These FE blocks are huge torque monsters...my 390 was .030 over, balanced, RV cam, 11.0:1 C.R., C4AE heads, Sanderson shorty headers, modified oiling system, stock 2BBL intake w/Holley 500 CFM carb...Wide ratio top loader 4 speed, and a 3.92 DANA rear axle...It would smoke the tires in any gear...It was in a 1952 Ford F-1 pickup.
I’ve got a 390 FE in a work project truck I just picked up. I’m officially the second owner, the beast still has the Widowmaker rims on the Dooley rear end for Pete sake! Those will be some of the first things to go, then this used to be grain truck 1959 f600 Will be a smooth roller with some much-needed updates per safety reasons! I will be watching for sure, thank you for the detailed instructions!
Gday mate! I just wanted to say thank you very much. I’m a fitter and turner from Australia. I recently purchased a 63 Thunderbird, of course it turned out to have many many issues, cooling, misinforming etc. I ended up doing multiple checks and when I went to do a compression test the ceramic on spark plug broke. I wasn’t sure if some had fallen into the combustion chamber so I pulled the heads to investigate. I ended up found that it had two different types on pistons in it, 5 were original and 3 aftermarket. I’m working on finding another 390 block so I can start my own build and also hopefully get the car running enough for a few Sunday drives whilst I build a new one. Your videos are incredibly helpful and you’re a great educator. Thanks mate.
Nice to see a slow tear down and read the motor as it's disassembled. TV tear downs last about 5 seconds and then they just throw new parts at it without examining the parts. Nice vid.
Had a 1974 Ford F350 with a 390 on the farm. It worked hard pulling hay wagons too a three axle goose neck grain trailer. (300 bushel that 16800 pounds of grain) And in 1989 it was stolen and at that time it had about 190,000 miles on it and never overhauled! That is what good maintains can do. I used a series three oil in it. (Shell Rotella or Mobil Delvac 15/40 weight) And for those of you that don't know that is diesel oil; I had several diesel tractor and figure if was good enough to run them it would work for the truck. I now use it in ever thing I own including the lawn mowers. Hey sorry for your loss!!!
Sad to hear of your loss. I am really enjoying this series. It's slow, but very detailed and covers pretty much everything. I can't wait for the next episode.
Yea lots of detail on this one the owner is rebuilding the truck and documenting the entire resto process and so I am being as detailed as I can these videos will most likely be part of the bigger picture
Thank you sir! You are a wealth of knowledge. Just bought a 76 F-250. Engine was rebuilt but never had oil added to it. The 4,7,and 8 pistons had a small spot of rust around them. As you may have guessed, it like locked up. I am currently rectifying the situation and your video has helped me out tremendously. Looking forward to more videos. Keep up the good work!
Love watching your videos! Was actually thinking about picking up a F100 a few weeks back and noticed there really was no information about the 390 FE online (couldn't have picked a better time!). "most of you, if you're watching this, have a pretty good grip on life" - laughed pretty hard at that part I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of the rebuild!
I’m replying a bit late but there actually is lots of information on these FE engines online, there’s a FE engine forum on ford-trucks.com, fortification.com and various other sites
These things can be torque monsters, they did not get the respect they deserve. I built one that was out of a 65 Galaxie and installed it in a 75 F250 Bored .030 over an RV cam, headers duel exhaust, simple little 600 holley. This thing was a beast, would run out of RPM after about 4500 but made a great truck motor. A real wake up from the anemic 360, even gave me decent gas mileage.
If you clean up your oil drain back holes with a die grinder, you would be able to run a high volume oil pump. I've been building and running FE's for 40 plus years. I admit that I ran them hard. After wiping out my rod and mains from oil starvation, on a 390, I started using Mellings high volume pumps. I never had a oiling problem again.
Always brake those manifold bolts, really sucks when they brake when you don't have plans to pull the engine. Great vid love the whole FE family. My first car was a 58 ford custom 300 with a 390 and a C6
Sorry for your loss. The Phillips head bolts on the cam plate are a #4 Phillips, fairly inexpensive and will fit in a cordless impact. Fastenal or Grainger usually carries them. They're not needed often, but are nice when you do need them. International has those type bolts in a few places on their V8's
Wow, well first let me say my condolences for your loss. Second, Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to make a "detailed" video of this teardown. Some of the results made me a bit angry at my son because when I gave him the truck it was a pretty new rebuild so the damage was all on him. Overheating, bent rods, cracked everything, run hard etc... but since the video was almost an hour long, it gave me pause to forgive him. (Chuckle). I can't wait to use some of your footage on my channel. You are amazingly knowledgable and I again feel very fortunate that the motor is now in your expert care. I know I would not have gotten this level of expertise and knowledge just anywhere. Thank you again. I look forward to the next video. Sincerely, iROBODUDE
i love it. thank you. I still have a couple of Fe 's that I like to rebuild . I did one back in 1990. out of a 66 mercury punched it out 040 it was set up to put in my 77 high boy F250 . Pull a trailer . I sub d your channel . I love the V6 . I have a 351M in my 67 GMC corn truck . Roger in Northwestern Wisconsin
I like to use a map gas torch to heat the exhaust ports where the top manifold bolts are then hit them with pb blaster and i can typically get the too ones out without them breaking.. machine shop handles the bottom ones when they break
First off thank you so much for putting out this series of videos on the FE! You truly did an amazing job on them!!! I have a Ford 360 FE that I will be rebuilding next year hopefully. My question for you is this: HOW did you remove the broken off Exhaust bolts from the inside of the heads? Could you please put out a quick video of that process! Thank you again!
