I love the old FE's I have one right now in my life and almost have always had one in my life. The miracle of the FE was the fact that it was designed to address the shortcomings of the Yblock and the fact that it's weird ass design with the push rods through the super wide intake and the half wide heads wound up doing all it did including winning the 24 hours at LeMans a few times is beyond belief... My FE at present is a 390 powered 51000 mile all original 1967 Galaxie 500 fastback and it's a smooth strong runner...
I read an article not long ago saying that some of the early stage 427.FE's had the pushrods going up through the intake ports also. It was the only way they could configure the valves in that big head correctly to produce maximum fuel ignition in those big chambers.
Those were the Tunnel Port 427 that came out around 68 and were used in NASCAR and NHRA and some were put in boats. The FE is the best engine of all time!
One thing about that strange configuration on the intake was it also allowed enough room to change lifters with the intake on. Even a cam for that matter.
@@Bbbbad724 I've owned a few and like them alright but I'm not gonna go quite that far. The side oiler and cammer were the pinnacle but the ordinary FE was mediocre. I had the 335 horse GT motor and it was just ok in stock form. Oiling problems for high HP hence why they developed the side oiler setup.
@@LHarry-c2t Ford was afraid of the insurance companies jumping in and doing what they did in 1971. It is sad that they didn’t get the potential of the engine that won against the worlds best super cars in the masses. I have been a tinkerer all my life and the reason I hold the FE such high esteem is that it takes a weekend to make it a beast. I made my own oiling system, and I ran solid cams with the lifter passeges blocked. 2 and 4 were crossbolted with Pro Stock Engineering main caps that had oil passeges in the caps fed through the side bolts. I blueprinted the whole oiling system and they were vicious. 11:1 and early style non emissions heads , headers and the MR aluminum 428 intake. They were enough for all but the Hemi and 454 cars for me. I ran ragged old. 67-68 Mustangs with the shock towers cut back. I know it wasn’t factory, but the engine was still even to this day a great engine. Others experience may vary, but I enjoyed extracting every thing I could get out of them. The magazines had their knives out for them because they were running with the Hemi in NASCAR, and were selling dismal fucking cars off that and rightfully so. I just knew the engines and built them to overachieve. Those who didn’t really missed out. I am disabled and blind now and I really miss turning wrenches. I still have my last street racer. 500 hp of crackly sweet 65 Galaxie that I had up to a GPS 160 on a two lane highway and it never hurt anything. It still wants me to come out and play. My 40 year old son came out and gutted the wiring so I wouldn’t take it out and hit an oak tree at 150. With 4.33s that is a lot of rpm. But it used to eat it up.
I love them all! I can’t drive anymore because of my vision. I still have a 1965 LTD 2dr HT with a 390 that I built in 1999, but have had for 43 years. It dynoed at 503 hp and 488 ft lbs before putting it in the LTD that my son and I restored frame off. It was the best driving car I’ve ever had. I still have it, but it is just sitting.
A few 406 engines that I have seen were cross bolted. They were late in manufacturing and led to the 427 so these were all that I believe they were bone was in early 63 before the fastbacks came they were what I had seen as notch roof 63s I don’t believe they even have a Vin number change. All I have seen were 2 door post 63s early in the year.
I want to do a 410 at 4.065 bore like an LS but use Mopar 440 H beams machined to fit the FE and 6.766 length with 1.4 forged pistons and crossbolted mains and filled to the water pump holes in a D4TE 3 web mains and twin turbos at 8 lbs boost and a good roller cam and producing 825-850 hp . These blocks can take 1000-2500 hp.
The problem is that the FE is still the greatest engine ever made and are not in the least obsolete. In fact other manufacturers are mimicking the FE design as their top performance engines. They are still the best design in this day and time to put in cars and light trucks. The design plus modern materials can create very efficient and reliable engines. The LS and FE share many characteristics and are both great engines. I wish that Ford would reengineer the FE engine to cars and trucks. That Ford would make crate engines based on these engines.
It was 1974 and my Dad's business needed another 12 ft. stake/flat bed F-350. Well at the time the only new flatbed available was 50 miles away in Worcester Ma. He bought it, and it's engine was not the wimpy 360, but the 390 with a Holley 4 barrel carb.! That was an awesome truck to carry loads and gave us some big smiles when the secondaries opened!
I had a '66 Ford F-100 custom cab with a 352. I changed carbs, cam, lifters, valve springs, intake and took the horrible log style exhaust manifold off and put headers on it. That 352 really came to life. It was also my favorite year of pickup from Ford.
@@ZEEKUPP I had a 65 F250 4x4, with the “wrong bed” all of the 65 F250 4x4 s had. That was 1/2 Tractor! Rust got it, but I sold it to a restorer. I bet it is really nice. I even gave him a 65,352 that matched the date code for the truck.,
My uncle James Fostey was one of the head engine designers for the FE motors. He worked for Ford in Detroit from the mid 1940's to the early 1980's. The 428 motors were hard to beat on the street. He had some good stories about these motors from long ago.
Wow - nice to meet you and we're thrilled you found our feature! Would have loved to sit and chat with your uncle about those days and his work. Thanks for watching and sharing your comment!
I worked in an oil well for a while. The engine that was used to run the generators was a 391 Ford industrial motor. It ran 24 hrs a day, for as long as the well was being drilled.
My family had three 1968 Galaxie 500s with the 390-2v engine and FMX transmission. The first was a station wagon, the next was a sedan that was my first car, and the third had an engine damaged by by ice in the block and heads, salvaged to replace the rust-damaged sedan. Peak torque point was great for highway cruising. Although the owner's manual inferred that a 427 was available, I'm not aware of any 1968 big Fords that had one. The big blank spot between the 302 and 390 that year model was stark.
Oh there was a 410 FE and it was a great opportunity to build. A turbo app will be a monster. The basic FE block will handle 800-900 hp with a turbo setup.
My '69 Mach 1 is a legit RUG-AE2 4-speed R-code "Drag-Pack" car with SCJ motor - 1UA crank with external "hatchet spacer" balancer, heavy dampener, 427 "Le Mans" cap screw rods, engine oil cooler. The block is a standard bore NOS May 1974 date code "CJ & Marine Service Block" with high nickel content and the beefy 3-center reinforced main webs. Honed to 4.135" with Race-Tec 12:1 custom pistons and a Comp Cams solid roller...3,500-6,000 torque monster
I bet that a pair of turbos on 4.08x 4.08 70s truck block at 426.7 can do 1000 hp+. I really don’t understand the bullshit about them falling to crumbs after 500 hp. That’s just the hoarders taking. The Cammers made 2500 hp. They just want to hide their stash and if you notice most modern engines bear a strong resemblance to their obsolete design? A half pour and Pro Gram caps Molmar Rods and Edelbrocks and 14 lbs of twin Gt 45s are sucked Hell cats down the carb and blowing out new Mustang s, lol.
@@deeremeyer1749 I will when I get it done if I don’t die first. A lot of setbacks. My son doesn’t want me to do it at my age and pulled all of the wiring out of the car to stop me. I’m working at it. I’ve gone blind so I won’t get to enjoy it. But the block is capable of over 1500 hp. Just use boost for these old engines. It is easier on the engine than nitrous or even NA hp. I had it running and I went out and my relay and fuse box is gone. My wife told me to sell this engine and car. I have a feeling that this isn’t meant to happen. At least for me. I filled the block, machined it, and put ring gap in it. It will do it. Those blocks inhaled nitro and made 1500 hp without trouble. The 2500 hp is what killed them . An aftermarket block can take 4000 hp. But my wallet isn’t that thick.
I just bought a 1976 f150 4x4 that came with a 360 but it had a 390 in it when i bought it. I cant drive it until i get the valves fixed. I'll probaly buy a set of aluminum heads for it.
I remember as a kid that my dad borrowed a 58-60 F100 that had been a Chief’s fire truck, I guess it had the police intercepter engine and a heavy duty Cruisomatic transmission. He took me for a ride in it and son of a gun that thing was a beast! It would burn the tires all the way until it shifted to high. It was a badass F100!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk I wonder to this day what they put in police and fire chiefs pickups. I think the 361 Edsel Police package. I remember the solid camshaft sound from my years of using them in FEs. I wish I knew the specs of the Edsel 361 ci PI and emergency. I was told that they were used in ambulances. But I watched the tachometer built in the instrument panel and it turned 6300 rpm’s so quickly it was stupid. The Dual Range Cruiso was just bang bang bang!
