Anyone recall high risers and tunnel ports? The big question to be answered is why FMC obsoleted FE's, the front runner of their line up. Small block Windsor based Clevelands had competitive potential perhaps, but 385 series had none of the FE big block potential. Tom S. in Tn.
I owned a '65 Chevelle with a 350 Hp 396. A guy had a 390 '68 Mustang so I asked him if he wanted to race. We agreed and he wanted 3 cars. When we took off, my motor died and restarted at 5000 rpm. I thought, WTF and banged second. The Mustang was pulling away. At 5000 rpm, the motor died and restarted. It suddenly occurred to me that my rev limiter was set to 5000, so I swung the needle to 8000 and banged third. My now, the Mustang was 6 cars ahead. I blew by the Mustang while I was still in third gear. The guy was so pissed, he moaned and groaned until I popped the hood. He was sure I was on nitrous. Other than that, if I had a big Ford, I won't mind an FE. Ford in a Ford.
Love me some 390's. It takes a little knowledge, but they can be built to run really nice. Awesome torque and even good mpg if done right!
Hey Jeff my boss has a 427 side oiler sitting on a stand collecting dust... although I would hate to see what he wants for it
I think ford had a good thing going when they started designing the bottom end, kind of a big brother to the Y-blocks strong design. BUT I think they broke for a holiday weekend and cam back hung over and designed the top end. WTF happened?? The intake manifold being part of the head, really? And the exhaust flanges allways rusting the bolts in and then the real zinger, the exhaust manifolds, wow those things really required alot of thought to come up with. But all that aside I think they are great engines and have a great reputation for lasting a long time and making great power. Wish more people would try out "different" motors and not take the easy sbc route (I know its one of the best bangs for the buck) all the time becuase its allways more interesting.
Are you sure the mustang wasnt slowing down because he thought he had won the race being that you were six cars back adjusting your rev limiter?????? Sounds an awful lot like an import fly-by He, He J Im sure you won, I just had to give you a hard time J<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
FE stands for F--kin Expensive, thats why people don't use them. But I have an extra one for when I find that 34 3 window coupe someday. Might just need disc's up front on that one?
There will always be "Flathead" people and "Banger" people and others that know in thier heart of hearts that nothing else will satisfy them. However in real life the Ford FE series engines were built to haul around heavy cars and trucks and were more torque machines. The real world fact is they are wide, heavy and expensive to build if you want real power. It is difficult at best to swap them into early hot rods and parts interchange can lead you down paths with dead ends,"it almost fits but not quite" is a term you will hear often. If you must hear the song they sing then build it but don't complain about the cost.
Back in the early eighties, I had two Ford trucks with 360s and 2 bbl carbs. Both had adequate power for what I used them for. One was a really nice 71 Ranger XLT F100 with automatic*******, usually drove empty but occasionally pulled a car trailer to the race track. The other was a rough 70 F350 that I used for a car / junk hauler. It weighed 8000 lbs empty and had a 4.88 rear end ratio. Both trucks got the same mileage! (About 9 to 10 mpg if I remember correctly)
Nobody questions the power potential of the SOHC, HR and TP motors but they are/were race only, tempermental and expensive. Same goes for the both flavors of the Boss motors. Win on Sunday Sell on Monday worked well for Ford but its the bread and*****er motor packages that walked out the door on Monday and made Ford the money it was after. The FE was limited, outdated and development had stopped long before they stopped using them in the mid 1970's. I'm a HUGE FE fan, however, in more generic configurations the 385 series motors out do the FE motors by a good margin in all regards (except fuel economy) when commonly available/affordable versions of each engine family are compared. Any big block Ford fan who is honest with themselves knows for sure that the 429-460 motors make more power much easier than our beloved FE's do.
Have a friend building a 28 RPU, he's installing a 390 or 352 with FMX? Why, because he has them laying around. Should be fun, dare to be different.
Do you have some schematics of this supercharger build to share, by chance? I would really like to try and duplicate the same type of build.. to keep the FE movement alive and tire smoking
FE stands for F--king Expensive, that's why we don't see more of them. With that being said, I just scored a nice 390 block, 428 crank, and med. riser duel quad set up for short money. Right place at the right time. All I need now is a set of Vic's heads and I'm good to go. That will be for the 33-34 project that is in the back of my so called mind.
I've been logging too much computer time and not enough garage time but in the 4 years since this thread started, I've made some progress. I'm going for an early 60s look so I made my headers to look like the 60s style headers and not the equal length bag of snakes style that came much later. It runs now. The older I get the slower I go. I need to do the rest of the exhaust and then paint it. Think Sat night street racer at the drive in in the early 60s.
Anybody out there have an FE in a 39/40 Ford? I have a good running 390/C6/9 inch and have been thinking about a swap into my 40. That darn front sump oil pan has to go for sure and the firewall will need surgery but its time for a makeover anyway. Just wondering what the details are and if the results are worth the effort. Thanks, Rich
back in the '60s there was a local urban myth about a 390 farilane that ran hard, never saw it run. i had a '66 f-85 330 250 horse ran in J stock mid to high 14's ...390 fords ran in the same class. NEVER had a problem with them. good friend had a '65 w/ 352 never saw such a dog. only saw 427/428's at the drag strip that had any respect for. you said 371..... i remember a 36 ford coup with a 371 J-2 that would pull the front wheels off the ground. well, a guy said to me once it's what you remember as fast
My 34 coupe is getting a 427! The fe is a great engine! One reason is you just can't go across the street to get an fe like you can a small block.
This FE =*****ing Expensive myth needs to go. With all the aftermarket support there is now these days, the prices for good quality replacement parts are very competitive. It costs the same amount to bore 8 holes on an FE as it does a SBC or any other engine for that matter. It costs the same to do a valve job on an FE as any other engine because there is still 16 valves. Sure the intakes can cost a bit more, but they require twice as much material and are quite a bit more complex then other intakes. Complete head****emblies from Edelbrock or Blue Thunder a very competitive price wise as well. Even the complete stroker kits are very reasonable. I would be willing to bet a box of doughnuts that a 500 Hp FE can be built today for within 10% of the cost of a 500 Hp BBC or SBC. For reference, Car Craft's 500 HP (551 really) 390 build. http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_0808_ford_390_fe/viewall.html
The "heavy" thing can be taken care of,....As stated, aluminum intake, and other bits and pieces go a long way. We used the engine hoist, to remove those cast iron intakes !! 4TTRUK
A FE is only about 50lbs. heavier than a small block Chevy and is 60lbs. lighter than a Big Block Chevy. It is also around 100 lbs. lighter than a 429-460 Ford also. The urban myth that FE's are heavy just isn't true.
Been wondering about something for a while: Anyone know if you could adapt the new Select Shift automatic out of the '13 Mustang to an FE? Six speed, with the top two as overdrives, and a 4.17 first! Imagine the launch from something like that, with the economy of a 0.69 sixth. I haven't been able to find what the transmission's torque rating is, but the Coyote is (under)rated at 390ft.-lbs.....hmmmmm.
The Jalopy Journal