hey love the videos. I subscribed about a year or two ago. i was looking for info on 2.5l lima engine in my ford ranger. there wasn't many videos out there on rebuilding it and it really sucks that it ended up not getting done. however I did end up rebuilding mine in preparation for a turbo. right now i'm saving for the parts but the engine is back int the truck and running amazing. a lot of what you teach here can be applied to any engine build. most of it is being aware, careful and understanding what your doing. thanks alot for what your doing.
Exhaust manifold bolts....blue flame wrench ,warm up the manifold, bolts "should" come out without breaking. D3 "TE" = 391, were mostly used in the bigger F trucks.
Back in the day, those of us who raced 390's and 406's started a qt high for oil. The reason was that even a stock pump will fill the valve train and drain the sump to low. You'd cross the line on the big end just as your oil pressure went away ... Oil and oil management is big deal on FE motors used in drag cars ... The bottom ends are stout. Never seen a crank failure. To bad on those big port heads :( Hope you found some others that breath as well? Those hex shafts that drive the oil pumps are prone to breaking at high RPM. We used cut down "Un-Break-O" brand long allen wrenches and cut them to length as replacement pump drives.
If you drill a bigger hole in a Air Fitting and slide a push Rod in and weld or braze together then clean up with grinder it makes a Awesome air blower... Built many... 40 years Auto Body
Heat the mounting ears with an Acetylene torch and you won't break off the top exhaust manifold bolts. MAPP gas or Propane doesn't get hot enough. Never had any trouble with the bottom bolts on a FE, they go into blind holes and don't rust as bad. The top bolts go into a through hole and they rust from both ends. I only broke two of the top bolts on the last FE I tore down, and that was my fault for being in a hurry and not getting them hot enough.
390 is the shit!!! I watched a 390 1973 ford out pull a 454 with nitros 3/4 ton. The 390 ford just walked away with max weight. The 454 just spun all 4 wheels and fagged out when the nitros petered out.
I KNEW YOU HAD TROUBLE WHEN THE INISIDE OF THE ENGINE TURNED BLUE BURNED VALVE , RUSTED VALVES AND CRACKED EXHAUST MANIFOLD . EXTREME HEAT . I BET THE LIFTER VALLEY IS CRACKED .
Great video .. now subscribed to your channel. I have two FEs here (one 390, iron heads, RPM intake and one 428 w/ Eddy heads) and one needs to get built to go in the Cobra (replica, I'm not made of money ;)).. I had quotes of ~$20k to build one over here (using my cores) and there's next to nobody building FEs in the UK so ... now I'm watching videos for tips so I can (try) and take care of everything but the machining myself.. I can feel myself needing to buy more tools, though!
The comments on the seat material are also accurate. Ford did not use a hardened seat until the advent of readily available unleaded fuel in 1972. When they did use a hardened seat it was induction hardened - used an electric arc to heat treat the cast portion of exhaust valve seat in the head. They did not use an insert.
I've rebuilt many FE engines 332 to 427. And had little difficulty removing exhaust studs off bolts. Long before attacking intake manifold, valve gear etc one of the first things to do is spay WD40 on all bolts studs etc and let it do it's soak in job, if I still have trouble a bit of heat out of the gas torch also helps..Try it..
High compression ratio engine 12.25 :1 running on pump fuel If you have ever wanted to use a high compression ratio cylinder head Vortec or Iron Eagle running on pump fuel with a 383 or 408 cubic inch engine without lowering the compression ratio then read on. The following is an example of how to make this work. However, it needs developing and then fine-tuning. If a high compression ratio cylinder head is fitted the engine will not work with pump fuel. However, if the inlet is restricted by fitting a long duration cam with Comp cams 1:3 ratio low lift break in rockers fitted to the inlet valves only the peak volumetric efficiency will be reduced from let's say 100% to 80%. The engine will now run on pump fuel. To give you some idea how much the static compression needs to be raised and the inlet valve governed do the following. Take the performance readings from an engine and look at the static compression ratio and the peak volumetric efficiency at maximum torque. Then fit the Comp cams low lift rockers to the inlet valves only. Do another full throttle torque curve and look at the data to determine how much the volumetric efficiency has gone down. Having started off at a hypothetical 100% volumetric efficiency and reduced it to a hypothetical 80% volumetric efficiency the following explains how much the static compression needs to be increased to make up for the reduction in volumetric efficiency. Then the engine needs to be dyno tested and blue printed to record the correct specification.
