3 moters all #6 rods? that,s very unusual?are you runing the early 390 rods?c1ae-c rods?

Maybe you should switch to a good set of H-beam rods. It's my understanding that they are MUCH stronger.

Any bore scoring (overheated piston) or bearing damage (hammering)? Bearing discolor (blue / black)? Any time the same part fails over and over, it's environment must be checked.

If there is bore scoring, the piston is likely overheating. I'll assume your piston and ring clearances were checked. We'll also assume that oiling is OK (unless the bearing is discolored), because the opposing cylinder would be splash oiled by the same journal and would fail as well (or show the same signs). This points to a lean condition or preignition / detonation causing the overheating. Make sure the intake manifold gasket surfaces are flat, machined to match the cylinder head angle, and well sealed. Don't use the Felpro gasket with the blue sealer ring, they crack when heat cycled. Seal with correct gasket sealer. If preignition or detonation is the culprit, it will show on the plug. Black specks on an otherwise white insulator is a good indicator. If you can run an 02 sensor, do it. Cheap insurance. Make sure fuel pressure is maintained during the run, and that the needle / seat flows sufficient fuel. Otherwise, fiddling with carb jets may be the only answer, but if you have a true fuel distribution problem, either pick a new intake/carb, or solicit the advice of a race engine builder to select another. Porting the intake will likely cost you more than just getting a better unit, but it can be worthwhile if done properly.

If there is bearing discoloring, the journal is overheating. Then you have to ask why... no oil, or too little clearance? Assuming the builder paid attention to the rod bearing clearance, it's probably oiling. Make sure you aren't pumping all the oil to the top of the engine (restrict the valvetrain oiling) and make sure that what's getting pumped up there is getting back (will the engine idle without valve covers and not overflow --it should). Make sure you have proper clearance between the bottom of the pan and the pickup. If you're reusing the same crank, make sure the oil passages are correctly drilled. I tried a trick I read in an article written by David Reher about stablizing oil pressure in wet sump drag engines: Replace diamond scraper windage (or no) tray with solid tray, stops air pulses into the sump, makes for less aerated oil. Before I tried this, my oil pressure was ok, but the gauge was jumpy, and high rpm made it worse. After: Rock solid oil pressure, and the gauge moves very smoothly, and pressure steadily increases with RPM, like I always thought it should.

My two pence. Good luck.

Chad

are thear any outher numbers on the heads? like C4TE, C3AE , ect.

n/m

Barry has a special connection since his company, Sealed Power, acquired TRW's manufacturing.

The Scat kits for other Ford engines are very good in my experience, I didn't know they had a stroker kit for the FE series. If you want 550 hp a stroker may not be the way to go since you will need a lot of rpm to get that hp out of the FE. The FE's strong suit is torque which will help you get that big car moving. The oiling modifications are talked about here often, unfortunatly I am no expert on that, I would do a search and you should find what you need. I recently built up a 420hp 390 and the oiling system was totally stock, the only change I needed to make was to install holley jets into the rocker shaft oil feed holes in the heads because of too much oil being sent up to the Erson roller rocker shafts I used. Otherwise the stock pump and passages work fine in my application.

So few people use the Weiand(compared to the Edelbrock) that most information is anecdotal (friend of a friend, or I read it off the internet). If you want to be regarded as an inconoclast, use the Weiand. I'm sure it's not that bad for the power range you're interested in. But the Performer RPM is far and wide the most commonly used intake because it's fairly conventional in design and the concept is proven.

I use an RPM myself. It's a great intake but I can't compare it to the Weiand. I'm sure if you do find someone who has actually uses a Weiand, they won't be able to tell you anything about the RPM. And for it to be valid, they'd have to do a straight manifold swap without changing anything else, like the carb, timing, or exhaust. Most people wouldn't do such a swap unless they were really unhappy and were convinced it was the intake.

Sounds like a Truck block.
Not a CJ.............
Check out Scott H's 428 Cobra Jet page.Great for ID CJ Blocks & parts.

http://www.428cobrajet.com/
JW

http://www.jcoconsulting.com/forumfe/reply.aspx?ID=23344&Reply=23344

391? it,s hard to tell but if it hase a large crank snout larger than the standerd fe crank it,s at least a truck engin.

Jack;
I would use the SpeedPro L2303 pistons unless you want to lower your compression by using the non CJ 428 SpeedPro L2245 pistons.
I used the .30 over L2303 pistons just last month.

Draw through isn't difficult at all for a roots-type supercharger. You'd have to rework the carbs for the supercharger but it's so common that it's a "so what" as far as impact. I saw one setup where a guy used three four barrels. Mounting in a turbo or centrifugal would be a bit difficult and work no better than it ever has. In the early days, most turbo setups were draw through and had issues with lag, fuel puddling, starting that show up when you put the carburetor a long way from the intake valve. Draw through really only works well on roots blowers.

Blow through creates some issues that have largely been solved with electronic fuel injection. Doing it on a carbureted engine isn't impossible at all. You can buy a centrifugal supercharger from Vortec(I think it's Vortec, anyway) that included a pressure chamber for the carburetor. No reason you couldn't build a chamber for a tri-power set up. But I suppose this is one of those "Just because you can do it doesn't mean it's a good idea" things. Expect to have some difficulty getting the carbs calibrated for the boost. And other than making some kind of style statement, this would be a pretty marginal setup. Tri-power manifolds and carbs were never intended to flow a lot of air. Rated at the four barrel's 1.5" hg pressure drop, the tri-power set up comes in at around 700cfm.