yes i use them in all my fe's with no truble
but get your push rods from fomosports
take an old one to get the right one
i bleve they are 300 six but they are the right linth
and moley hard so they work well
by the way 427 super hipo used shells
they are lighter so easyer rpm's

Steve,
I do remember recurving my stock Distributor. I think total added up to 36. Its hard to remember, its been a few years. Last year I got so ticked off with the stock dual four set up that I ended up pulling it off and installing a 750 holley on top of a Holly Dominator intake. It does not look as good but, it Runs so much better.

Steve,

Centrifugal advance distributors are dumb for the street. They don't know anything except RPM. So if you set one for best performance at the strip it will ping like crazy under load on the street.

If you want it to run decent on the street a vacuum advance distributor is the only way to go short of installing a computer controlled knock sensor system. Get a good condition stock distributor, add a Pertronics points eliminator kit. Limit initial plus mechanical advance to the area of about 34 degrees or so. Remember that the vacuum advance is all gone at WOT because there is little or no vacuum. The vacuum advance should supply another ten degrees or so. Accel makes a nice adjustable vacuum advance unit, the Motorcraft units can also be adjusted using washers to limit advance. The vacuum advance will tailor your ignition advance curve based on load for the best possible street performance.

Now if you have lots of spare time and money MSD offers a knock sensor which can be used to retard the timing automatically in the event of detonation / spark knock. There are a variety of ways to implement this, check with MSD for your options if this is interesting to you.

I am running an MSD 6AL ignition with a stock vacuum advance distributor converted as I described above on one of my 427 stroker motors. It is magnificent under all conditions and the rev limiter saves the motor if I do anything stupid like miss a shift.

Good Luck,
Royce Peterson

Unless you have a new vibration dampner (and even if you do) you should check that to be sure the outer ring that has the timing marks hasen't moved. I always put a paint mark on the inner and outer portion of the dampner as I had a similar problem years ago. The engin just wouldn't stay in time, according to my timing light.

Thanks. I enjoyed your post. Well written.

Excellent post Mike, If you get a chance to read the C/D mag you will find it entertaining. The Fairlane rolled off a Holman Moody car carrier, and the Comet had arrived in the company of Bud Moore's crew, these guys obviously were instructed by Dearborn to win this shootout by any means necessary and they didn't fool those who knew better. The following is a paragraph describing the Comet:
"The Comet bordered on the ludicrous. It came off the line like a Super Stock, surging up on it's haunches under power exactly like a NHRA stocker It's engine was an ostensibly stock stock 390 cubic inch Ford - the same prosaic old workhorse that has loyally powered the Thunderbird for so many seasons. Anyone who knows engines will tell you there isn't a 390 built that will turn more than 5300 - 5500 rpm in stock form, but the ones in our Comet and Fairlane would turn an effortless 6500 rpm. "
As I said before I am no fan of old magazine tests and this test is a prime example of why, but I sure would have liked to have seen the look on the faces of the Royal Pontiac crew when the Comet was off loaded from the transporter with the name of Bud Moore emblazoned on the sides - as the popular commercial intones - priceless.
Again your post is most informative and an interesting read. Oh and by the way don't feel alone about having regrets selling your Fairlane, I practically gave away a factory delivered 66 2dr bare bones Custom 428PI 4sp big Ford on trade in for a 68 Cougar XR7 302, at the time I felt the Ford wasn't " cool enough".

4.052" x 3.784 makes a 390
4.134" x 3.784 makes a 406
But I don't know how safe that is.

So what are you building? A 406 replica? You must have a need to make this a 390/406, right?

It's tough to advise you to go ahead and bore that C6ME-A block .080 without having it sonic tested/mapped. The markings you indicate "may" make it a great candidate but how do you know? Look at the thread right by this one about taking a '70s era 360 block out to 4.13 bore. You just can't tell.