I know that this can be done you are correct I ran a ford engine years ago with very high compression and it did work the key was the high turbulence heads and .042 quench area this requires very precise blueprinting to both block and heads the problem is most builders and even shops don't do this correctly that is why I advise ageist it
I had a 375 hp 327 that had 12.5:1 TRW pistons and an Isky solid lifter cam with 300 degrees adv. duration but only .410 lift. It had no problem running on ethyl pump gas, revving 6500 rpm, and taking me 120 mph down the road.
Man I hated watching my 390 wiggle around on the engine stand as I took it apart for a rebuild. It was sketchy! I got all of my exhaust bolts out easy except one. I soaked em with pb blaster for like a week, then heated the area up around the bolt. The studs where the rest of the exhaust bolts on was a different story altogether. One of my pushrods had the same mark halfway down on it. It was just touching the side of the thru hole in the head. I just opened the hole up a hair and it was fine.
Hello, I’m looking for the video where you drill out those broken off exhaust manifold bolts. I’m working on a 1974 Ford F-250 390 Engine that has the four upper exhaust manifold bolts broken off. I’m going to remove the cylinder head and try to drill them out. Than you
wondering about the excess side play on the connecting rods to crank , would that be rod side wear , crank rod journal side wear , or since the crank is .010 undersize do you think the machinist that did the crank maybe cut on the sides of the rod journals ???? Great video .
Can you please make a video of you removing and fixing the threads on a broken exhaust bold on the top ones for this Ford FE. Thank you. Well done on the series on the FE
The comments about the D3TE casting number are reasonably accurate. That is an engineering number and can be useful in determining the "equal to or later" build time. You have an actual manufacturing date on that block - you just need to know how to decode it - not as clear as the normal Ford number. Its cast just below the oil filter mounting adapter, and will be something like "4D17". In this case the "4" indicates year as in 1974, the "D" is an alpha designation for month - April in my example, and the final two numbers represent the day of the month.
SO, here's what you do if your head turns out GOOD... Just cut those exhaust flanges off and I have my buddy weld up a new flange and machine and tap me new ones and I've never had one break!!!
I go with the aftermarket intake as well as aluminum heads. By the time you do all the machine work on the cast iron heads the aluminum heads will cost least an give you better performance.
@@Myvintageiron7512 where are you getting your machine work done? Where I live just the labor to put in the hardened exhaust seats is $200.00 per head. And that is just the start. By the time I had all the work done. Oh yeah it is cheaper.
Hi Myvintageiron7512, can you please do a video on engine blow by, there seems to be lots of differing opinions on this issue. For example is an engine's piston rings worn if it blows a little oil vapour smoke from the PCV valve cover breather when the engine is running but uses no oil or blows smoke from the exhausts? Mine does this and I have a 351-C 4V.
Hello,nice vid dude. Can you help me identify what heads I have on my 460? It's in an RV. This engine runs like a hellcat and purrs like a hitten. It's got "shorty" cast iron headers,an RV grind cam (obviously) and it has " two hump " heads which I know gm used those to indicate hp heads.
I have a 390 with oil in radiator. I hear that the water passage may crack and the fix is a pushrod tube from another engine type. Have you covered this repair on any of your videos? What would you do with oil in the radiator, I've been driving it with no issues ....so far. I'd like to repair it tho. Does the head need to be pulled to do the repair? I know it could be several things. Could be intake gasket also.
my dad was wondering about if the engine he has is a 352, it has a bore size of 4.105 and a stroke size of 3.594 and the engine has the letters c6mea on it, the heads have the letters c6ae and has a letter R on it
Very nice video! tell me dear builder, what were the characteristics and a brief history on the 390? was it a stroked 360? [I think Ford did a 360?] I have had a few 351 Clevelands, a 390 is BIGGER,,lol, interesting to hear what you and others say about this wonderful Ford engine. I say this because, most people seem to go for different Ford engines in rebuilds, I want to know more about the 390, great cube size for fantastic grunt, I WOULD assume.
The FE series engines were used in cars, trucks, buses, and boats, as well as for industrial pumps and other equipment. Ford produced the engine from 1958 and ceased production in 1976. Aftermarket support has continued, with replacement parts as well as many newly engineered and improved components. they all use the same basic block the 352 can be bored out to make the 360 the 390 is a longer stroke with better rods but the same basic block most of them have 352 cast into the front of the block that does not necessarily mean it is a 352 engine it can be quite difficult to ID the engine size in some cases you need to measure the stroke and bore size to figure out what you have the casting numbers could be the same on different cubic inch engines
Thankyou dear Author ! 1 more question of interest is this, If you were to describe the quality between a Ford 390 and a Chev 396, who do you think made a better motor overall with these 2 displacements.? Your reply is of interest to me. Thankyou for your very interesting videos. !!
Have to disagree with you on the intake manifold gasket. I see the end water passages leaking into the neighboring intake ports and down into the lifter valley. Also the exhaust crossover made the gasket leak by its neighboring intake port, causing it to pull oil out of the lifter valley into the intake port. Lots of burnt oil on the gasket. I have seen an improperly sealing intake manifold gasket be the death of many engines.
