So, I have collected a couple of FE motors to build foir future projects. One is a full on crazy man performance build, the other is what I wanna talk about today. I am collecting parts to build an engine for the Dust Bowl Speed Shop, parts getter and trailer hauler. It's a 56 F100. The background on the truck: It's a 56 F100 with a Flat Out Engineering Corvette front suspension 87-94ish. It will be FE powered with a 5 speed TKX or TKO ******. It will be used to drive daily and occasionally pull a 20' enclosed trailer, an 18' car hauler and the occasional lawn mower trailer, 4'x8'. It weighs in at roughly 3400#. The Goal: I am not looking for 800 HP. I have to run this on pump gas at whatever station I have to stop at. We have real gas here in OK, but once you leave the state, it's mostly 10% ethanol. I want something tame enough for the Mrs. to drive without special instructions. Just a hop in and drive. Here's the caveat; it needs to have decent power from the idle to 4,000 rpm range and I am hoping to get rid of that terrible FE gas mileage that plagues them. I know it can be done, because the Thunderbirds weren't terrible on mileage, but they were pretty anemic around town and they were way more aerodynamic than my F100. The Plan: I am planning on some sort of aftermarket stroker kit to raise the cubic inch and stroke. I am planning on ditching the factory heads and intake, running a set of Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake. That should save me 125 lbs easily. I will run a hyd roller cam with a conservative grind, so that I don't have a lot of seat pressure to work against. I will get the best ignition I can spring for. I want something reliable and efficient. With the 5 speed I am leaning towards a 3.73 range, using the 8.8 Explorer rear end with disc brakes. I am wondering if a beehive type spring might help? If I can get the reciprocating weight down try and keep the friction down on the accessory drive pulleys, coupled with a manual transmission and a conservative gear, surely that would help? I have even pondered the Edelbrock ProFlo 4 direct injection system. Although, I worry about the long time reliability. I haven't talked with anyone that has had one for 75-100K miles. Most are just weekend drivers that see 2500 miles or less/year. My 2002 F150 I am replacing has the 5.4/4R70W with a computer and it only gets 14-16 max. The goal is to use this truck for our new business we will be standing up this year and it would be a mobile business card. We want to be able to drive it across country and not worry about having a tow truck on speed dial. I know the hamb is full of great mechanics and you guys are always thinking....and no it's not getting an LS or Godzilla motor. That's a whole different thread. Ford in a Ford this time and something I can work on.
I'll at least throw in my 2 cents on beehive springs. I will never use them again in my life after having one break, dropping a valve and grenading a $10k motor to the point that I am fortunate that it didn't also lock up the 871 blower. They have no dampner spring, so if they fail, you have nothing to hold the valve up. I try to tell everyone I know...
I think you are on the right path. A '56 Effie is not aerodynamic by any means, so you will want to focus on the engine and drivetrain. The EFI is good as it is much more tunable to running the engine as lean as possible. I would also build it with absolutely as much compression as you can get away with, and the EFI and aluminum heads will help minimize knocking concerns. Keep the RPM's down, the torque band as big and wide as possible (maximize area under the curve, not the peak), and maybe even one of those snail shaped waste heat recovery devices if you are so inclined....
Caused pieces of valves, cylinder wall, piston, etc. to end up all over the engine including in the blower. I did get a free replacement hydraulic roller cam out of the deal, but the rest of the long block was trash and I had to make a rush trip to Lincoln, Nebraska to get another one a day later.
I wondered about a turbo. There is plenty of room, but what about the oiling system on one? I had friends in high school that had a bullet bird with an automatic and a 3.0 gear, they were getting 19-20 mpg. I would take that as a win. Edit# Looks like Edelbrock won't accept a turbo.
Oiling a turbo is easy. Put a high volume pump on the engine, install a T Fitting at your oil pressure sensor and run a 1/4" line to the turbo. The turbo drain can run back directly to the pan, or the mechanical fuel pump opening that you probably won't be using with EFI. Edit: Holley and FI Tech will, so you may just have research different EFI controllers.
OK, good to know. Honestly, I am not a fan of Holley or FI Tech. You can kinda gauge it, by how many are for sale on FB Marketplace, plus I called both and had conversations with their tech guys. Well, I talked with Holley. I was on hold for FI Tech for about an hour, then I hung up. Not feeling it. I don't want something that will leave me stranded, waiting on parts to throw at it. I think Holley went to market, way too soon and they are using the customer base for their R&D. I am leaning towards a carb for simplicity, but at 12,000 feet or 1200 feet, the EFI behaves way better.