I am 73 years old. When I was young and growing up my parents owned a 1964 Ford Country Sedan Station Wagon that had the 352 cubic inch Ford FE engine with a 4 barrel carburetor, dual exhaust, and the Ford CruiseOMatic transmission. My parents had six children. We would load up that car with the entire family and a top carrier with luggage for vacation trips. One unusual thing was that the car had a coolant expansion tank with a coolant fill cap that was close to the oil fill cap on the engine.
IM 61 and i have been driving and racing FEs since i was 15 years old.i had a galaxie with a hot390,i took it out and put it in a lighter comet body and it would fly.i still have the 66 comet but it has a 428 now
I've got a 64 Galaxie xl 2dr fastback. It's Wimbledon white with a fresh/new, palomino interior. Been Garaged its whole life. It has PS, PB, AC that all work. I've owned it for 34 years. I'm the 4th owner of the car but I know its full history. Currently it has a factory ford "crate motor" 428 installed in the early 70's when they were still available from ford, Crane cam, Ported cast 427 heads, factory Ford tri power, long tube cast headers, a C6 trans with a Gearvendors overdrive. Detroit true track posi, 370 gears. Sure love driving it, probably burry me in it. Love my FE!
I took over my parents 1966 County Squire in 1983. That tank had a 428 Police Interceper paired with a cruise o magic C-6. That wagon was awesome! First gear, 0 to 55, second gear 55 to 98, and third gear 98 to ??? I didn't have the stones to go over 120. My second car was a 65 2 door Galaxie 500. It had a 352. When I retired the Country Squire I put the 428 and C-6 in the Galaxy. That by far was the fastest car I've ever driven. I once had that car up around 150 mph. Man, those were the days! Now if I go over 70 I'm flying. I wish I had kept my ole Galaxy, but I got married instead. Dummy!
Did a body off restoration of a 1965 Ford Galaxie LTD with a 390 HO engine In 1982. It was fully optioned to include AC, rare for a Montana car. I modified the engine extensively for more power, especially at high altitude. Keystone Kustomags with BFG Redline Radials. The sound was fantastic coming through Smitty glasspacks.
FE engines have some great features. The deep skirt design kept the crank firmly in place and made the main caps easier to convert into cross bolted if not already factory ones. You weren’t going to crack a block down low from too much torque. Instead of having to remove the heads to port them, most of what would normally be the intake port of regular heads, was in the intake manifold on FEs.
I am from New Zealand and I have a 1961 galaxy Starliner with a 427 sohc engine. I purchased this car in 2014 and will never part with it. I drive it frequently in my hometown of Taupo regularly.
That Barry Rabotnik guy here in Detroit did alot to promote the FE engine long after it ceased to me manufactured by FoMoCo. I remember as far back as 1987 hanging around the street racing scene...his black 68 or 69 Galaxy (im not a Ford guy and don't always know or recognize exact years or models, etc). That car ran strong among all the quickest street cars of the time and whatever he had his hands on was well respected. Later id see him in various magazine engine articles always focused on the FE but also taking part in more modern performance upgrades. There are other names associated with the performance FE aftermarket but his name stands out in my book. Growing up and still living in Detroit and Dearborn meant Ford performance lovers all around me. Ive always been a GM guy but of course love all old musclecar and classic cars nowadays. Ive always most respected Ford's performance efforts based on the FE. If i ever hit the lottery, my top Ford pics are first a 1963 Galaxy 500 with a 427, don't care about numbers matching just has to look the part. Next would be a 1967 428 powered mustang. Not even sure why but may have something to do with a couple of NHRA stock and super stock racers named Barry Poole and Jim Calvert and the vehicles who put both names on the map. As an engine guy i have not had very much experience wrenching anything FE and always thought the valve cover upper rail as part of the intake manifold was just plain weird and simply made me wonder why. One last thing...ive never heard a good running FE engine sound anything but good out the exhaust. They have a great exhaust note.
4:17 Had the 390 in my 67 mustang fastback,, with closed chamber 406 heads,, factory tripower,, mild Shelby cam,, super grunt with quickly gained RPM with the high compression....
I owned a 1960 T-Bird with the 352, and a 68 Ranchero with the 390. I hotrodded the 390- rebuilt it with a .060 over bore, a Sig Erson cam lifters and rods, an aluminum intake and a 800cfm Holley, Hooker Headers and turbo mufflers. It was a bear to drive because I put way too much cam in it but it would fly down the highway. It also sucked gas-5-6mpg's.
I have a 1975 F-350 cab and chassis dually with the 390 engine. It was my high school transportation and saw lots of doughnuts and drag racing action. Im going to convert it to 4x4 using modern Superduty axles from an F-550. I think after that's all done, i might build up a nice 428 for it. Just want it to be a good towing rig.
One of my friends in high school had a restoration in progress. 1960 Thunderbird with the 352 it was powder blue. I love that car this was back in 1988-ish
The 410 is a really unsung hero. I had a D4TE 360 block from a junkyard truck that has the 3 web mains like a CJ. You could bore them a mere .020 over and have 413 ci. The torque was crazy. The easiest engine to put aftermarket crossbolt mains. 2 and 4 mains were the only ones that usually cracked. I bought a pair and had them installed on a 413 ci 410. The cool thing was that they had oiling passeges that you could run oil lines from the filter adapter and feed the hollow bolts into one side and the lower bearing shells had a hole and the main bearings you could put in 2 and 4 were grooved all the way around and you could, while it was disassembled you could put set plugs in 2 and 4 above the cam bearings to keep the oil in the mains. Blocking 2 and 4 above the cam bearings and running the lines from the filter adapter to the 2 and 4 mains with grooved bearings and a hole in the top and bottom with grooves it made it priority mains on 2 and 4 that oiled the main through the side and it went up to the cam. It really helped the oiling. And with headers and ARP studs they were bomb proof. The 413 with CJ ported 390 early port heads and a 2x4 intake it made 610 hp and 625 ft lbs. wide torque band from 3200-6000 and peak hp at 6200 with a solid cam. It was crazy in a 67 Mustang 4 speed with 3.50 gears. I did it in the 70s and the “ fast car guys” just scratched their heads and swore I must have hid a blower in there. Driving it to school without a hood, no one ever saw one, but 11.6:1 cr was close. Those 2 inch primary open headers and the D solid cam with 30 inch long 3 inch pipes dumping out the sides with no mufflers. At 7000 rpm’s it sounded demonic… the 2 mains with priority oiling really helped get the other 3 oiled really well. I put an oil line and gauge on 5 main and it never dropped below 75 psi. The bearings and crank never wore. I had 7 inch rods and 1.15 ch pistons are internally balanced. It was a screamer and I still have the crank rods and pistons. If I wasn’t too blind to drive I’d do it again. That was 1977, I still have the block, the main caps and crank, the rods and intake and stuff have been sold, but it has no wear on the bores or crank. I could build it again. Easy. I miss driving so bad. Sidestepping the clutch and seeing the sky for 50-60 ft while banging 2nd. Sigh.
Wow - thanks for such a great comment! We love when car people share their memories with us! So glad you watched and enjoyed this feature. Keep watching - hope you've subscribed!
@@fastinradfordable use a modern motor oil, install a more efficient intake manifold and carburetor, get a set of headers and dual exhaust. The 390 was never designed to be a high rpm engine but it could benefit from the improvements I mentioned with better fuel economy. I didn’t even consider a serpentine belt drive or more efficient power steering pump ( the original one is terrible on power consumption). Radial tires are another thing that wasn’t a common feature of mid to late 60’s ford’s. So, yeah the 390 can be made much more efficient than they used to be. I really like the abundance of torque on tap without having to wait for the turbo to spool up.
My father bought a 65 Galaxie new and had my grandfather sign an affidavit saying he was a constable so it came equipped with a solid lifter 390 PI four speed and all other accompanying police add ons, but in Vintage burgundy.
1964 Galaxie 500r XL 427 dual 4 barrel carbs and top loader 4 speed. Nascar homolagation for the street. Very little information available, Wikipedia page does not acknowledge its existence. My friends dad had a restored one and I went to car shows with them a few times as a kid. His dad bought it in High School and restored it as an adult. It could be temperamental on a hot day. I loved it when it would load up some going 20 mph through the park leaving the show and pulling out into the highway. He would do a rolling launch and open both four barrels. I sat in the center of the back seat with my friends. We would be pinned to that back seat, lift our heads between shifts and giggle.