The reason I'm asking when I bought my Torino it had blown head gaskets and both head's were crack I rebuilt the engine and never checked the thermostat housing it was plugged and I couldn never figure out why it would over heat when I replace the thermostat that's when I found out that it was plugged just found it and that's was my problem with it over heating.
Hi thanks for posting I have a 69 Ford f250 I had the 390 rebuilt by a reputable shop I been working on the truck solid for about 6 months and tried to fire it up yesterday and today it won't start , I looked up how to test the coil and actually had my son holding the number one ,spark plug while out, engine cranking and it shocked him lol . I checked the obvious things I have 6 and some change volts at ign key on at the positive side coil and in start mode it's close to 12v that's the Ford resistor wire side in the negative coil side it's less than a volt at key on and almost or 1v at start mode is this good ??? I thought not but he got shocked holding the plug wire and dropped it so it has spark I pulled the plugs and the rear plugs had a little gas on them the front side plugs can smell gas on them but no wet I'm kind of confused why it won't fire , also I moved distributor left right after each crank and no bite at all ??? Any suggestions ???!
Revisited this video great stuff believe it or not it was the voltage regulator ? Don't know how that would affect spark but it did I since then I'm at a 1 wire 140 alternator.
I am building a 383 stroker engine and now purchased the Proform push rod length checker tool. Do I use this on no.1 cylinder when on top dead center and check intake or exhust valve ? How do I use tool correctly? Please reply. Thanks Richard
If you send me your e-mail, I will send you picture of engine. I used your video on 383 stroker assembly to help me with this build here on mine. Thanks for all your excellent videos. Richard
this reminds me I have an old FE pan it looks like an industrial pan and I found all this out after I blasted it and cleaned/painted it. are they worth anything?
true. also can you build an engine for just about anyone? or do you only do local customers? I want someone to build me a stout 351w for my Granada. any ideas? I like that man of war block with the 9.500" deck and 4 bolt main design. I hear they can be punched out to 468ci. any thoughts on that kind of build?
These FE blocks are huge torque monsters...my 390 was .030 over, balanced, RV cam, 11.0:1 C.R., C4AE heads, Sanderson shorty headers, modified oiling system, stock 2BBL intake w/Holley 500 CFM carb...Wide ratio top loader 4 speed, and a 3.92 DANA rear axle...It would smoke the tires in any gear...It was in a 1952 Ford F-1 pickup.
Very informative video. A very big FE. Fan myself. Kudos.
I’ve got a 390 FE in a work project truck I just picked up. I’m officially the second owner, the beast still has the Widowmaker rims on the Dooley rear end for Pete sake! Those will be some of the first things to go, then this used to be grain truck 1959 f600 Will be a smooth roller with some much-needed updates per safety reasons! I will be watching for sure, thank you for the detailed instructions!
Awesome video. My first build was a 390 FE from my 66' LTD. Brings back a lot of memories!
Just Had To Say! LTD!!!!! ^__^ I have 3 70s all 4dr
@@redneckoleptic1813 im working on 65 galaxie now 390
I am very sorry for your loss. Thank you for taking your time on these videos. It will help many people, including myself.
Thanks
Best FE breakdown video I have seen! Love all the tools.
if i take tape mes for top of piston to top of block what would it be on fe390
Best Fe breakdown on You tube! I'll be watching. Thank you!
Gday mate! I just wanted to say thank you very much. I’m a fitter and turner from Australia. I recently purchased a 63 Thunderbird, of course it turned out to have many many issues, cooling, misinforming etc. I ended up doing multiple checks and when I went to do a compression test the ceramic on spark plug broke. I wasn’t sure if some had fallen into the combustion chamber so I pulled the heads to investigate.
I ended up found that it had two different types on pistons in it, 5 were original and 3 aftermarket. I’m working on finding another 390 block so I can start my own build and also hopefully get the car running enough for a few Sunday drives whilst I build a new one.
Your videos are incredibly helpful and you’re a great educator. Thanks mate.
Nice to see a slow tear down and read the motor as it's disassembled. TV tear downs last about 5 seconds and then they just throw new parts at it without examining the parts. Nice vid.
I don't Own a Ford and probably won't ever but I love watching your build videos so much
Had a 1974 Ford F350 with a 390 on the farm. It worked hard pulling hay wagons too a three axle goose neck grain trailer. (300 bushel that 16800 pounds of grain) And in 1989 it was stolen and at that time it had about 190,000 miles on it and never overhauled! That is what good maintains can do. I used a series three oil in it. (Shell Rotella or Mobil Delvac 15/40 weight) And for those of you that don't know that is diesel oil; I had several diesel tractor and figure if was good enough to run them it would work for the truck. I now use it in ever thing I own including the lawn mowers.
Hey sorry for your loss!!!
Do not use that oil in a newer car engine. Most newer ones must have thinner oil.
Sad to hear of your loss. I am really enjoying this series. It's slow, but very detailed and covers pretty much everything. I can't wait for the next episode.
Yea lots of detail on this one the owner is rebuilding the truck and documenting the entire resto process and so I am being as detailed as I can these videos will most likely be part of the bigger picture
Myvintageiron7512 great video love the details and information in it. What brand of Micrometers would you recommend?