I am in currently building a '51 F-1 with a turbocharged and EFI converted 300 inline six backed by a 5 spd. We will have to compare notes once the trucks are on the road. I think most of the Holley's (and FI Techs) end up on FBMP because people get in over their heads. I have done EFI calibration for an OE engine manufacturer, and it is not something that you can just jump into, push a few ****ons, and wham-bam-thank-you-mam your engine is dialed in and getting 30 mpg while making 500 hp. The tuning takes significant time, effort, and knowledge.
That's pretty neat. I love it when guys think out of the box. I am leaning towards a 416 CID. It's a 3.98" stroke. Everyone is gonna say, go for the 445 kit, but you need some decent compression for that. I am thinking I will have to stay around 9.5:1.
Long arm will help shift the torque curve down in the RPM range which will help mileage. With the aluminum heads, and a smallish cam, I think you could probably push it over 10:1 with out too many issues.
Here's my rambling answer. 1st: I have owned many 390 powered Fords. Only one made 20 mpg. That was a 67 mustang, 390 4 speed factory Holley carb. Around town it was terrible like all of the others. Every other one made 14mpg on the highway. One was a 67 mustang but with the auto. All were driven in similar fashion. If you have followed me in detail you might now I have built a 32 Ford with a 347, a 51 F1 with a 4.6 and a 72 F1oo with a 4.6 and auto. The 1st 2 were 5 speeds. All of the older trucks weighed 3300 lbs. The 72 was heavier. They all had factory efi and made 20 on the highway. Not so good in town. The gray 51 F1 had a mustang gt 302 and 5 speed with a sniper. 16 was as good as it ever did. My point being that the factory efi gave better results than the aftermarket. If you were going to have me build the engine, I would find a piston that uses a 1.5mm ring or smaller, hydraulic roller cam, standard oil pump, efi with dual o2 sensors and I would set the rear gear to allow the engine to run no more than 1800 rpm at 70 mph. I don't know if I could get close to good mileage or not. I'm pretty sure the one mustang that got fuel mileage was because the carb worked better. Both of the 67's had the same Holley from the factory. As far as I know, neither was ever touched. The only difference I know about the 67 mustang gt heads versus the ones 2 years before were the exhaust bolt pattern being different. Many have said they had different size valves, I never found any. Maybe the ports were different. It's been 40 years since I had an FE apart so I don't remember. I also had a standard 428 in a mustang gt that made 14mpg as well as a 62 galaxie 500xl that was a 390 4 speed car. Same answer. One again, I have no good info. LOL. One other thought, any trailer will probably give an 8mpg result. I use 29" tall tires and 3.50 or 3.73 gears with the tremec t5 od ratio to get the 1800 rpm at 70mph.
Honestly, I would be ok with 16 on the highway and 12-14 in town. We live in a small town, so there's hardly any traffic. Mostly highway in any direction. I wonder how much impact the rear end ratio would make on the mpg? I remember during the gas crunch years, everything went to ridiculously high ratios.
I like that you are thinking 3.98 stroke. I was going to say something around 4" stroke with 390 size bores would be the best in my mind. I also say standard oil pump. Hi volume oil pumps put too much load on the distributor if bearing clearances are tight. Small valve Edelbrock heads and dual plain intake should get you where you want to be. I like MSD distributors but don't care for the 6 series boxes. I would stay with a carb just because I don't like the learning curve for efi.
Good info. I don't mind the efi stuff, because I have already done some LS swaps for my dad. I have been looking at ther MSD distributors. My biggest research factor, has been centered around the hyd roller lifters. Trying to see if anyone makes them without needle bearings. It seems like all of the new engine problems they have on the factory stuff all centers around lifter failures. I need something that will live.
The 3.50 - 3.73 gear ratio will provide good all around performance. Depending on which 5 speed you get, the 1st gear ratios will vary. If you look at the earlier roller lifter engines such as fox body mustangs, Dodge 318 magnums and 350 chevies, there were very few lifter failures. I keep reading about failures ***ociated with the mds dropping of cylinders. But I wonder if many of those use the correct viscosity and have extended oil changes. ???? The cam profile will depend on what cruising rpm you want. If the card says 2000 and above, it won't be happy at 1700. If you were to install an o2 sensor and gauge to tune a carb, do you think you could get it as right as it could be? I've not had any exp. with that.
The Godzilla engines are usually experiencing failures from contractor types of trucks. Trucks that idle excessively. I spoke with Brent Lykins and he had a cam spec'd out for me that was WAY bigger than I would have thought. He knows his stuff though. I would think the Morel lifters would be the ticket on this hyd roller setup.
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