I’ve had FE engines more than all others. A 58, 332 66f100 with 352. I also had 2 cobra coupe(Fairlanes) a ranchero that I transplanted a 428SCJ and three 66-69 Falcons that I put 428 CJs in, one with 3x2 Holleys and one with nitrous. I’ve built all most all of fords engines @ one time or another from stock to full race. My buddy @ a machine shop I sometimes work for called me to assemble a 428CJ with solid flat tappet cam just a few months back. I don’t know of any other engine that is so versatile and reliable. From dump trucks to top fuel these engines have been in just about anything you could imagine and did a jam-up job. Thanks for the respect it deserves!
I have my aunt and uncles 69 LTD that has the stock 390 with the 2 barrel carb. It is a smooth running engine with plenty of power even with the 2150 carb.
One small factoid about the 427 SOHC. It never saw competition in NASCAR. And still the only engine to ever be outright banned by the organization. The 426 Hemi was initially disallowed, but after a few years of drag racing and production of street Hemis, it eventually got on track.
@bradwithers4720 Hi there. Yes, you are correct in saying that they banned the 427 OHC engine from NASCAR. To me, that was a real shame. The engine in my Galaxy Starliner has only done 20 thousand kilometers since new. I have had it apart and replaced the cam drive chain with a better quality chain and resealed the engine again. It also got rebalanced at the same time. Instead of the duel, 4 barrels,it has got a duel 4 barrel fuel injection system installed. That really improved the fuel economy and drivability no end
My dad had a 1961 Ford pickup with 292 a 1965 with a 352 a 1968 with a 390 and a 1973 with a 302 all were good trucks. The 302 was good on gas empty but a real gas hog when loaded. Dad seen the light and for 1978 he bought a new 400.
Actually, mid 1971 model year was the last FE in passenger cars. Some Galaxies and LTDs were 390s. The 400 Cleveland type engine replaced the 390 FE my dad loved the 71s and I saw many of them with both the 390 and the 400. Of course there were 351s and 429s in many of the 71 models, as well.
What a way to start the weekend, a new video from "If This Car Could Talk." How would the 69 and 70 Boss 429 Mustang engines fit in? I had a chance to buy (from the same owner) a 69 Boss 429 or a 65 GT350, I chose the GT350 but there are times I wish I picked the 69 Boss 429..... Thanks for your time, work and posting......... mike
Did the morning start and check on a 391 industrial used as the emergency back up on a small ski lift at aspen Highlands . Strangest FE that I have run across . They ran an industrial 225 leaning tower of power in a smaller ski lift .
I’ve got a Robert Pond 427 block waiting for fitting at the shop as my next project. I’d be in it but the large displacement stroker SBC I’ve been working on is taking longer than expected as nothing fits just right. Looking forward to working on the newborn 427 FE
FE stands for iron on the periodic table which makes sense as the intake manifold bare weighs 95 pounds. I normally use a cherry picker to install them. The starter placement is primo, you don't need to get under it to replace the starter. I swapped out 390 heads on my 360. Larger ports and lower octane requirements were my reasons.Don't let them kid you about the 406. it is a straight up race engine No matter the cost or the vehicle, if you find one, buy it! They are not cross bolted from the factory but because they are two bolt mains, a lot of builders employed that option as a cross bolted two bolt is two and a half times stronger than a four bolt.
I saw a video on TH-cam where someone weighed the 390 iron intake and the scale showed 71 lbs. I have removed and installed one on a '67 GTA mustang and hell yeah it's heavy!
I eat, sleep and breath the FE. I have loved these engines since I was a child, and my uncles had FE powered mustangs, torino and Fairlane. I will say that the 390 is the most lied about displacement amongst F series truck owners, especially 67-76 trucks. I have bought, sold and owned more than 30 F250 4x4 trucks over the last 35 years and every guy selling one claims "it's got a 390"😅. The 4x4 f250 never had a 390, only 352 and 360. I can't find any documents among my years of collecting Ford literature of the 4x4 leaving the dealer with the 390. My favorite FE build combination that I've built are 360/390 blocks with 428 rotating assembly for a 410ci displacement.
HAD 66 COMET GT PULLED THE 390 OUT CAUSE IT WAS WORE OUT AND FOUND A 427 HR AND REBUILT THAT PURE HP SCARY GOT TO MANY SPEEDING TICKETS ONE TIME I WAS CLOCKED ON INTERSATE RTE 5 IN FLA DOING 120 OR BETTER BY A STATE COP HE CAUGHT ME 20 MILES LATER
19 years old and im working on a 1973 Ford F-250. So far, I've sourced the motor, transmission and drivetrain. Would anybody happen to know what all I can do the my 390? Or should I keep it stock and just clean it up?
Hey Tim! That is a very good question and requires a very long answer. In a nutshell, the 427 was a race only engine with a mechanical cam, cross bolted mains, a steel crank, an aluminum intake manifold and more. The 427 was actually 425 ci but because Chrysler had the 426 Hemi, Ford wanted to best them by 1 ci. The 428 was designed for more utilitarian vehicles and in Cobra Jet form was still easily produced on an assembly line whereas the 427 was hand assembled. Those are just some of the differences. Thanks so much for the compliment! We appreciate you watching - hope you subscribed and share it with all your car buddies!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk You still didn't answer his question. The 427 FE had a bore of 4.232 and the stroke of 3.785 (same as the 390). The 428's bore was 4.130 (from the 406) and the stroke was 3.98. The math works out thus - 425.98 for the 427 & 426.54 for the 428 -The 'Boss' just made up what the number would be that day. Other combos - In 1966 & 67, Mercury had a 410 C.I. which was a 390 bore (4.050) & a 428 crank (3.98). And if you want the max Cubic inch with Ford factory parts, you take a 427 block & a 428 crank which nets you 448 cubes.
I'm still driving my '64 352CID FE {390 same block just different stroke and crank little over boring needed}, runs great lots of power and still has great compression @ 75K miles, looking to have her rebuilt as a 390 but hard to find a shop I can trust to do it right
I have a 63 1/2 Galaxie 500 390 4 speed car and a 68 F100 which has a transplanted 390 out of a Torino GT. I also have a 60 T bird with a 300 horse 352.
Nowadays people new to muscle cars, or cars generally, are pushed into the windsor or coyote engines as a swap or update. Building an FE sounds pretty fun, but first pass at a build list became a headache just narrowing down what block and from what year lol
Very good video well done. You got a few things wrong but they aren't worth mention. I raced the FE 427 for over 10yrs with not one failure. The 360ci engine made lots of torque, but it was a bad bore stroke combination as it sucked down gas as if it was free.
I think the engine that was under utilized was the 410 that came in the Mercury Parklane. I think that with the CJ heads 2x4 intake and the 390 375-401 hp solid cam with header type manifolds could have been the jack of all trades engine as the base replacement for the 390. Setup that way it would have been a 410 hp and 480 ft lb police interceptor and a good base for the pony cars. I built one for a friend who had a Marauder S-55 with a 4speed and it was a handful. It could have had the CJ hydraulic cam for a quiet 375 hp big car engine and for trucks a 410 at 9.5:1 and the regular hydraulic cam would have been a good 350 hp 465 ft lb truck engine. The alphabet soup of engines in the 70s was unessesary. The FE with Cleveland heads would have stomped every thing as a 428 or with a 4.25 stroke a 460 with Cleveland heads. The 385 , really? They could have been around into the 90s . They are still here now….
No other family of heads will go on an FE. They are a unique design, with what looks like a “half-head”, where the valve cover goes over the intake manifold as well as the head. Indeed nearly half of the “head” section on other normal engines is on the intake manifold. I think Ford did this so that it could be more lightweight with an aluminum intake, and since a lot of the intake port is actually in the intake manifold, it’s much easier to remove and port or swap intakes and realize a substantial difference than trying to port the heads themselves. Other heads would not work on an FE
@@andrewhigdon8346 True. I always thought it odd that the SOHC was running in Top Fuel and Funny Car at 3000 hp, but they couldn’t deliver a street head. The 428 CJ could carry the front wheels way down the track. The 390/410s made really good torque. There was something there that we were not getting. Iacocca and his precious Mustang.