And as for the 391 FT block. Again, it's very likely that it's also a great candidate. But I would still want it sonic checked. My 391 FT block is a C6ME (No A or other markings like yours). We found the little tiny 428 cast numbers visable through the middle core plug hole. I still had it sonic checked/mapped. Because of what we found, it's now bored .030 over 428. I have the Ford distributor bushing. It should make a great performance block.

So you're going to run the 352/390 HP heads, COAE-D? With the other '61 HP equipment, it sounds like you're building the 401 horse replica.

I've done something somewhat similar with a '63 427 block using all Ford parts to make a pseudo 352HP. I can't hide the cross bolts but not many will know to look anyway. Those who do look deserve to know the truth. They're FEnatics like us!

the 360 was built using a 352 rod and crank with a 390 piston. a 428 crank would go in and with the stock bore you would get 410 ci. the stock 390 bore is 4.05 where as the stock 428 bore is 4.13. if the block passes a sonic check you could bore it .08" but since you can build the 410 for much less money and give more rebuilds i would do that instead. if you really want a 428 then i say find a 428.

Anyone can bore a 360/390 block out to 428 dimensions, but if you collapse a paper thin cylinder, don't blame Ford.

The 360/390 block is absolutely different from the 428 casting. The 428 welded "A" casting can generally be bored to 4.160" (+.030) and the 428 welded "C" casting can sometimes be bored to 4.190" (+.060), core shift permitting

360/390 blocks can generally be bored to 4.110" (+.060), core shift permitting, but taking them to .080" is just making a thin wall thinner. The cylinder jackets are NOT cast the same as 428 blocks, so why pretend that they are? You can either build a durable 390 from a 360/390 block, or you can build a delicate 428 engine which needs a 2V intake and avoidance of high revs to keep it alive.

Only a sonic mapping of the block will tell you whether you can bore a 360/390 block more than +.030". I've got a couple 360/390 standard bore blocks that cannot handle even a +.030" overbore without weakening themselves beyond any kind of performance use. Only offset boring will allow these blocks to see mild performance use.

The 361/391 FT heavy truck block is generally a good candidate for heavy overboring. You can find these in Ford series 600-800 trucks from 1964-78. Also, some lighter trucks sometimes got these blocks, but not very often. More often, you might find an F500-series truck block with some FT features, but not with the heavy cylinder walls of the FT. The genuine 361/391FT block can frequently be converted into a 428CJ equivalent block.

Be careful about rushing to convert a 360/390 block to a 428. Most of those magazine writers who claim the .080" overbore is so desirable have never built an FE first hand. Most of those writers are full of crap.

Shoe.

Here's the link:
http://www.fordpowertrain.com/

Royce Peterson

I think they sold a lot of them because of the reputation they earned with the '56 & '57 'Vette's performance. They do sound good when revving in the 8,000 - 8,500 rpm range.

I dislike the favoritism for the for imports even way back then. Like who gave a @@ about gas mileage back in the mid 60's, If you wanted gas mileage you brought a facon, chevy II, or a Rambler. Those so called sports cars that they were comparing the M cars to were cheap made and could just muster enough power to chrip the tires, . Even now they are slamming the thunderbird before it even gets produced.

Ford didn't change the pan when it recalibrated the dip stick on the CJ engines, so it seems reasonable to add a quart to any fast FE.

There might be a drawback to doing this in a non-CJ car, however. The CJ might have gotten away with the extra quart because of the windage tray. It's possible that adding an extra quart to an FE without a windage tray might cause the extra oil to whip out at high-RPMs because of the crank windage. I don't suspect this would be a serious problem, but it's possible, and it might cause unusual smoking when high-RPMs are attempted.

All just my opinion,
Shoe.

Pete,
Using the Edelbrock heads won't substantially improve your airflow over the CJ heads. They also won't save you a huge amount of weight either. The biggest weight savings is in the intake swap.

Just my opinion here, but spending $1,200 bucks for cylinder heads to save 30 pounds without a big horsepower increase is not good bang for the buck.

