Ralph, Yes I love the Ford FE engines and am lucky to have a few 427's. They do very from year to year and even month to month ( sometimes) in regards to what Ford decided to do to them for improvements.
One thing I always used to do when I Prime Motors make sure the oils flown down up every pushrod or rocker arm shaft even the old antique Chevys we used to squeeze off the tube with oil with drain back to the head for oil pressure to the Rock arm
Have a top oiler 427 marine engine that I converted to side oiler for the 3 center mains, old trick you drill out the side caps and bolts to 3/8 then tap the bolt to take a pipe tap oil line fed from oil filter adapter. Used it many times helps a bit. Poor mans side oiler. Keep up the good work, not to many FE anymore.
Reid, Great idea. Takes some patience and skill but us motorheads must have both. I think i screwed up, in the video, by mentioning how I shimmed up the oil relief valve spring. In hindsight I ended up with too much oil pressure (105psi) and should have left the spring alone without shimming it with the allen bolt. I believe Ford had it designed to relieve pressure at 80psi which would of been fine. I'm pulling the trans tomorrow, to get at the relief valve and correct my mistake.
Had to put plugs with holes drilled in them to run a solid lifter cam in my 428cj. High pressure/high volume oil pump provided plenty of oil pressure. Thanks for the info btw.
Ken you are so correct. I should have covered that too. It is very important to restrict some of the oil flow to the lifters. Ford actually made 2 types of solid lifters that did a great job of restricting about 90% of the oil flow past the lifters. Both styles did not have a wide groove around the outside middle of the lifter that normally lets the oil flow past the lifters. One was a hollow shell type and the other looked like a hydraulic lifter but the center section was held in by a clip and would not move. Ken I realize you took care of the oiling the best way. Just thought I would provide the lifter info for others. Not sure if Ford, or anyone, still makes this type of lifter. Tom T
Not many of those manifolds out there, especially with the timing cover and special gear drive. Very rare. Good to hear there's another crazy Ford FE guy out there with a blown engine.
Great video Tom. I found that those cork manifold gaskets soak up oil and weep. I also ground oil drains where you have, built up Permatex oil dams, but those cork gaskets keep on weeping, very slightly though. This is my first FE build.
I bought a new 427 engine block from Ford in the 1970's. it included a, "soft" plug to put somewhere in the block to use it for the 1968 hydraulic lifter camshaft. Without the plug, the oiling was like the solid lifter models. I'm not sure where in the block the plug would go though.
Jim, The 427's came 2 ways as far as lifter oiling. Drilled for hydraulics or not drilled for solids. If your block is drilled for hydraulic lifters you will need to block or at least restrict at least 90% of the oil flow through the lifter bores IF you are going to run a solid lifter cam. Is your block drilled for hydraulics? You will see a good sized hole going through each lifter bore if it is drilled. Okay, if it is drilled AND you are going to run a solid lifter cam you need to block the lifter gallery's. There are 2 plugs, leading to these gallery's, at the rear of the lifter gallery. You can do this several ways. The original way was to pull the pipe plugs out and tap further down in the 2" hole, for a smaller pipe plug to block the oil flow to the lifters, then put the plugs you took out back into their original spot. Not easy. 2nd way is to pull the plug and force a round rod into the bottom of the hole. This rod would be about an inch long. You can use drill bits to check for the correct tight fit size and either cut the bottom of the drill bit and use it as your plug or locate a metal rod, the correct diameter, and pound it in. Be sure to put the original pipe plug back in. Both these ways block 100% oif the oil flow to the lifters. The way I choose to do it was to determine the hole diameter at the bottom of the hole using drill bits. I'm at work, I have the numbers at home. Whatever that diameter was I choose to use a rod, about 1" long and about .010 (thousandths) smaller than the hole diameter. I did want some oil flow through the lifter bores to lube the cam and bores. Some say good idea and some say not needed. I wanted some oil there. I then put a nice 1-1/2" long spring on top of the rod to hold it in place and then ran the pipe plug back in to keep all under pressure. Worked great and I can remove the plug easily with a magnet if I ever want to run a hydraulic cam. If you need exact sizes, measurements and part numbers let me know. I got all from McMaster-Carr and very inexpensive. Tom T
@@tomtucker7571 This was a 427 engine block bought new from Ford in the 1970's. It was a replacement block for both the solid lifter and the hydraulic lifter engine blocks. Whatever way it was drilled, it came with a soft plug so it could be used for both. The replacement block drilling may not have matched either original drillings. It was the only 427 replacement engine block available at the time I ordered it and it could be used for 1967 or 1968 engine block replacement. Ford kept replacement parts available for 10 years after the last year a part was used, but they weren't always exactly the same as the originals.