I wish that Ford would have produced more performance engines it seemed that there was 3 gm performance engines for every Ford in my neighborhood in the early 70's 😮
FYI 361 is the FT Engine series, it was never put in the cars. 331,361 and 391 are FT, I have 40 yrs of Ford literature, sales orders, etc and 361s are no go in the cars, light trucks, only medium duty
No. An FE is a V8. Your 300 is an upsized 240 which was first used in passenger cars in 1965. It is a virtually indestructible engine and one of Ford's best! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Not a big deal, but you didn't mention the Talledega- one year only with the 428 CJ non Ram Air only. No options- plain cloth bench seats, C6 trans. power steering and brakes. 3 colors only, White, Maroon and Blue. Ford's aerocar for NASCAR- the funny thing is the Mercury verssion, the Cyclone Spoiler II came only with a 351 Windsor. I saw a Talledega on a used car lot in 1975. Someone had painted it yellow but it was the real deal. The dealer wanted $1200- I thought it was overpriced because it didn't have the Ram Air shaker hood or bucket seats and console. Still kicking myself.
The 272 is a Y Block engine which came first in 1954 as a 239 then in 1955 the 272 debuted. Maybe we'll do a feature on the Y Block series one day. Thanks for watching and sharing your comment!
School buses and "farm trucks" with gasoline engines and drive axles are not "heavy duty". Unless of course the manufacturer produces "ultralight duty" trucks like F100s which are "light duty trucks" with no rated "tonnage". Making F200s (there were no F-X50 trucks at the beginning of the "FE era") "standard duty" and F300s "heavy duty" and F400s "super duty" and F500s "medium duty" and therefore F600s "heavy duty". "Duties" are determined "in-house" based upon the "size" of the manufacturer's product "range" as "rated" by DOT "specifications". If you do not build an "official" heavy-duty truck that has "max" DOT GVW capability then you don't have a "heavy duty" truck "by the books". Ford never produced a twin-screw max-GVW "semi truck" with a gas engine but that doesn't make medium-duty Fords "heavy duty" by "default".
Ford blamed the 406 for poor NASCAR performance then they realized it was not the Engine it was the poor Body line. The 1961 Star liner was fast and handled the New 1962 notch back was slow and had ill handling
I think that the 289, 390-428 and the 385 series 460 and A Boss460 for the streets. The best all around series is the FE that made all of the 335 series junk unnecessary. The Cleveland head’s could have been on the FE. 3 engines that could be used today with the technology we have. The FE and 385s are nowhere in the same weight class. Those 3 engines would still be here now. All the displacements and indestructible iron they had. The FE heads could have evolved easily and would have saved them money. The alphabet soup was unnecessary.
335 junk... The 351C was the most handicapped engine in PS racing history and to this day, it's DNA is used in NASCAR heads. No FE head (minus the SOHC) can flow anywhere near a 335 series. Most definitely not junk
Sure is strange Ford never put FEs in medium-duty "straight trucks" after putting flatheads and Y-blocks in them. Seeing as how they're supposedly so "versatile" and "great" and all.
They put FTs in them. They were 361-391 FEs and were in many grain trucks. How old are you? 10? I am using an FT block. All of my old drag cars used a mix of FE/FT parts. I’m not a social media keyboard commando. I wouldn’t know how to post a video if someone had a gun to my head. And to me, that’s just fine. You really look down on the FE/FT family? It says a lot . My wife has a twin turbo 2.7 Edge ST and it’s a good vehicle. I have restored a lot of cars. I raced but videos? Nah.
@@Bbbbad724 playing with a 352 build! Using the 3.98 scj crank, and modern 4.00 small block Pistons! 352 rods re-bushed for the Pistons! My version a a 400 going in a 63 falcon!
And the TP in NASCAR could still beat the Boss 9 on many tracks. And for the street you can build a really good Street Fighter to this day. The 401K guys who hoarded the great parts and fought the Aftermarket tooth and nail to keep them off the market so their hoard would maintain their value. Too bad for enthusiasts. The FE is the greatest engine design ever made, but the whine and cheez assholes made sure that the FE was always twice the cost they needed to be. The Windsor is so much superior to the FE…. Build them and learn. The FE could have been the last Ford design needed, since everyone else is copying them. lol what a bunch of maroons.
The heads and rocker arm assemblies killed these engines. The heads air flow numbers were horrible. How they were approved for use is a mystery. WE ran the 390,406 and 427s in the 60s. We could only use Fprd cams and they were junk. The 410s and 428s were boat anchors. The 427 leMans was an animal but only several racers got them which pissed off a lot of people. Many guys went to the Mopars and some to Chevrolet due to Fords practices. All in the FEs were not worth owning!
I love the old FE's I have one right now in my life and almost have always had one in my life.
The miracle of the FE was the fact that it was designed to address the shortcomings of the Yblock and the fact that it's weird ass design with the push rods through the super wide intake and the half wide heads wound up doing all it did including winning the 24 hours at LeMans a few times is beyond belief...
My FE at present is a 390 powered 51000 mile all original 1967 Galaxie 500 fastback and it's a smooth strong runner...
I read an article not long ago saying that some of the early stage 427.FE's had the pushrods going up through the intake ports also. It was the only way they could configure the valves in that big head correctly to produce maximum fuel ignition in those big chambers.
Those were the Tunnel Port 427 that came out around 68 and were used in NASCAR and NHRA and some were put in boats. The FE is the best engine of all time!
One thing about that strange configuration on the intake was it also allowed enough room to change lifters with the intake on. Even a cam for that matter.
@@Bbbbad724 I've owned a few and like them alright but I'm not gonna go quite that far. The side oiler and cammer were the pinnacle but the ordinary FE was mediocre. I had the 335 horse GT motor and it was just ok in stock form. Oiling problems for high HP hence why they developed the side oiler setup.
@@LHarry-c2t Ford was afraid of the insurance companies jumping in and doing what they did in 1971. It is sad that they didn’t get the potential of the engine that won against the worlds best super cars in the masses. I have been a tinkerer all my life and the reason I hold the FE such high esteem is that it takes a weekend to make it a beast. I made my own oiling system, and I ran solid cams with the lifter passeges blocked. 2 and 4 were crossbolted with Pro Stock Engineering main caps that had oil passeges in the caps fed through the side bolts. I blueprinted the whole oiling system and they were vicious. 11:1 and early style non emissions heads , headers and the MR aluminum 428 intake. They were enough for all but the Hemi and 454 cars for me. I ran ragged old. 67-68 Mustangs with the shock towers cut back. I know it wasn’t factory, but the engine was still even to this day a great engine. Others experience may vary, but I enjoyed extracting every thing I could get out of them. The magazines had their knives out for them because they were running with the Hemi in NASCAR, and were selling dismal fucking cars off that and rightfully so. I just knew the engines and built them to overachieve. Those who didn’t really missed out. I am disabled and blind now and I really miss turning wrenches. I still have my last street racer. 500 hp of crackly sweet 65 Galaxie that I had up to a GPS 160 on a two lane highway and it never hurt anything. It still wants me to come out and play. My 40 year old son came out and gutted the wiring so I wouldn’t take it out and hit an oak tree at 150. With 4.33s that is a lot of rpm. But it used to eat it up.
I love them all! I can’t drive anymore because of my vision. I still have a 1965 LTD 2dr HT with a 390 that I built in 1999, but have had for 43 years. It dynoed at 503 hp and 488 ft lbs before putting it in the LTD that my son and I restored frame off. It was the best driving car I’ve ever had. I still have it, but it is just sitting.
I had a 1965 LTD 2dr HT but mine had a 352. You could literally steer it with your pinky finger.
A few 406 engines that I have seen were cross bolted. They were late in manufacturing and led to the 427 so these were all that I believe they were bone was in early 63 before the fastbacks came they were what I had seen as notch roof 63s I don’t believe they even have a Vin number change. All I have seen were 2 door post 63s early in the year.
I want to do a 410 at 4.065 bore like an LS but use Mopar 440 H beams machined to fit the FE and 6.766 length with 1.4 forged pistons and crossbolted mains and filled to the water pump holes in a D4TE 3 web mains and twin turbos at 8 lbs boost and a good roller cam and producing 825-850 hp . These blocks can take 1000-2500 hp.