Starrett:
Thank you sir! You are a wealth of knowledge. Just bought a 76 F-250. Engine was rebuilt but never had oil added to it. The 4,7,and 8 pistons had a small spot of rust around them. As you may have guessed, it like locked up. I am currently rectifying the situation and your video has helped me out tremendously. Looking forward to more videos. Keep up the good work!
I’ve just decided to rebuild a 63 tbird engine for a crank no start mysterious situation. I sincerely appreciate the video.
Love watching your videos! Was actually thinking about picking up a F100 a few weeks back and noticed there really was no information about the 390 FE online (couldn't have picked a better time!).
"most of you, if you're watching this, have a pretty good grip on life" - laughed pretty hard at that part
I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of the rebuild!
I’m replying a bit late but there actually is lots of information on these FE engines online, there’s a FE engine forum on ford-trucks.com, fortification.com and various other sites
Awesome video. Thanks. My 428 FE is still running pretty good on the original build. Will keep this video for the day mine quits.
These things can be torque monsters, they did not get the respect they deserve. I built one that was out of a 65 Galaxie and installed it in a 75 F250 Bored .030 over an RV cam, headers duel exhaust, simple little 600 holley. This thing was a beast, would run out of RPM after about 4500 but made a great truck motor. A real wake up from the anemic 360, even gave me decent gas mileage.
Did you notice anything different between the truck heads and the car heads?
I haven't commented so far because I am mesmerized... Awesome to see an expert work
Great video, thanks. I used an engine hoist to remove my intake and heads. Saved my old back. Thanks for the tip on the oil pump, almost bought a HV.
If you clean up your oil drain back holes with a die grinder, you would be able to run a high volume oil pump. I've been building and running FE's for 40 plus years. I admit that I ran them hard. After wiping out my rod and mains from oil starvation, on a 390, I started using Mellings high volume pumps. I never had a oiling problem again.
"There are certain things in life you can guess at, building an engine isn't one of them." I absolutely love that 😂
You are probably one of the smartest people I've ever seen
Always brake those manifold bolts, really sucks when they brake when you don't have plans to pull the engine. Great vid love the whole FE family. My first car was a 58 ford custom 300 with a 390 and a C6
Sorry for your loss.
The Phillips head bolts on the cam plate are a #4 Phillips, fairly inexpensive and will fit in a cordless impact. Fastenal or Grainger usually carries them. They're not needed often, but are nice when you do need them.
International has those type bolts in a few places on their V8's
Great video! Thank you for doing this. I have a 1972 F250 with the 360.
nice!
I've seen guys heat the head/exhaust manifold bolt areas with a torch, then flash cool them with a water hose. Bolts usually come right out.
Wow, well first let me say my condolences for your loss. Second, Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to make a "detailed" video of this teardown. Some of the results made me a bit angry at my son because when I gave him the truck it was a pretty new rebuild so the damage was all on him. Overheating, bent rods, cracked everything, run hard etc... but since the video was almost an hour long, it gave me pause to forgive him. (Chuckle). I can't wait to use some of your footage on my channel. You are amazingly knowledgable and I again feel very fortunate that the motor is now in your expert care. I know I would not have gotten this level of expertise and knowledge just anywhere. Thank you again. I look forward to the next video. Sincerely, iROBODUDE
Thanks Don't be too upset it's actually in pretty decant shape I have seen much worse
i love it. thank you. I still have a couple of Fe 's that I like to rebuild . I did one back in 1990. out of a 66 mercury punched it out 040 it was set up to put in my 77 high boy F250 . Pull a trailer . I sub d your channel . I love the V6 . I have a 351M in my 67 GMC corn truck . Roger in Northwestern Wisconsin
Sorry about the loss. My condolences. Have a safe trip.
I like to use a map gas torch to heat the exhaust ports where the top manifold bolts are then hit them with pb blaster and i can typically get the too ones out without them breaking.. machine shop handles the bottom ones when they break
First off thank you so much for putting out this series of videos on the FE! You truly did an amazing job on them!!! I have a Ford 360 FE that I will be rebuilding next year hopefully. My question for you is this: HOW did you remove the broken off Exhaust bolts from the inside of the heads? Could you please put out a quick video of that process! Thank you again!
Common problem.
Great part 2. Sorry about your loss.They're up there with the Man watching over your family.
Going onto part 3.
hey love the videos. I subscribed about a year or two ago. i was looking for info on 2.5l lima engine in my ford ranger. there wasn't many videos out there on rebuilding it and it really sucks that it ended up not getting done. however I did end up rebuilding mine in preparation for a turbo. right now i'm saving for the parts but the engine is back int the truck and running amazing. a lot of what you teach here can be applied to any engine build. most of it is being aware, careful and understanding what your doing. thanks alot for what your doing.
Exhaust manifold bolts....blue flame wrench ,warm up the manifold, bolts "should" come out without breaking. D3 "TE" = 391, were mostly used in the bigger F trucks.
Sorry for your loss!
Thank you for the info about laying the crank down. We sure do like all of the great info you share.