Keep the 735cfm carb, consider using headers, and look at some of today's cams. The stock SCJ cam is a fairly tame stick. You can really punch-up the mid and top-range without giving up the bottom end with a little more lift and duration with wider lobe displacement angle.

Also, do whatever you have to do to retain the oil cooler.

Nitrous Oxide

It's a 390IP engine. This engine lacks the cam of the GT engine.

You will really wake this engine up with FPA headers for a 390GT Fairlane (Yup, even FPA mislabels their headers a little), a nice camshaft kit, an intake manifold, and an oil pan.

The smartest intake manifold to use would be the Edelbrock Performer RPM. It's nearly perfect for this application. A cooler-looking intake would be a C7AE-F 4228PI aluminum intake, thoug these are not always in the best shape nowadays. A 428CJ iron intake is the cheapest way to make the power you want, but the extra weight is better suited to trucks or Galaxies which are heavier vehicles to begin with. Other neat options include the older Edelbrock F427 intake. One thing for sure is if you keep the stock S-marked intake, it's gonna eat up some power.

Specing a cam is over my head. I can pick my own, and they work well for me, but I don't know WHY they work well. Obviously, when replacing a cam, you MUST toss out the used lifters, and you'll probably have to replace the springs and retainers. A new-technology cam requires you to install rockershaft end-support stands, lest you bust the crap outta your old rockershaft. Since you're into the engine this far, you might as well install some CJ-sized valves to those C8AE-H heads.

Toss a 3.50:1 rear with some sorta traction-type differential (avoid the older Equa-Lock, look at Traction-Lok or maybe the hairy Detriot Locker as the way to go) in there and some sticky street tires and you'll be in the high 13 second bracket.

Since you're bumping the horsepower, and no doubt bumping the RPM range you'll be running this engine at, you really need to take the engine down to the bones and inspect everything. If the bearings and journals look good and measure out OK, then you can optionally reuse them. Note that you should NOT replace the rod bearings unless you verify the rod "big end" meets the roundness specification. New rod bearings installed in a stretched-out rod guarantees a spun bearing sooner or later - usually sooner.

Lastly, a performance oil pan is REQUIRED on all 13-second FE cars, as the stock front sump pan is guaranteed to run dry at the worst of times (for example: In the traps at the end of the quarter). A healthy 14-second FE can oftentimes live with just a sixth quart in the oil pan, and a 15-second FE can live OK with the stock 5-quarts (assuming a HP pump isn't installed and oversucking the pan dry).

Hey, you've got a great engine at the core of that car. It doesn't take much to make it outrun a stock 428CJ.

Shoe.

Okay, here's another source of info for ya,

take a peek at this link

http://www.v-drives.com/

This page has an “engine section” where you will find two editions on the 390, being hot rodded for marine use in a drag boat. Like I say, this is just “another source of information”. I’d take Dave Shoe’s advice before I’d take any advice in the article, but I’m submitting this “for your reading enjoyment”

Good luck,

P

Go with the RPM Performer. It's a nice manifold and a hell of a lot lighter. The stock manifold weighs 75 pounds. You can pick the Edlbrook manifold in the box with one hand with no problems. You can also lose some valve train drag by getting some crane roller rocker arms. To keep traction, get some traction bars. LOST THE STOCK EXHAUST MANIFOLDS. You can get a nice set of headers for $250 at this one site and go with 2.75 to 3" X pipes. You can find a set of universal set of X pipes in Summits catalog You'll need to get a summit catalog. It's free and has a nice center fold every monthy. When it comes to exhaust run 1" for every 100 HP. Your 390 should make 275 - 310 HP.


www.summitracing.com or 1-800-230-3030

You can drop some weight by getting fiberglass parts like bumpers,hoods,trunk lids, and fenders. I'm planing to do that to my Galaxie to make it quicker.

Here;s a a good sight for it.

http://www.critesrestoration.com/fairlane.htm