Just do burrodies in a parking lot , you'll be all right ... 😂
The problem is that the FE is still the greatest engine ever made and are not in the least obsolete. In fact other manufacturers are mimicking the FE design as their top performance engines. They are still the best design in this day and time to put in cars and light trucks. The design plus modern materials can create very efficient and reliable engines. The LS and FE share many characteristics and are both great engines. I wish that Ford would reengineer the FE engine to cars and trucks. That Ford would make crate engines based on these engines.
It was 1974 and my Dad's business needed another 12 ft. stake/flat bed F-350. Well at the time the only new flatbed available was 50 miles away in Worcester Ma. He bought it, and it's engine was not the wimpy 360, but the 390 with a Holley 4 barrel carb.! That was an awesome truck to carry loads and gave us some big smiles when the secondaries opened!
I had a '66 Ford F-100 custom cab with a 352. I changed carbs, cam, lifters, valve springs, intake and took the horrible log style exhaust manifold off and put headers on it. That 352 really came to life. It was also my favorite year of pickup from Ford.
@@ZEEKUPP Headers really do wake them up!
@@ZEEKUPP I had a 65 F250 4x4, with the “wrong bed” all of the 65 F250 4x4 s had. That was 1/2 Tractor! Rust got it, but I sold it to a restorer. I bet it is really nice. I even gave him a 65,352 that matched the date code for the truck.,
i have owned my 66 comet 428 nos 4 speed 4.11 gears for 41 years
My uncle James Fostey was one of the head engine designers for the FE motors. He worked for Ford in Detroit from the mid 1940's to the early 1980's. The 428 motors were hard to beat on the street. He had some good stories about these motors from long ago.
Wow - nice to meet you and we're thrilled you found our feature! Would have loved to sit and chat with your uncle about those days and his work. Thanks for watching and sharing your comment!
I worked in an oil well for a while. The engine that was used to run the generators was a 391 Ford industrial motor. It ran 24 hrs a day, for as long as the well was being drilled.
Thanks for watching and sharing your memory! Keep watching!
My family had three 1968 Galaxie 500s with the 390-2v engine and FMX transmission. The first was a station wagon, the next was a sedan that was my first car, and the third had an engine damaged by by ice in the block and heads, salvaged to replace the rust-damaged sedan. Peak torque point was great for highway cruising. Although the owner's manual inferred that a 427 was available, I'm not aware of any 1968 big Fords that had one. The big blank spot between the 302 and 390 that year model was stark.
Oh there was a 410 FE and it was a great opportunity to build. A turbo app will be a monster. The basic FE block will handle 800-900 hp with a turbo setup.
My '69 Mach 1 is a legit RUG-AE2 4-speed R-code "Drag-Pack" car with SCJ motor - 1UA crank with external "hatchet spacer" balancer, heavy dampener, 427 "Le Mans" cap screw rods, engine oil cooler. The block is a standard bore NOS May 1974 date code "CJ & Marine Service Block" with high nickel content and the beefy 3-center reinforced main webs. Honed to 4.135" with Race-Tec 12:1 custom pistons and a Comp Cams solid roller...3,500-6,000 torque monster
Sounds great and we bet it really does "sound" awesome! Thanks for watching!
I bet that a pair of turbos on 4.08x 4.08 70s truck block at 426.7 can do 1000 hp+. I really don’t understand the bullshit about them falling to crumbs after 500 hp. That’s just the hoarders taking. The Cammers made 2500 hp. They just want to hide their stash and if you notice most modern engines bear a strong resemblance to their obsolete design? A half pour and Pro Gram caps Molmar Rods and Edelbrocks and 14 lbs of twin Gt 45s are sucked Hell cats down the carb and blowing out new Mustang s, lol.
@@Bbbbad724Post the 1000+ hp FE video.
@@deeremeyer1749 I will when I get it done if I don’t die first. A lot of setbacks. My son doesn’t want me to do it at my age and pulled all of the wiring out of the car to stop me. I’m working at it. I’ve gone blind so I won’t get to enjoy it. But the block is capable of over 1500 hp. Just use boost for these old engines. It is easier on the engine than nitrous or even NA hp. I had it running and I went out and my relay and fuse box is gone. My wife told me to sell this engine and car. I have a feeling that this isn’t meant to happen. At least for me. I filled the block, machined it, and put ring gap in it. It will do it. Those blocks inhaled nitro and made 1500 hp without trouble. The 2500 hp is what killed them . An aftermarket block can take 4000 hp. But my wallet isn’t that thick.
@@deeremeyer1749 Video? I don’t do videos. How old are you?
I still have a nice 76 F150 4x4 with a 360. Runs like a champ
I just bought a 1976 f150 4x4 that came with a 360 but it had a 390 in it when i bought it. I cant drive it until i get the valves fixed. I'll probaly buy a set of aluminum heads for it.
I remember as a kid that my dad borrowed a 58-60 F100 that had been a Chief’s fire truck, I guess it had the police intercepter engine and a heavy duty Cruisomatic transmission. He took me for a ride in it and son of a gun that thing was a beast! It would burn the tires all the way until it shifted to high. It was a badass F100!
Thanks for great comments and keep watching!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk I wonder to this day what they put in police and fire chiefs pickups. I think the 361 Edsel Police package. I remember the solid camshaft sound from my years of using them in FEs. I wish I knew the specs of the Edsel 361 ci PI and emergency. I was told that they were used in ambulances. But I watched the tachometer built in the instrument panel and it turned 6300 rpm’s so quickly it was stupid. The Dual Range Cruiso was just bang bang bang!
I am 73 years old. When I was young and growing up my parents owned a 1964 Ford Country Sedan Station Wagon that had the 352 cubic inch Ford FE engine with a 4 barrel carburetor, dual exhaust, and the Ford CruiseOMatic transmission. My parents had six children. We would load up that car with the entire family and a top carrier with luggage for vacation trips. One unusual thing was that the car had a coolant expansion tank with a coolant fill cap that was close to the oil fill cap on the engine.
Awesome memories and thanks for sharing! Keep watching!
IM 61 and i have been driving and racing FEs since i was 15 years old.i had a galaxie with a hot390,i took it out and put it in a lighter comet body and it would fly.i still have the 66 comet but it has a 428 now
I've got a 64 Galaxie xl 2dr fastback. It's Wimbledon white with a fresh/new, palomino interior. Been Garaged its whole life. It has PS, PB, AC that all work. I've owned it for 34 years. I'm the 4th owner of the car but I know its full history. Currently it has a factory ford "crate motor" 428 installed in the early 70's when they were still available from ford, Crane cam, Ported cast 427 heads, factory Ford tri power, long tube cast headers, a C6 trans with a Gearvendors overdrive. Detroit true track posi, 370 gears. Sure love driving it, probably burry me in it. Love my FE!
Cool! Hope you have many more years cruising in it! Thanks for watching!
My brother had a 64 390 4 speed ,Good times😂😂😂
I took over my parents 1966 County Squire in 1983. That tank had a 428 Police Interceper paired with a cruise o magic C-6. That wagon was awesome! First gear, 0 to 55, second gear 55 to 98, and third gear 98 to ??? I didn't have the stones to go over 120.
My second car was a 65 2 door Galaxie 500. It had a 352. When I retired the Country Squire I put the 428 and C-6 in the Galaxy. That by far was the fastest car I've ever driven. I once had that car up around 150 mph.
Man, those were the days!
Now if I go over 70 I'm flying.
I wish I had kept my ole Galaxy, but I got married instead. Dummy!
Thanks for sharing your memories and keep watching! That Country Squire sounds so cool!
Did a body off restoration of a 1965 Ford Galaxie LTD with a 390 HO engine In 1982. It was fully optioned to include AC, rare for a Montana car. I modified the engine extensively for more power, especially at high altitude. Keystone Kustomags with BFG Redline Radials. The sound was fantastic coming through Smitty glasspacks.
FE engines have some great features. The deep skirt design kept the crank firmly in place and made the main caps easier to convert into cross bolted if not already factory ones. You weren’t going to crack a block down low from too much torque. Instead of having to remove the heads to port them, most of what would normally be the intake port of regular heads, was in the intake manifold on FEs.
Proud owner of a 67 Ranchero! 390 4V 4 speed, white bucket seats, console factory indash AC! Yes it does have the tack!
