Yep, they are LeMans Rods, and the "Buy it now" price seems fair enough. Here's a link to the auction site:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem&item=598391491

Royce Peterson

All FE rods use SAE 1041 steel, but the LeMans rod uses more of it on the big-end, and the H-beam is slightly beefier, as well.

You are correct in noting the Lemans rod is quite similar to the plain 390 rod. It's main benefit is in the higher clamping forces allowed by the larger diameter bolt. This allows higher RPMS before inertial forces can override the clamping force of the bolt and allow the big-end to distort. The LeMans rod does handle extreme RPMs better than the excellent 390 rod.

As for the ones on ebay - I haven't looked at the auction, but these are most likely the 1980 repops which Ford commissioned. They are exact copies if the '66-'70 forging, and are still commonly available NOS for around $550.00 from a motivated seller, $800.00 for a motivated buyer. The price drops considerably for used versions, hanging in the $200.00 to $400.00 range.

LeMans rods are considered a bit heavy by today's standards. With lightweight Eagle rods selling for $700.00 a set, and lightweight performance pistons readily available to match these rods (Ford, TRW, and Sealed Power pistons are NOT lightweight pistons), the LeMans rods are not as seriously sought by racers as they were 10-20 years ago.

If you wish to buy these rods right now because they are hard to find, you might as well hold off on the purchase. They are almost always available on ebay - frequently new. If you want to buy that set because you just gotta have LeMans rods for your next build, then that's a good enough reason to buy. They definitely are the best looking rod ever made for the FE, and are probably as durable as any racing rod you'll ever find.

Shoe.

Go with the hard seats. nobody is going to know the difference unless you tell them. Your engine will thank you and your check book will thank you further on down the road.

I always match the holes. Ford did that to force more oil to the hyd. lifters. I think the crank is a bit more important than the lifters esp. when the engine has solids and Ford recommends blocking the oil gallerys to the lifters. As for the "V" in the rod bearing its no big deal, that notch is to allow a small squirt of oil to the opposing cylinder. Another carry-over from the 40s and 50s. The cylinders get enough oil from throw-off that the little notches aren't needed.

Try the main forum at
http://fomoco.com/mustang-forum/ for an answer. There are many more small-block gurus over in that forum. Also, I tend to agree that if it's iron, it ain't Boss.

Shoe.

Does it look like this?

Your book may have part numbers, but the number on the manifold is the casting number.

If my younger days a/p jockey memory serves me correctly... All FE's Auto or stick 63 to 80 take the same starter. A 3131 (3 bolt) starter I think. You can get high torgue after market ones too though

then you can get stroker cranks, bored 427 blocks.
but realistically, mid-400's are max displacement for FE's. 500 is virtually impossible without a new block and stroker crank.

..... Chicago factory orginal engine in a 66 Galaxie 500 Convertible which is an Illinois car with a little rust here and there. She's got C6AE-R heads on her from the factory!

There was a hood tach offered in '69 as part of the Muscle Parts program. It's on page 71 of the '69 issue of Muscle Parts.
Good luck in finding one!

My 70 boss had it DEALER installed and on the sales envoice ,,when I restored this car I bought an NOS one and have never installed(I kinda thought it was tacky looking beside the shaker) it I'm still debating the selling issue,especially now that i've seen them sell on ebay for over a thousand dollars as NOS ,,,mine could end up there

Robbie

n/m

it is like self abuse. You must do so much it is a ton of work and grief. You will haveto upgrade every component of the truck. It is so much easier to start with a later year that has the acomodation for the engines size and weight. Now if you are determined to do it the easiest thing to do would be to contact Crites and see what they have for the T-bolt conversion. If you dont like their prices, you can locate a donor Econoline and install the straight front axle set up under it. Or you can use a Mutang II set up with the mods it takes. Or if you can fabricate the necessary fender hold downs and graft a 66 or later front end to your firewall. This way you can install the roll bar tubes through the floor and tie it in with the subframe splice and have some rigidity. You will need it. I drag raced Ranchero's and Fairlane's and can tell you it is much harder to get the truck to keep from twisting.

The Ranchero project is dead before it even got started. Im going to look at a '62 390 Tbird instead.

Your page has nothing to do with the FE. Please keep future posts on the topic of the FE or related issues.

Shoe.