Jim, The only way you will know, if any of my suggestions will work, is to check the lifter bores. I'm quite sure, from what you're saying, the lifter bores are drilled. Do you see a hole/passage going through each one of them? You should also see, on top of the block, at the rear of the lifter valley 2 allen headed pipe plugs. They are angled down toward the right and left lifter gallery. If so then decide what you want to do depending on which type cam you will be using.
@@tomtucker7571 I no longer have the engine block. I never built it. I bought one engine block and one dual carb intake new from Ford in the mid-1970's. The intake I wanted had a -A part number, but the one available was a replacement part with a -B part number. The engine block was the only 427 block available and sold as a replacement for both solid lifter and hydraulic lifter models. I don't recall the instructions for the included soft plug, but it was to change the type of lifters used in the engine. That was the way Ford sold the replacement 427 engine blocks in the 1970's. I think the plug was to divert more oil for using hydraulic lifters, but it is possible it was to restrict oil for solid lifters.
@@tomtucker7571 I put a solid cam into my 390 "hydraulic cam" block without restricting those galleries, and runs ok and plenty of oil pressure. It just means there's a bit extra oil going by the solid lifters and onto the solid cam.
The 427, 428, 390 are all in the same "FE" family so the basic blocks are the same with the 427 receiving some special enhancements. The 427 has crossbolted mains on #2, 3 and4. The majority of the 427's are side oilers where the 428's were not. Most of the mods, in the video, will apply to the 428 except for the oil relief valve at the rear of the block. 428's do not have one there. The only other oddities may have to do with how the oil gets to the rockers. The 427 side oiler needs grooved cam journals on #2 and #4. The 428 does not .If you're building the engine leave it on the engine stand, no heads on yet, and drive the oil pump with a drill motor or air ratchet and be sure oil comes up through the 2 small holes, at the deck of the block, that feed the rockers.
@@tomtucker7571 Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. I'm building a 428 now for my 427 Cobra and looking for needs for the FE. I'm wanting a mechanical roller. Any advise on who's rollers and cam core ? Please email me when you can. Patty550@windstream.net
@@427HISS You'll love the motor and don't worry you don't need the side oiler version. Okay, cam and mechanical rollers. I have had some major headaches with this part of my build.. I'm waiting for my roller lifters to come back. The cam manufacturer is changing the top of my lifter to work with a pushrod that has a 3/8 ball on the bottom. I was told that my lifter would work with 5/16 or 3/8 ball. It did not. I should have used a pushrod with a 5/16 ball, which would have let the pushrod settle down into the lifter a decent amount.. When you get to that point be sure to find out what size bottom ball to run on your pushrod. I did ask but the young man at the company told me either one would work fine. Not true. Since I already had pushrods with the 3/8 ball I used them. Didn't work. I won't say the name of the company. Another lesson to be learned. Just triple check everything.
@@427HISS I won't get the modified lifters back, and cam, until next week (i hope). I'd prefer to not say the brand. They are working with me to solve the problem.
Thank you. I'm not the sharpest on things like posting a video. I will give it another try. Restricting the oil to the lifters should be covered with a couple of different ways of doing it.
