im trying to gather a concensus opinion on whether to restrict oil hole on these heads. Running hyd. roller cam/lifters/Rockers. The hole is noticably smaller than the iron heads. The standard 1/4 npt plug trick wont work but a Mikuni dirtbike pilot jet drilled out would tap in nicely. Any advice would be appreciated.

Does anyone know if you can use a factory 428 style shaker hood assembly using the Edelbrock performer rpm manifold?

Finally, after too many years my 427 fired to life today.

It only took a couple of squirts of gas into the primarys of the '62 4100 Autolite 1.12 carb. The initial idle control cranked way up for high RPM at fire. I'll be switching to a Holley eventually but this 4100 is tried, true and trusted. Perfect carb for an initial fire-up and break in period.

I'd primed the oil flow as well as I could by hand. I had the timing set at 10 degrees, installed the '60 dual point with Pertronix II plus MSD 6A. The rotor aimed dead on #1 terminal. Key on, remote control starter in left hand, right hand on 4100 throttle lever......hit it! It fired immediately. It did take a few more squirts of gas to keep it running but the gas got from the tank very quickly.

Let the '63 center oiler run at 2,000 rpm for 20 minutes. Adjusted the idle down to 1,000 for a few more minutes and then the coolant(just distilled water & one can of anti-rust/lubricant) started spitting out the overflow tube. I have a 180 thermostat but it heated up to 220 because I didn't set a fan up to blow air into the radiator. Just forgot about that one. But no big deal. A little extra heat on fire up may help seal things up.

The only leak I had was at the HP fuel filter inlet. I kept that wrapped in a rag because I didn't want to release my right hand from the accelerator lever. I wanted to keep the idle high initially to keep the cam awash in oil. After shutting the engine down I tightened the fuel line inlet fitting and that seemed to take care of the leak. No leaks at the valve covers!! I've had issues there before. No leaks at the pan or rear seal. This is the Milodon pan I had to use four gaskets with a windage tray due to the minor interference of the back of the pan with two rear ARP main bolts.

Here's the storage shelf parts gathered over the years to build this engine to look very similar to a '60 HP352:

'63 427 block standard bore.
'65 sideoiler forged steel crank.
'63 427 rods with ARP bolts(same as CJ 428)
'63 C3J forged 427 industrial/marine pistons - these have a dish which worked perfectly with..
COAE-D heads ('60-'61 352/390HP) with 1.66 lo-riser/CJ exhaust valves and corresponding pocket porting to take advantage of the 1.66 exhaust. This piston-head combination yields 10.5:1.
Original HP exhaust manifolds
'61 HP390 intake with COAE-K dual point distributor.
Only non OEM Ford parts: Competition 282S with Crower shell lifters and matching Crower push-rods.
The rockers were refurbished and converted to locking nut style adjusters by Rocker Arm Specialties.

I did let the engine idle for a minute or two at 750 RPM. Had to go have a listen standing at the rear of the '60 Sunliner.....I was pleased with the nice lope I was hearing. The clatter of the solids was easy to hear also. I set the valves initially at a loose .028. I will eventually tighten these down to .022.

So I just had to share my excitement with the forum that has provided me help, support, information and some pleasurable reading at times. I'm far from hitting the road. I have no interior in the big Yosemite Yellow brute, no windshield or side windows, no top or bows. All of these things will be winter projects. I'll be working on clutch adjustment and minor tweaking to get this thing so it'll start within a second of turning the ignition key.

Thanks.

Gene, thanks for the quick reply on the spark plugs for my Edelbrock heads. You d man!

Like to see the spectrum covered, curious about that 352/360 hp
Also, something that confuses me about the FE is they are referred to as rugged, tough, etc, then you see where writers say it can't take much abuse. Whats the truth?

I am thinking of running a clutch flight c-6 in my ranger anyone ever run one with a c-6. should i install the ford wide ratio kit, wright performance rearends is selling them as a special order item. They have a websight. I want to run on street. but the truck needs a 4000 stall at track i think this would be the best of both worlds. any input appreciated.

Gents, Anyone have any suggestions on a good plug type for my 390 fe? I'll be using Edelbrock Performer heads. I'm building it to the specs. that was receiently published in Hot Rod, Jan. 2004 issue.

i purchased a 67 dan gurney basket case 390 w/a 3 speed manual trans "s" code is it worth much is this a legit car? I dont even want to say how much I paid.

I was given a FE dual quad intake and am having trouble identifing it. There is no casting # anywhere on it. Aluminum -looks to be med or high rise-individual bores for the carbs-bores are 1.71" and ports are 1.25X1.90. Can anyone help? Thanks John

The only way I can get my choke to close all the way is to turn the fast idle screw all the way out, and then (obviously) I have no fast idle. The arm the fast idle screw is on the pretty difficult to push back by hand, so I don't know how the plastic idle cam could possibly do this. What should I adjust? This is a professionally rebuilt Holley 4150 on a 68 GT 390 mustang.

Thanks in advance