THX
Back in the day, those of us who raced 390's and 406's started a qt high for oil. The reason was that even a stock pump will fill the valve train and drain the sump to low. You'd cross the line on the big end just as your oil pressure went away ... Oil and oil management is big deal on FE motors used in drag cars ... The bottom ends are stout. Never seen a crank failure. To bad on those big port heads :( Hope you found some others that breath as well? Those hex shafts that drive the oil pumps are prone to breaking at high RPM. We used cut down "Un-Break-O" brand long allen wrenches and cut them to length as replacement pump drives.
Loved watching thanks for showing telling, well see ya next time see ya bye bye.
THX
Lots of good info and great explanations/terms. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Man this is great! Picked up a '69 F-350 with a 390 and the engine is probably in need of a rebuild. Hopefully I have the medium risers.
cool
Myvintageiron7512 this is the information I've been looking for! Can't wait for the other videos!
If you drill a bigger hole in a Air Fitting and slide a push Rod in and weld or braze together then clean up with grinder it makes a Awesome air blower... Built many... 40 years Auto Body
Great video. Very well done. You knowledge is impressive.
Thanks
Another great video! Thank you. Sorry for your loss!
THX
Thanks as always for the video...sorry about your loss..God Bless...Family first Brother take care...
THX
Great Video as Usual MVI !
You're a Class Act ! Sorry for your Family's loss !
Liked/Subscribed !
Heat the mounting ears with an Acetylene torch and you won't break off the top exhaust manifold bolts. MAPP gas or Propane doesn't get hot enough. Never had any trouble with the bottom bolts on a FE, they go into blind holes and don't rust as bad. The top bolts go into a through hole and they rust from both ends. I only broke two of the top bolts on the last FE I tore down, and that was my fault for being in a hurry and not getting them hot enough.
I agree heat does help but some still break
390 is the shit!!! I watched a 390 1973 ford out pull a 454 with nitros 3/4 ton. The 390 ford just walked away with max weight. The 454 just spun all 4 wheels and fagged out when the nitros petered out.
I KNEW YOU HAD TROUBLE WHEN THE INISIDE OF THE ENGINE TURNED BLUE BURNED VALVE , RUSTED VALVES AND CRACKED EXHAUST MANIFOLD . EXTREME HEAT . I BET THE LIFTER VALLEY IS CRACKED .
Great video .. now subscribed to your channel. I have two FEs here (one 390, iron heads, RPM intake and one 428 w/ Eddy heads) and one needs to get built to go in the Cobra (replica, I'm not made of money ;)).. I had quotes of ~$20k to build one over here (using my cores) and there's next to nobody building FEs in the UK so ... now I'm watching videos for tips so I can (try) and take care of everything but the machining myself.. I can feel myself needing to buy more tools, though!
The comments on the seat material are also accurate. Ford did not use a hardened seat until the advent of readily available unleaded fuel in 1972. When they did use a hardened seat it was induction hardened - used an electric arc to heat treat the cast portion of exhaust valve seat in the head. They did not use an insert.
Man this was great to watch. Learned a lot.
I've rebuilt many FE engines 332 to 427. And had little difficulty removing exhaust studs off bolts. Long before attacking intake manifold, valve gear etc one of the first things to do is spay WD40 on all bolts studs etc and let it do it's soak in job, if I still have trouble a bit of heat out of the gas torch also helps..Try it..
I was wondering about that too. It would make sense to at least try some heat on it rather than just resign yourself to breaking them off.
I tried both. Dld not make any difference. 3 broken bolts all on top.
if you use a regular 1/2 impact on exhaust manifolds, you wont break nearly as many bolts off... it shocks them loose instead of twisting them off
you will break just as many on an FE engine
High compression ratio engine 12.25 :1 running on pump fuel
If you have ever wanted to use a high compression ratio cylinder head Vortec or Iron Eagle running on pump fuel with a 383 or 408 cubic inch engine without lowering the compression ratio then read on. The following is an example of how to make this work. However, it needs developing and then fine-tuning. If a high compression ratio cylinder head is fitted the engine will not work with pump fuel. However, if the inlet is restricted by fitting a long duration cam with Comp cams 1:3 ratio low lift break in rockers fitted to the inlet valves only the peak volumetric efficiency will be reduced from let's say 100% to 80%. The engine will now run on pump fuel. To give you some idea how much the static compression needs to be raised and the inlet valve governed do the following. Take the performance readings from an engine and look at the static compression ratio and the peak volumetric efficiency at maximum torque. Then fit the Comp cams low lift rockers to the inlet valves only. Do another full throttle torque curve and look at the data to determine how much the volumetric efficiency has gone down. Having started off at a hypothetical 100% volumetric efficiency and reduced it to a hypothetical 80% volumetric efficiency the following explains how much the static compression needs to be increased to make up for the reduction in volumetric efficiency. Then the engine needs to be dyno tested and blue printed to record the correct specification.