Sounds like a beauty! Thanks for watching!
LOVE THE FE engine we put a fe 390 in a 80s t bird also have a fairlane with FE and a turbo
I am from New Zealand and I have a 1961 galaxy Starliner with a 427 sohc engine. I purchased this car in 2014 and will never part with it. I drive it frequently in my hometown of Taupo regularly.
Happy cruising in your Cammer!! Thanks for watching and welcome to ITCCT New Zealand! Must be quite a sight on the roads!
@IfThisCarCouldTalk thank you, yes it does catch people's attention. Most people think that it is an old Falcon till they look again
I think i saw that car back around 2009
I love the starliner! Nice looking car!
Loved the 390. Had it in a couple galaxies and a pickup.
Plenty of cars with 289’s as well.
Same here! Thanks for watching!
The ford 391 was a strong engine,def.liked the low to mid rpms
That Barry Rabotnik guy here in Detroit did alot to promote the FE engine long after it ceased to me manufactured by FoMoCo. I remember as far back as 1987 hanging around the street racing scene...his black 68 or 69 Galaxy (im not a Ford guy and don't always know or recognize exact years or models, etc). That car ran strong among all the quickest street cars of the time and whatever he had his hands on was well respected. Later id see him in various magazine engine articles always focused on the FE but also taking part in more modern performance upgrades. There are other names associated with the performance FE aftermarket but his name stands out in my book.
Growing up and still living in Detroit and Dearborn meant Ford performance lovers all around me. Ive always been a GM guy but of course love all old musclecar and classic cars nowadays. Ive always most respected Ford's performance efforts based on the FE. If i ever hit the lottery, my top Ford pics are first a 1963 Galaxy 500 with a 427, don't care about numbers matching just has to look the part. Next would be a 1967 428 powered mustang. Not even sure why but may have something to do with a couple of NHRA stock and super stock racers named Barry Poole and Jim Calvert and the vehicles who put both names on the map. As an engine guy i have not had very much experience wrenching anything FE and always thought the valve cover upper rail as part of the intake manifold was just plain weird and simply made me wonder why. One last thing...ive never heard a good running FE engine sound anything but good out the exhaust. They have a great exhaust note.
4:17 Had the 390 in my 67 mustang fastback,, with closed chamber 406 heads,, factory tripower,, mild Shelby cam,, super grunt with quickly gained RPM with the high compression....
Sweet! Thanks for watching!
I owned a 1960 T-Bird with the 352, and a 68 Ranchero with the 390. I hotrodded the 390- rebuilt it with a .060 over bore, a Sig Erson cam lifters and rods, an aluminum intake and a 800cfm Holley, Hooker Headers and turbo mufflers. It was a bear to drive because I put way too much cam in it but it would fly down the highway. It also sucked gas-5-6mpg's.
Sounds like you have had a whole lot of fun! Thanks for watching and commenting! Keep it up!
I have a 1975 F-350 cab and chassis dually with the 390 engine. It was my high school transportation and saw lots of doughnuts and drag racing action. Im going to convert it to 4x4 using modern Superduty axles from an F-550. I think after that's all done, i might build up a nice 428 for it. Just want it to be a good towing rig.
That’s a great build plan! Thanks for watching - keep it up!
I currently own a '63&1/2 Galaxie with a built 390 and a '67 2 door Thunderbird with a 428.
i own a 74 ford f700 heavy duty dump truck with the 361 ft big block . torque monster !!
One of my friends in high school had a restoration in progress. 1960 Thunderbird with the 352 it was powder blue. I love that car this was back in 1988-ish
The 410 is a really unsung hero. I had a D4TE 360 block from a junkyard truck that has the 3 web mains like a CJ. You could bore them a mere .020 over and have 413 ci. The torque was crazy. The easiest engine to put aftermarket crossbolt mains. 2 and 4 mains were the only ones that usually cracked. I bought a pair and had them installed on a 413 ci 410. The cool thing was that they had oiling passeges that you could run oil lines from the filter adapter and feed the hollow bolts into one side and the lower bearing shells had a hole and the main bearings you could put in 2 and 4 were grooved all the way around and you could, while it was disassembled you could put set plugs in 2 and 4 above the cam bearings to keep the oil in the mains. Blocking 2 and 4 above the cam bearings and running the lines from the filter adapter to the 2 and 4 mains with grooved bearings and a hole in the top and bottom with grooves it made it priority mains on 2 and 4 that oiled the main through the side and it went up to the cam. It really helped the oiling. And with headers and ARP studs they were bomb proof. The 413 with CJ ported 390 early port heads and a 2x4 intake it made 610 hp and 625 ft lbs. wide torque band from 3200-6000 and peak hp at 6200 with a solid cam. It was crazy in a 67 Mustang 4 speed with 3.50 gears. I did it in the 70s and the “ fast car guys” just scratched their heads and swore I must have hid a blower in there. Driving it to school without a hood, no one ever saw one, but 11.6:1 cr was close. Those 2 inch primary open headers and the D solid cam with 30 inch long 3 inch pipes dumping out the sides with no mufflers. At 7000 rpm’s it sounded demonic… the 2 mains with priority oiling really helped get the other 3 oiled really well. I put an oil line and gauge on 5 main and it never dropped below 75 psi. The bearings and crank never wore. I had 7 inch rods and 1.15 ch pistons are internally balanced. It was a screamer and I still have the crank rods and pistons. If I wasn’t too blind to drive I’d do it again. That was 1977, I still have the block, the main caps and crank, the rods and intake and stuff have been sold, but it has no wear on the bores or crank. I could build it again. Easy. I miss driving so bad. Sidestepping the clutch and seeing the sky for 50-60 ft while banging 2nd. Sigh.
Wow - thanks for such a great comment! We love when car people share their memories with us! So glad you watched and enjoyed this feature. Keep watching - hope you've subscribed!
The 390 with a 4 barrel carburetor was my favorite FE engine. Trouble free and reliable not at all expensive to live with.
Not expensive for who?
It got what, 8mpg in a f100?
11mpg in a sedan?
@@fastinradfordable use a modern motor oil, install a more efficient intake manifold and carburetor, get a set of headers and dual exhaust. The 390 was never designed to be a high rpm engine but it could benefit from the improvements I mentioned with better fuel economy. I didn’t even consider a serpentine belt drive or more efficient power steering pump ( the original one is terrible on power consumption).
Radial tires are another thing that wasn’t a common feature of mid to late 60’s ford’s. So, yeah the 390 can be made much more efficient than they used to be. I really like the abundance of torque on tap without having to wait for the turbo to spool up.
They were all nice
I bought a 70 mercury cyclone gt from my dad in 76 he bought it in 74 it's a cruiser with the 429scj and c6 heavy duty tranny .
Bet that was a fun car! Thanks for watching and commenting. Keep it up!
My favorite will always be the 360hp 352, just think if they'd used that 401hp 390 tri-power intake itd have been even hotter
My father bought a 65 Galaxie new and had my grandfather sign an affidavit saying he was a constable so it came equipped with a solid lifter 390 PI four speed and all other accompanying police add ons, but in Vintage burgundy.
How cool is that?! Thanks for watching and sharing your awesome memory!
Love my 352 in my 60 Tbird, 3spd Cruisomatic, 9inch.
1964 Galaxie 500r XL 427 dual 4 barrel carbs and top loader 4 speed. Nascar homolagation for the street. Very little information available, Wikipedia page does not acknowledge its existence.
My friends dad had a restored one and I went to car shows with them a few times as a kid. His dad bought it in High School and restored it as an adult. It could be temperamental on a hot day. I loved it when it would load up some going 20 mph through the park leaving the show and pulling out into the highway. He would do a rolling launch and open both four barrels. I sat in the center of the back seat with my friends. We would be pinned to that back seat, lift our heads between shifts and giggle.
What a great memory! Thanks for watching and sharing!
Guessing that had "7 Liter" badges on the front fenders.
I’ve had FE engines more than all others. A 58, 332 66f100 with 352. I also had 2 cobra coupe(Fairlanes) a ranchero that I transplanted a 428SCJ and three 66-69 Falcons that I put 428 CJs in, one with 3x2 Holleys and one with nitrous. I’ve built all most all of fords engines @ one time or another from stock to full race. My buddy @ a machine shop I sometimes work for called me to assemble a 428CJ with solid flat tappet cam just a few months back. I don’t know of any other engine that is so versatile and reliable. From dump trucks to top fuel these engines have been in just about anything you could imagine and did a jam-up job. Thanks for the respect it deserves!
