a '58 Edsel Pacer. Research shows that the e-400 motor put out over 300 hp and over 400 lb ft. Could the Edsel be one of the earliest muscle cars?

Joel is looking to soup up The old gal by putting on a tri power. Does anyone know if this is just an FE motor and would an intake from another FE motor work if so? Anybody really know?

 

I was reading a spec book one time and the Edsel's had the highest HP and torque from hte 40's to the 70's for a stock engine. I was blown away. I'm a Chevy man and actually started to ask about them hahaha. I know in those days the public was really asking for more power because they were finding out how nice it is to have it when you need it.

It had a bad rap for sure. I've heard they were like the Chevy Vega. About 50% were lemons, but the other 50% were okay. I secretly still want one LOL.

Good luck with the build

 

its just a regular fe so you got plenty of performance parts to choose from. the e400 had 10.5 to 1 compression so tri power, hotter spark and headers should be a bl***t.

 

Yup regular FE. Just changing the intake to aluminum will improve it ALOT and then with some headers you will be flyin. I had a 58' Pacer up to a year ago.

 

They weren't lemons, not even half, They sold like **** and therefore with poor marketing didn't stay around long. Three model years, produced for about 24 months, 1960 models are pretty scarce. But that is not what your asking.

I thought that the MEL FE engines were different in some most aspects than that of a Ford FE. This may be incorrect though.

Myke here on the hamb just picked up a Cross Ram 6 deuce setup for one of these engines I believe, PM him and check it out, I believe its for sale.

 

There were 2 engine packages for the Edsel's.

The E-400, which the OP has, was a 360 ci FE. However, unlike the later truck 360's, this thing was hot. High compression, good flowing heads, and tons of torque.

The E-475, was a 410 ci MEL. Which was rated at close to 380 hp and 475 ft-lbs of torque.

For what ever reason Edsel liked to name there engines after the peak torque figure. And for all you Chebbie guys who never knew there was anything else out there besides a small block and big block. The FE and MEL are COMPLETELY different engine families from Ford, although they do share a few small parts and similarities.

FE = Ford Edsel
MEL = Mercury Edsel Lincoln

Of course the designation was only true to a point as MEL's can be found in Thunderbirds and many a Mercury came from the factory with an FE. Good Old Ford....

 

Thanks for the info Guys. So in theory, an intake from an FE 390 should work right? It's really a cool car, I'll post pics of it later. A real survivor.

I heard that in the late '50's when the Edsel's started showing up at the drags, guys in their shoeboxes started showing up with toilet lids fastened to their grills to poke fun at the Edsel's. Maybe because they were fast right out of the box???

 

Any low riser (and possibly some medium riser) FE intake will fit. The only ones that won't would be the high zoot 427 high riser and tunnel port intakes, at least without changing the heads too. More stupid FE trivia: the early FE's often had machined combustion chambers too, rather than as cast.

Have Fun with it.

 

Edsels were released right at the beginning of a ****py economy as well.I love our 58 Pacer, it as nice as any other 1958 Automobile that was around at that time.

 

Edsels put out decent power, but Chrysler in '58 had four engines with more power, a 310 horse 354 and 392 with 345, 380 and 390 hp.

Buick had a 300 hp 364 in '58 and nailheads produce plenty of torque.

Cadillac had 310 hp 365.

DeSoto had 361 in 305, 345 or 355 hp.

Dodge also had a 361 with either 305 or 333 hp in '58.

In '58, Ford had 300 hp 352, Thunderbird had 300 hp 352 with optional 350 hp 430 (compared to 345 hp Edsel 410), Mercury had 383 with either 312 hp or 330 hp or 360 hp 430, Olds had a 305 and 312 hp 371, Plymouth had 305 and 315 hp 350, Pontiac had 300 and 310 hp 389.

My point is not to knock Edsel ( I used to own a '59 Ranger and wish I had a '58 because they look so darn cool) but the Edsels were about on par for Detroit in '58. Chevy (250, 290 in Corvette), Rambler (270), Studebaker (275) had horsepower ratings under 300 but were close.