I am going to take a guess here cause I have no facts. My feeling is that you probably have a head gasket leak at the rear of your engine rather than a core plug leak. I am with the dealer on this one. Usually the only plug at the back of a 6cyl engine is the camshaft core plug and the only thing that will leak there is oil. Not aware of any core (freeze) plugs in the back of a 6 that could leak coolant. One mans opinion FWIW.

I've used some for street use and sometimes strip, they were o.k. They were a little noisy because the pins being centered. For my sprint car I use JE's 2018 material, I've been running them for three seasons up to 8500 to 9000 RPM. Joe It really depends on the cost and the type material used. Ray

No, they are quiet. What about your waterpump bearing? They can squeal, but they can also "click"

Use the steel donut available still from Ford. The fiber ones don't last.

I think it has a C8LY (Lincoln) part number.

Royce Peterson

concerning the last post, the crank is a C4AE-B crank, not a C3. sorry, had a brainfart. thanks!

I have used both in street/strip 428s and you would not notice any performance difference in the two but why not use the stronger lemans rods if you have them laying around. Just get everything balanced of course.

All the intakes you mention are basically the same. I 1967 the Medium Riser and PI used the same intake. The CJ is slightly different in the area where the pushrods go through, just a simplification of the casting. The CJ intake is also made of cast iron.

You will notice that the port on your intake is smaller than the head vertically. Do not lower the intake port, it works great as is. If you decide to port the intake or heads it should be upward or wider.

Royce Peterson

i'm not sure if this helps, but the shop that i'm buying parts from for my 427 tells me that on his dyno the bluethunder intake is worth about 15 horsepower over the sidewinder using 428CJ heads. that swayed me from the 30 yr. old technology.
just what i've been told.............joe

. . . .the casting date was 19 August, the engine assembly date was 22 August and the car's scheduled build date was Sept. 2.
On an identical replacement engine the casting date was Jan. 5 and the engine assembly was Jan. 22. I don't know a scheduled build date of the vehcile this engine came out of.
The lead times for 428cjs may be considerably different because fewer made.
Hope this helps . . . .

It depends. The 1968 blocks were cast in batches for the first few cars, some as early as June 1967 were installed in cars produced in October 1967 for example. These were the prototype and press vehicles and the Winternationals drag race cars.

Later cars would have a casting typically 8 - 10 weeks before build date. Heaviest production was for the 1969 model year, block castings might be closer to scheduled build date for the busiest production schedule times.

Mustang Club of America has a rule about this but I do not own a rule book and think the whole thing is overblown with regard to its effect on a car's value. I would be more interested in it being the correct model year and in good condition personally.

Royce Peterson

This is a very common mod to do when you're switching to a solid cam in an FE. The necessity of this mod is often debated. I personally ran a solid lifter cam in a 428 CJ for two years with no modifications and no problems.

However, based on everything I've read and have been told it's a waste of oil & pressure to be pumping oil to solids. So that's why I'm modifying my 391 hydraulic block to accept screw in socket head plugs that can easily be removed for a switch back to hydraulics. This is fairly easy to do. The press in plugs have to be removed at the end of the oil gallery in the block lifter valley, this is near the back right between the two last lifters. The two offshoot bores below the main gallery are what you want to tap for your little screw in plugs. You might want to have a competent machinist do this for you while with your block is apart.

Now if your block is all together in the car......kevin has the neat trick for blocking off these oil passages with old valve stems. He has contributed his tried and true method numerous times here and other FE forums. But I haven't seen anything from him for a few days and he's a regular contributor. Must be out on the road again.

I would use which ever one would fit and least cost to rebuild. If the combustion chambers are the same size to me their is no differents. Some of the HC heads have smaller combustion chambers to up the compression. C8OE B heads are listed 67.1 to 70.1 volume. C6AE U 67.1 to 70.1. Most are 71.1 to74.2s Old school HP heads. can be as small as 59.7 to 62.1 (60 352HP heads the screaming eagle of FE heads to me and then their are the 63 6Vs)(but on the other hand small volume is not a good thing). A little port , port matching, and polishing will bring the more common heads alive. JMO, Maybe this will sparks some different opinions!

NHRA has it factored at 325HP. I think Ford rated it at 335HP in the Fairlane, same as the 428CJ <lol>. My shop manual states that the 390 4v in '69 had 2.02 intake and 1.55 exhaust valves. It was probably the same in '68.