Anyone in to Ford FE engines?

[DarkWolf]

I don't think my basic rebuild parts were much more epensive then a SBC. My edelbrock performer RPM manifold and Ford Powertrain Peformance headers on the other hand were about 3x SBC prices. Hopefully they have come down a little in the last 6 years.

[GLHS0658]

I have a set of 360 heads if interested....probably not

"The 267 is a 79' only motor"
Nope...79-81 and it was available in Camaro's as well.
What a dog of a car that was. My buddy had one. SLOOOOW

[TurboChry]

-StreetRodder Magazine used to do an engine build-up over several issues. Great way to sell a one year subscription. In the late '90s(I think?) they did the FE. If you can find back issues or dig through their archives, it's very detailed.
-I may have a crank stored in my Dad's barn from when I cleaned out the machine shop.
-My biggest memory of FE "maintenance" was my friend's truck 390. Bigger valve springs with stock shaft mount rockers. It pulled the threads from the rocker stands on the heads and bent the rocker shafts [i]a few times[i/]. I was actually happy when he sold that one.

Jim

[moparzrule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GLHS0658 "The 267 is a 79' only motor" Nope...79-81 and it was available in Camaro's as well. What a dog of a car that was. My buddy had one. SLOOOOW

Hmm, I could be wrong. The only good thing about a car with a 267 is you can get them for nothing and it gives you a good starting point rather than buying a V6 car - IE motor mounts, radiator, trans, etc.
Thats why I said ''and such'' because I knew there were other cars the 267 came in.

[turbovanman]

The FE engine got a bad rap but there a decent engine. The heads suck but Edelbrock makes Aluminium heads now. Headers aren't that expensive, put some on my buds 75 F150 4x4. Dual plane intake, 600 cfm carb, headers, stock engine, rv cam, dual exhaust, runs strong. Hot Rod mag either this month or last month just did a massive buildup on these engines. :big grin:

[stinger]

hey turbovanman, what stock ford heads don't suck? the windsor heads don't suck, they wheeze, most of the big block stuff is about the same, and the clevelands either flow too much for street use, or are very prone to detonation! it hurts to say this, but it's the truth from a ford guy. although, add a good set of aftermarkets, and a ford will run with anything. i'm looking at a set of afr 205s for my 393w if i can afford them

[turbovanman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stinger hey turbovanman, what stock ford heads don't suck? the windsor heads don't suck, they wheeze, most of the big block stuff is about the same, and the clevelands either flow too much for street use, or are very prone to detonation! it hurts to say this, but it's the truth from a ford guy. although, add a good set of aftermarkets, and a ford will run with anything. i'm looking at a set of afr 205s for my 393w if i can afford them

True enough, lol. What about the 429 SCJ heads, the ports are so big they don't work, with any cam or compression ratio, too much flow, doh!
But the 88-93ish 5.0L heads are ok but the 5.0L Explorer heads flow pretty good out of the box. Worth a few ponies over stock 5.0L heads.

[TBird232ci]

Quote:

But the 88-93ish 5.0L heads are ok but the 5.0L Explorer heads flow pretty good out of the box. Worth a few ponies over stock 5.0L heads.

87-93 heads were still pretty sucky, you can get decent numbers out of em with a lot of work, but with companies like Trick Flow and Edelbrock making aftermarket heads, why even bother having the stock E7TE heads ported?

the explorers got the GT40 heads, which were also the same heads to grace the 93-95 cobra's, and it got an intake that has a GT40 lower, and its own specific upper, that engine in a mustang, with a mild cam, and a good exhaust would be pretty decent

[stinger]

ya, the explorer or gt40-p head is ok for a street engine, but the spark plug has been moved on these, so you have to run "p" specific headers. they are a high swirl head kinda like the vortec, with a 1.84 intake and 1.46 exhaust. really about the best sbf factory head out there is theC9OE-D0OE heads off of the '69-70 351w, which i have a set of. if i build the stroker, i'll be looking for a set of used afr's. lots of new big block stuff out too, like the new scj head which is supposed to be able to support 600+hp out of the box.there are some new race heads out for the FE too, although i don't know by who. now if they would bring back the windsor blocks, i think most ford guys would be happy. the cobra heads are not the "P" heads, they were regular GT40
heads Well, enough out of me about all this blue oval stuff, someone might get upset with me seeing how this is a pentastar board

[TBird232ci]

Quote:

really about the best sbf factory head out there is theC9OE-D0OE heads off of the '69-70 351w

ive header something about the 289 heads also being great heads, i believe the C6 casting?

[stinger]

stay away from 289-302 heads, they have smaller ports and 1.78-1.46 valves, even the 289 hipo heads are like this. for factory heads, try to find the '69-'74 351w heads, the "p" heads from a late model explorer or if you can find one, '93-'95 cobra 5.0 heads were gt40s. if you use the 351w heads on a 289-302, you have to use a special head bolt as the 351w uses 1/2" bolts the others are 7/16". arp has these. or, i've heard of guys using the bushings that edelbrock sells to fill in the gaps. you gotta wonder what they were thinking when these were designed. also watch the chamber size, the C9OE-D0OE castings have a 60cc chamber, the rest are 64-68 cc

[cadmanspd]

I've dealt with everything from "low riser" to "high riser" (port design) 427's and mostly 428's, good "grunt motors" Had a 428CJ with factory reverse mount 600 holley 2X4's ,Moved a 4400lb car into the mid 13's! not bad for a "mild" build. Still a little fond of them. Also ran 351C 4bbl motors and HP289's. The trick for the early 289 is to hog the valve pockets and exhaust side and add chevy valves. Works fantastic and low-buck too. As a strange side note I still know how to time a SOHC427. Not that I'd ever need to these days. Man.... the crap that gets stuck in your head.

[cptn60]

Don't forget to check the main bearing oil holes; they are misdrilled from the factory. You can open them up and have MUCH better oil pressure.

[cadmanspd]

The holes that the bearings match to do misalign a little, but the most important thing you can do is open up the pump to filter adapter hole from 5/16 to 3/8 (I think those are right,I know if I'm prepping the block I reach for the correct ones without blinking) and then you can also put restrictors into the shaft feed holes in the heads, especially with solid cams. Works well with adjustable rockers and big hydraulics too. Always saw a good 70psi at 6000rpm. No problems there. Those big 428 cranks will be quite happy then.

[Moparmonster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moparzrule The 267 is a 79' only motor. Came in Malibu's and Monte carlo's and such. the 400 was also put it HD trucks in the late 70's

The 267 was used in 1982 as well. The '82 Camaro also had a 151" I4 option. Pitiful. As far as the Phord FE engines, I really like the removeable crank snouts. That's a great option and really helps performance.