I know that this can be done you are correct I ran a ford engine years ago with very high compression and it did work the key was the high turbulence heads and .042 quench area this requires very precise blueprinting to both block and heads the problem is most builders and even shops don't do this correctly that is why I advise ageist it
I had a 375 hp 327 that had 12.5:1 TRW pistons and an Isky solid lifter cam with 300 degrees adv. duration but only .410 lift. It had no problem running on ethyl pump gas, revving 6500 rpm, and taking me 120 mph down the road.
Man I hated watching my 390 wiggle around on the engine stand as I took it apart for a rebuild. It was sketchy!
I got all of my exhaust bolts out easy except one. I soaked em with pb blaster for like a week, then heated the area up around the bolt. The studs where the rest of the exhaust bolts on was a different story altogether.
One of my pushrods had the same mark halfway down on it. It was just touching the side of the thru hole in the head. I just opened the hole up a hair and it was fine.
If you are watching this.....you gotta pretty good grip on life.
Wow I'm learning so much from this. Thanks for the excellent video!
Glad it was helpful!
yep have mine to do twisted the oil pump drive shaft ,nothing come out hope the crank and rods are machinable , old engine a no mileage .
Hello, I’m looking for the video where you drill out those broken off exhaust manifold bolts. I’m working on a 1974 Ford F-250 390 Engine that has the four upper exhaust manifold bolts broken off. I’m going to remove the cylinder head and try to drill them out. Than you
wondering about the excess side play on the connecting rods to crank , would that be rod side wear , crank rod journal side wear , or since the crank is .010 undersize do you think the machinist that did the crank maybe cut on the sides of the rod journals ???? Great video .
Hard to say it could be wear or it could have been set up that way need to do more inspection
Would it've helped to enlarge the drain back holes? You're in the engine anyway so why not.😊 Improvements are always welcome
Great point!
Great video. Sorry for your loss
THX
This is the guy I want working on my engine.
Can you please make a video of you removing and fixing the threads on a broken exhaust bold on the top ones for this Ford FE. Thank you. Well done on the series on the FE
I'll see if I have a head with broken bolts around here
The comments about the D3TE casting number are reasonably accurate. That is an engineering number and can be useful in determining the "equal to or later" build time. You have an actual manufacturing date on that block - you just need to know how to decode it - not as clear as the normal Ford number. Its cast just below the oil filter mounting adapter, and will be something like "4D17". In this case the "4" indicates year as in 1974, the "D" is an alpha designation for month - April in my example, and the final two numbers represent the day of the month.
time for some new aluminum heads?
smartest way and cheapest way = well said and a set of extractors for the manifolds !
sorry for your loss , keep on keepin on
Thanks
SO, here's what you do if your head turns out GOOD... Just cut those exhaust flanges off and I have my buddy weld up a new flange and machine and tap me new ones and I've never had one break!!!
In high school i rebuilt my 390 from my 69 FORD LTD and that intake weighed like 60 pounds.
Yeah a really advisable upgrade is an aluminum intake
sorry for your loss I think what cracked the heads is over torqued or wrong spark plugs
slaman nas you obviously dont know anything about engines then, best pay someone to work on yours
I have a 71 f250 with a 360, do I or should I convert it over to a 390 ? is the cost worth the added upgrade ?
I go with the aftermarket intake as well as aluminum heads. By the time you do all the machine work on the cast iron heads the aluminum heads will cost least an give you better performance.
No way the Aluminum after market heads are way more
@@Myvintageiron7512 where are you getting your machine work done? Where I live just the labor to put in the hardened exhaust seats is $200.00 per head. And that is just the start. By the time I had all the work done. Oh yeah it is cheaper.
Great video Gurn!
Good video man, the best.
THX
Hi Myvintageiron7512, can you please do a video on engine blow by, there seems to be lots of differing opinions on this issue. For example is an engine's piston rings worn if it blows a little oil vapour smoke from the PCV valve cover breather when the engine is running but uses no oil or blows smoke from the exhausts? Mine does this and I have a 351-C 4V.
Hello,nice vid dude. Can you help me identify what heads I have on my 460? It's in an RV. This engine runs like a hellcat and purrs like a hitten. It's got "shorty" cast iron headers,an RV grind cam (obviously) and it has " two hump " heads which I know gm used those to indicate hp heads.
Good video. Lots of tips.
This is well done! I’m thinking this would be very similar to my FE352 from my ‘67 F100? Thanks
Great vid.
Oil restrictors work for keeping the oil from stacking on the top end.
How hot does it have to get for heads to crack and head gasket to go
awesome vid and sorry for your loss
THX
will u port match that intake lots of meat there
I have a 390 with oil in radiator. I hear that the water passage may crack and the fix is a pushrod tube from another engine type. Have you covered this repair on any of your videos? What would you do with oil in the radiator, I've been driving it with no issues ....so far. I'd like to repair it tho. Does the head need to be pulled to do the repair? I know it could be several things. Could be intake gasket also.
my dad was wondering about if the engine he has is a 352, it has a bore size of 4.105 and a stroke size of 3.594 and the engine has the letters c6mea on it, the heads have the letters c6ae and has a letter R on it
"Get that Turkey outta there!" ;)
Very nice video! tell me dear builder, what were the characteristics and a brief history on the 390? was it a stroked 360? [I think Ford did a 360?] I have had a few 351 Clevelands, a 390 is BIGGER,,lol, interesting to hear what you and others say about this wonderful Ford engine. I say this because, most people seem to go for different Ford engines in rebuilds, I want to know more about the 390, great cube size for fantastic grunt, I WOULD assume.