Thanks for watching and for the nice comment! Keep watching!
I have my aunt and uncles 69 LTD that has the stock 390 with the 2 barrel carb. It is a smooth running engine with plenty of power even with the 2150 carb.
One small factoid about the 427 SOHC. It never saw competition in NASCAR. And still the only engine to ever be outright banned by the organization. The 426 Hemi was initially disallowed, but after a few years of drag racing and production of street Hemis, it eventually got on track.
@bradwithers4720 Hi there. Yes, you are correct in saying that they banned the 427 OHC engine from NASCAR. To me, that was a real shame. The engine in my Galaxy Starliner has only done 20 thousand kilometers since new. I have had it apart and replaced the cam drive chain with a better quality chain and resealed the engine again. It also got rebalanced at the same time. Instead of the duel, 4 barrels,it has got a duel 4 barrel fuel injection system installed. That really improved the fuel economy and drivability no end
My dad had a 1961 Ford pickup with 292 a 1965 with a 352 a 1968 with a 390 and a 1973 with a 302 all were good trucks. The 302 was good on gas empty but a real gas hog when loaded. Dad seen the light and for 1978 he bought a new 400.
Actually, mid 1971 model year was the last FE in passenger cars. Some Galaxies and LTDs were 390s. The 400 Cleveland type engine replaced the 390 FE my dad loved the 71s and I saw many of them with both the 390 and the 400. Of course there were 351s and 429s in many of the 71 models, as well.
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Got one in my 66 Fairlane GTA
We used to have a 1966 Fairlane GTA too! Great cars!
What a way to start the weekend, a new video from "If This Car Could Talk." How would the 69 and 70 Boss 429 Mustang engines fit in? I had a chance to buy (from the same owner) a 69 Boss 429 or a 65 GT350, I chose the GT350 but there are times I wish I picked the 69 Boss 429..... Thanks for your time, work and posting.........
mike
The Boss 9 came from the 385 series engine not the FE.
Did the morning start and check on a 391 industrial used as the emergency back up on a small ski lift at aspen Highlands . Strangest FE that I have run across . They ran an industrial 225 leaning tower of power in a smaller ski lift .
Interesting comment! Thanks for watching!
I have a 1962 390 police interceptor engine which was rated at 375 HP. This is the highest HP rated 390 ever built.
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God bless all of them. Wonderful stuff.
Gotta go the Cammer !! 🦘😎
My 1958 352 2 Barrel had side Bolts ( cross Bolts) ! Ford also machined combustion chamber for one year only! ( 1958) .
I’ve got a Robert Pond 427 block waiting for fitting at the shop as my next project. I’d be in it but the large displacement stroker SBC I’ve been working on is taking longer than expected as nothing fits just right. Looking forward to working on the newborn 427 FE
FE stands for iron on the periodic table which makes sense as the intake manifold bare weighs 95 pounds. I normally use a cherry picker to install them. The starter placement is primo, you don't need to get under it to replace the starter. I swapped out 390 heads on my 360. Larger ports and lower octane requirements were my reasons.Don't let them kid you about the 406. it is a straight up race engine No matter the cost or the vehicle, if you find one, buy it! They are not cross bolted from the factory but because they are two bolt mains, a lot of builders employed that option as a cross bolted two bolt is two and a half times stronger than a four bolt.
Thanks for watching and for the great comment! Appreciate it and hope you keep watching!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk
Love the old iron.
I saw a video on TH-cam where someone weighed the 390 iron intake and the scale showed 71 lbs. I have removed and installed one on a '67 GTA mustang and hell yeah it's heavy!
I think many were confused about mixing and matching parts to make a Ford engine perform.
Oh, the days!
So true!
I eat, sleep and breath the FE. I have loved these engines since I was a child, and my uncles had FE powered mustangs, torino and Fairlane. I will say that the 390 is the most lied about displacement amongst F series truck owners, especially 67-76 trucks. I have bought, sold and owned more than 30 F250 4x4 trucks over the last 35 years and every guy selling one claims "it's got a 390"😅. The 4x4 f250 never had a 390, only 352 and 360. I can't find any documents among my years of collecting Ford literature of the 4x4 leaving the dealer with the 390.
My favorite FE build combination that I've built are 360/390 blocks with 428 rotating assembly for a 410ci displacement.
Thanks for watching and for the great comment! We appreciate you hard core Ford folks (especially since Tom bleeds Ford blue)! Keep watching!
What is that beautiful car at 7:44??
That is a 1966 Mercury Monterey and we agree, it is a beauty!
HAD 66 COMET GT PULLED THE 390 OUT CAUSE IT WAS WORE OUT AND FOUND A 427 HR AND REBUILT THAT PURE HP SCARY GOT TO MANY SPEEDING TICKETS ONE TIME I WAS CLOCKED ON INTERSATE RTE 5 IN FLA DOING 120 OR BETTER BY A STATE COP HE CAUGHT ME 20 MILES LATER
19 years old and im working on a 1973 Ford F-250. So far, I've sourced the motor, transmission and drivetrain. Would anybody happen to know what all I can do the my 390? Or should I keep it stock and just clean it up?
Hi and thanks for watching and commenting. I can probably help with your questions, but email would be best. Send to ifthiscarcouldtalk@gmail.com
Great video ! Besides one cubic inch what is the difference in a 427 and 428 and why ?
Hey Tim! That is a very good question and requires a very long answer. In a nutshell, the 427 was a race only engine with a mechanical cam, cross bolted mains, a steel crank, an aluminum intake manifold and more. The 427 was actually 425 ci but because Chrysler had the 426 Hemi, Ford wanted to best them by 1 ci. The 428 was designed for more utilitarian vehicles and in Cobra Jet form was still easily produced on an assembly line whereas the 427 was hand assembled. Those are just some of the differences. Thanks so much for the compliment! We appreciate you watching - hope you subscribed and share it with all your car buddies!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk You still didn't answer his question. The 427 FE had a bore of 4.232 and the stroke of 3.785 (same as the 390). The 428's bore was 4.130 (from the 406) and the stroke was 3.98. The math works out thus - 425.98 for the 427 & 426.54 for the 428 -The 'Boss' just made up what the number would be that day.
Other combos - In 1966 & 67, Mercury had a 410 C.I. which was a 390 bore (4.050) & a 428 crank (3.98). And if you want the max Cubic inch with Ford factory parts, you take a 427 block & a 428 crank which nets you 448 cubes.
Man oh man i miss my 63 merc, marauder 410 equipped palace , the best kid'o thanks
Thanks so much and we love this comment! Keep watching and welcome aboard!
I want my 428 internally balanced dammit
I'm still driving my '64 352CID FE {390 same block just different stroke and crank little over boring needed}, runs great lots of power and still has great compression @ 75K miles, looking to have her rebuilt as a 390 but hard to find a shop I can trust to do it right
We know of a few. Where are you located? Thanks for watching!
The 410 lived on beyond Edsel, 66-68 Mercurys could be had with the 410. Station wagons and Mauraders are where you can find them.
Thanks for the comment! Keep watching!
Lykins Motorsports just built a 511 CID FE engine making over 900 HP. He is using new FE Power monster heads. This engine is going into a Falcon...
I have a 63 1/2 Galaxie 500 390 4 speed car and a 68 F100 which has a transplanted 390 out of a Torino GT. I also have a 60 T bird with a 300 horse 352.
Sweet rides! Thanks for watching and be sure to check out our awesome Galaxie features and the Torino too!
Well done!
Thanks! Keep watching!
Nowadays people new to muscle cars, or cars generally, are pushed into the windsor or coyote engines as a swap or update. Building an FE sounds pretty fun, but first pass at a build list became a headache just narrowing down what block and from what year lol
Thanks for watching and commenting! Keep it up and good luck with your project!
Partial to 390.
My biggest automotive regret was selling my 66 cyclone gt , 390 , 4spd. Dumb move.
Very good video well done. You got a few things wrong but they aren't worth mention. I raced the FE 427 for over 10yrs with not one failure. The 360ci engine made lots of torque, but it was a bad bore stroke combination as it sucked down gas as if it was free.
