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Original Message
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| Sleeper Car with a 390? :-] |
| By Dave King - 09/04/2000 2:39:17 AM; IP 166.62.41.151 |
Hi there, my name's Dave King, and I posted this on another FE board, but I'm curious to know what you guys think about it.
First, let me state that I'm only 18. I guess the reason I'm here is to inquire about a 390. But first, a little story. (all good things go with a story, right??)
My younger brother is into street racing. He'll take his '75 Torino Elite with a 351 Windsor and race kids from around the town, and sometimes he does good. But there's one thing nobody can touch in that town, and that's a brand-new Viper.
Well, I had heard lore from my uncle Ray, who once owned a 428 and the power it made. I also knew of an old 390 sitting in a Galaxie 500, and about a '64 Fairlane sitting in the same pasture as the Galaxie. Now, I've done a '48 Flathead to use in my '38 pickup, and that went pretty nice. I've also worked on 2.3L dirt track engines. OK, so I'm a newbie to engines, but I'd like to give that 390 a try. Question One: Would the 390 and the C-6 fit in a Fairlane engine compartment and tunnel to make a nice 'sleeper' car?
My father has some old Motors truck manuals from the '70s, and in there they list truck engines... 390s. But, the earliest ones had 10.5:1 compression ratio, and the last ones had about 8.2:1, with a resultant less horsepower and torque. I'm kinda assuming this was for emissions reasons, and to cope with worse gas. Did truck FE motors differ any from passenger car motors in the way of block strength? (Probably not, but I really don't know.) And what did they do to it to decrease the compression ratio? Different heads with larger combustion chambers?
One last thing I noticed. Well, two things. First, I noticed that, oddly enough, this thing has rockershafts! Will those stock rockershafts, arms, and stands be able to stand hard-pressed 5500 RPMs? I'd like to put an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold on it, or a triple-deuce setup if I could find one reasonable. Probably a wilder street cam, and new Mallory ignition (thought about a magneto, but heard they're a pain to start.). One last thing. Is there a mail-order company that has a good selection of FE parts? I know of Summit and Jegs, but they seem to worship the Chevy 350 god.
Thanks so much for any advice or input you guys could give me. This is going to be a long-while project, but I want to do lots of thinking before I start.
Much Appreciated,
Dave King
Foley, MN
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