Buy a book called Ford Performance by Pat Ganahl if you want to know the differences in thee engines.
The FE series engines were used in cars, trucks, buses, and boats, as well as for industrial pumps and other equipment. Ford produced the engine from 1958 and ceased production in 1976. Aftermarket support has continued, with replacement parts as well as many newly engineered and improved components. they all use the same basic block the 352 can be bored out to make the 360 the 390 is a longer stroke with better rods but the same basic block most of them have 352 cast into the front of the block that does not necessarily mean it is a 352 engine it can be quite difficult to ID the engine size in some cases you need to measure the stroke and bore size to figure out what you have the casting numbers could be the same on different cubic inch engines
Thankyou dear Author ! 1 more question of interest is this, If you were to describe the quality between a Ford 390 and a Chev 396, who do you think made a better motor overall with these 2 displacements.? Your reply is of interest to me. Thankyou for your very interesting videos. !!
Good video how much of the water passage being plugged in the intake manifold would cause the heads to crack. Sorry about your loss .
Hard to say it did not help matters that's for sure
whats a good block to use to built a hot 450-500 hp performance 390?.
also how can i identify such block?
Talking about hot stuff. I cut ujoints out of a front axel. Kicked it over on drain grate. Office guy pickes it up for a 1/2 second. 😢
My condolence...
Thanks for the video!
THX
Will you have any upcoming videos on a 454 big block Chevy build?
I have a 396 build I did a couple years ago it's pretty much the same thing and I am doing a Gen Vi 502 right now also very close to the same thing
Myvintageiron7512 Okay cool. Thanks for the info.
Have to disagree with you on the intake manifold gasket. I see the end water passages leaking into the neighboring intake ports and down into the lifter valley. Also the exhaust crossover made the gasket leak by its neighboring intake port, causing it to pull oil out of the lifter valley into the intake port. Lots of burnt oil on the gasket. I have seen an improperly sealing intake manifold gasket be the death of many engines.
I'm enjoying the video. What UTI campus did you teach? I too went to UTI years ago.
But I like the video man keep up the good work
The reason I'm asking when I bought my Torino it had blown head gaskets and both head's were crack I rebuilt the engine and never checked the thermostat housing it was plugged and I couldn never figure out why it would over heat when I replace the thermostat that's when I found out that it was plugged just found it and that's was my problem with it over heating.
Yep if the coolant cannot flow it won't
cool
You didn't replace tje stat and you actually admit that? lol
Hi thanks for posting I have a 69 Ford f250 I had the 390 rebuilt by a reputable shop I been working on the truck solid for about 6 months and tried to fire it up yesterday and today it won't start , I looked up how to test the coil and actually had my son holding the number one ,spark plug while out, engine cranking and it shocked him lol .
I checked the obvious things I have 6 and some change volts at ign key on at the positive side coil and in start mode it's close to 12v that's the Ford resistor wire side in the negative coil side it's less than a volt at key on and almost or 1v at start mode is this good ??? I thought not but he got shocked holding the plug wire and dropped it so it has spark I pulled the plugs and the rear plugs had a little gas on them the front side plugs can smell gas on them but no wet I'm kind of confused why it won't fire , also I moved distributor left right after each crank and no bite at all ??? Any suggestions ???!
Revisited this video great stuff believe it or not it was the voltage regulator ? Don't know how that would affect spark but it did I since then I'm at a 1 wire 140 alternator.
I am building a 383 stroker engine and now purchased the Proform push rod length checker tool. Do I use this on no.1 cylinder when on top dead center and check intake or exhust valve ?
How do I use tool correctly? Please reply.
Thanks
Richard
use on both int and exhaust when the piston is at TDC compression
Thank you
If you send me your e-mail, I will send you picture of engine. I used your video on 383 stroker assembly to help me with this build here on mine. Thanks for all your excellent videos. Richard
Like the 390 FE videos. Are you in Phoenix? Looking for people with knowledge to share here
Yes Phoenix area
this reminds me I have an old FE pan it looks like an industrial pan and I found all this out after I blasted it and cleaned/painted it. are they worth anything?
if you can find someone that needs it
true. also can you build an engine for just about anyone? or do you only do local customers? I want someone to build me a stout 351w for my Granada. any ideas? I like that man of war block with the 9.500" deck and 4 bolt main design. I hear they can be punched out to 468ci. any thoughts on that kind of build?
The belt sander?
what would stroke be on 390 from top piston to top of block if i mes it with tape
is the head fixable? say it was the last pair on earth, can it be fixed. I seen a product on Jay Leno's site about stiching metal. Could that be used?
Yes you could have em furnace welded nut it is expensive and we can get another set for less money
Thankyou for responding back. N keep on doing this. Your spreading the RIGHT knowledge and how to do it right. Thanks again for what you do!