We're aware of those and thank you for watching and being such a great member of our YT community! Appreciate the nice comment!
My 67 GT/A was rated 335HP and 427 TQ
Awesome!
I think the engine that was under utilized was the 410 that came in the Mercury Parklane. I think that with the CJ heads 2x4 intake and the 390 375-401 hp solid cam with header type manifolds could have been the jack of all trades engine as the base replacement for the 390. Setup that way it would have been a 410 hp and 480 ft lb police interceptor and a good base for the pony cars. I built one for a friend who had a Marauder S-55 with a 4speed and it was a handful. It could have had the CJ hydraulic cam for a quiet 375 hp big car engine and for trucks a 410 at 9.5:1 and the regular hydraulic cam would have been a good 350 hp 465 ft lb truck engine. The alphabet soup of engines in the 70s was unessesary. The FE with Cleveland heads would have stomped every thing as a 428 or with a 4.25 stroke a 460 with Cleveland heads. The 385 , really? They could have been around into the 90s . They are still here now….
Thanks for watching and for the great comment! We appreciate it and hope you keep watching!
No other family of heads will go on an FE. They are a unique design, with what looks like a “half-head”, where the valve cover goes over the intake manifold as well as the head. Indeed nearly half of the “head” section on other normal engines is on the intake manifold. I think Ford did this so that it could be more lightweight with an aluminum intake, and since a lot of the intake port is actually in the intake manifold, it’s much easier to remove and port or swap intakes and realize a substantial difference than trying to port the heads themselves. Other heads would not work on an FE
@@andrewhigdon8346 True. I always thought it odd that the SOHC was running in Top Fuel and Funny Car at 3000 hp, but they couldn’t deliver a street head. The 428 CJ could carry the front wheels way down the track. The 390/410s made really good torque. There was something there that we were not getting. Iacocca and his precious Mustang.
Im going to need my 428 internally balanced dammit
I wish that Ford would have produced more performance engines it seemed that there was 3 gm performance engines for every Ford in my neighborhood in the early 70's 😮
Thanks for watching and for the comment!
FYI: In 1958, the 361 FE was the "Police Interceptor" engine option for the 1958 Ford Custom 300 sedans for police agencies only.
Thanks for watching and for the information. We appreciate it and hope you keep watching more!
FYI 361 is the FT Engine series, it was never put in the cars. 331,361 and 391 are FT, I have 40 yrs of Ford literature, sales orders, etc and 361s are no go in the cars, light trucks, only medium duty
Just for clarity, not every 428 was a "Cobra Jet", correct?
That is correct. The standard 428 is a Thunder Jet and there is also a Police Interceptor and then the JC/SCJ. Thanks for watching!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk how can someone tell a CJ from a SCJ?
Slightly bigger bore spacing would have been nice.
What about the 428?
Definitely included the 428 - a standard 428, a 428 Police Interceptor and a 428 Cobra Jet. Thanks for watching!
What about a 300 CID, Inline 6 ? Is there a 300 FE, or no ? I don't know that's why I'm asking.
No. An FE is a V8. Your 300 is an upsized 240 which was first used in passenger cars in 1965. It is a virtually indestructible engine and one of Ford's best! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Not a big deal, but you didn't mention the Talledega- one year only with the 428 CJ non Ram Air only. No options- plain cloth bench seats, C6 trans. power steering and brakes. 3 colors only, White, Maroon and Blue. Ford's aerocar for NASCAR- the funny thing is the Mercury verssion, the Cyclone Spoiler II came only with a 351 Windsor. I saw a Talledega on a used car lot in 1975. Someone had painted it yellow but it was the real deal. The dealer wanted $1200- I thought it was overpriced because it didn't have the Ram Air shaker hood or bucket seats and console. Still kicking myself.
Thanks for watching and sharing your Talladega story!
What about the 272? I rebuilt one.
The 272 is a Y Block engine which came first in 1954 as a 239 then in 1955 the 272 debuted. Maybe we'll do a feature on the Y Block series one day. Thanks for watching and sharing your comment!
It's not a Fairlane Cobra!! It's a 1969 Ford Cobra 🐍
Tunnel port , thunderbolt engine
427👍💯🇺🇸
Yep! Thanks for watching!
Cool.
Thanks for watching!
School buses and "farm trucks" with gasoline engines and drive axles are not "heavy duty". Unless of course the manufacturer produces "ultralight duty" trucks like F100s which are "light duty trucks" with no rated "tonnage". Making F200s (there were no F-X50 trucks at the beginning of the "FE era") "standard duty" and F300s "heavy duty" and F400s "super duty" and F500s "medium duty" and therefore F600s "heavy duty".
"Duties" are determined "in-house" based upon the "size" of the manufacturer's product "range" as "rated" by DOT "specifications". If you do not build an "official" heavy-duty truck that has "max" DOT GVW capability then you don't have a "heavy duty" truck "by the books".
Ford never produced a twin-screw max-GVW "semi truck" with a gas engine but that doesn't make medium-duty Fords "heavy duty" by "default".
I have still 390fe yes not for sale 1967 cyclone comet 390 fe750 holley factory make
you forgot one the 1968 396 fe.
Thanks for the info!
You really gave short shrift to the 427, I think. Barely a mention.
Ford blamed the 406 for poor NASCAR performance then they realized it was not the Engine it was the poor Body line. The 1961 Star liner was fast and handled the New 1962 notch back was slow and had ill handling
The 406 was NOT cross bolted, only the 427
We know that. It has been kicked around over the years that some race ones were - just wanted to mention it. Thanks for watching!
@@IfThisCarCouldTalk:
FYI, the C2AE-BD late 1962/early 1963 406 blocks were cross-bolted like the '63-1/2 427s.
I never knew about the 462. This was Ford before they started getting cutesy and bucking all the US trends as of late
I think that the 289, 390-428 and the 385 series 460 and A Boss460 for the streets. The best all around series is the FE that made all of the 335 series junk unnecessary. The Cleveland head’s could have been on the FE. 3 engines that could be used today with the technology we have. The FE and 385s are nowhere in the same weight class. Those 3 engines would still be here now. All the displacements and indestructible iron they had. The FE heads could have evolved easily and would have saved them money. The alphabet soup was unnecessary.
335 junk...
The 351C was the most handicapped engine in PS racing history and to this day, it's DNA is used in NASCAR heads. No FE head (minus the SOHC) can flow anywhere near a 335 series.
Most definitely not junk
Hard to bulid up cant push rotten oiling but good mild
Sure is strange Ford never put FEs in medium-duty "straight trucks" after putting flatheads and Y-blocks in them. Seeing as how they're supposedly so "versatile" and "great" and all.
They put FTs in them. They were 361-391 FEs and were in many grain trucks. How old are you? 10? I am using an FT block. All of my old drag cars used a mix of FE/FT parts. I’m not a social media keyboard commando. I wouldn’t know how to post a video if someone had a gun to my head. And to me, that’s just fine. You really look down on the FE/FT family? It says a lot . My wife has a twin turbo 2.7 Edge ST and it’s a good vehicle. I have restored a lot of cars. I raced but videos? Nah.
@@Bbbbad724 playing with a 352 build! Using the 3.98 scj crank, and modern 4.00 small block Pistons! 352 rods re-bushed for the Pistons! My version a a 400 going in a 63 falcon!
What are u talking about? They did? They are called FT engines. The 361 & 391. They use steel crankshafts.
And the TP in NASCAR could still beat the Boss 9 on many tracks. And for the street you can build a really good Street Fighter to this day. The 401K guys who hoarded the great parts and fought the Aftermarket tooth and nail to keep them off the market so their hoard would maintain their value. Too bad for enthusiasts. The FE is the greatest engine design ever made, but the whine and cheez assholes made sure that the FE was always twice the cost they needed to be. The Windsor is so much superior to the FE…. Build them and learn. The FE could have been the last Ford design needed, since everyone else is copying them. lol what a bunch of maroons.
The heads and rocker arm assemblies killed these engines. The heads air flow numbers were horrible. How they were approved for use is a mystery. WE ran the 390,406 and 427s in the 60s. We could only use Fprd cams and they were junk. The 410s and 428s were boat anchors. The 427 leMans was an animal but only several racers got them which pissed off a lot of people. Many guys went to the Mopars and some to Chevrolet due to Fords practices. All in the FEs were not worth owning!