Great video Sir.... what year is your 427? Is it a medium riser? My parents had a 63 galaxy 500 427 4 speed transmission. I grew up working on that engine. Points and condenser days....😁
The 427 block in the video is a service block '67 or '68 I would guess. It was a bare block to start with so medium riser heads would work fine. Before the blower went on I was running High Riser heads with Hilborn 8 stack injection. As we all know Ford made it tough to tell what year and was constantly making small changes to the block. The 427 I'm working on now has a groove cut behind the 2nd and 4th cam journals which I haven't run into before. No need for a cam that is grooved. Just another change.
Loved the video, it was just straight no nonsense info a lot of which was helpful to me personally! I have a 63 427 in my 69 Mustang as a daily driver. I'm sure you already know, the stock valve lash spec is .025 cold, and that's, well, a whole lot by modern standards and pretty hard on the valvetrain. When I look at all the aftermarket cams for the 427, valve lash is way tighter. What are your thoughts on tightening down the lash to .018 or .020? I don't want to burn up an exhaust valve, but as a stock headed engine, the lash doesn't seem to move much hot/cold and I suspect Ford was just being awfully conservative on the old Police Interceptor cam design.
I guess I should mention I've checked around online, but as you've also undoubtedly found, for every person who really knows what they're talking about when it comes to the 427, there are 20 more who claim to know, haha.
Hello, I run .021" cold lash in the race car but when it heats up I end up with close to .025" because of the aluminum heads. I think you're fine to run the lash a little tighter but I would only go a few thousands tighter (.002-.003"). You're dealing with the opening and closing ramps on the cam lobes. To be really safe I would direct that question at one of the cam companies. They have good tech departments. Okay. I don't know how many will read this correction to my 427 video regarding the side oiler relief valve. I mentioned how it was always good to run a shim( i used an allen bolt) inside the relief spring to raise the pressure at which the relief valve opens. Not necessary. My oil pressure was too high, 105psi with 5-20wt race oil, because of a miscue with my bearing clearances. I pulled the trans this weekend to get at the relief valve. I pulled the allen bolt shim out and the oil pressure dropped to 83psi when I fired it back up. I realize now there is no need to run 100psi and the shim will not raise oil pressure if it is to low. For instance if you have 40psi that's what you have. I you have over 80psi then the relief valve will do its job and open to keep the pressure at 80. Now I can run 20-50wt oil and hopefully not have oil leaking past the pan and valve cover gaskets. Tom T
@@tomtucker7571 Hey Tom, thanks for the info. My top oiler has the oil pressure relief in a different spot. The engine builder added a machined piece of aluminum into the bore with the spring and oil pressure went to the cusp of 120psi on the dyno run of my engine. I pulled that spacer out. My dad said the engine seemed to bypass at 105psi according to his oil pressure gauge back in the 60s. I run 5w30 oil in mine and it idles around 80psi cold, eventually dropping to about 25psi when nearing 200* sitting in traffic with the cooling fans running. Crusing down the road at 2,000rpm at operating temperature is usually about 75psi. I'd heard there were different springs people sometimes swapped into the blocks to decrease pressure a bit too. So much info and so much of the info is of questionable truth out there haha
@@randomologist77 Hello. I finished my oil pressure tests yesterday. I mentioned, in my previous reply, that I pulled the shim out of the oil pressure relief spring and the oil pressure dropped from 105psi to about 83 psi. I drained the 5/20wt oil yesterday and put in 20/50wt oil. The pressure stayed right at 83ish pounds, just as it should have. I ran the engine for 7 or 8 minutes and it stayed close to 80psi. Water temp got up to about 180. I'm sure if I was running the car at the dragstrip the heat would be much higher and the oil pressure would have dropped some. With the 20/50wt oil my mysterious oil leaks through the gaskets disappeared. Yeah.
@@tomtucker7571 Nice!!! Sorry, didn't see your reply. I'm definitely going to take a look at my relief valve. Finding spring replacements is a nightmare these days, but I sure wouldn't mind seeing a little lower pressure. I'll have to take a look and see if mine has the shim. As a heads up, I found that Crane Cams (now Comp Cams) makes a blueprint cam for the early 427s like mine. The specs on it show 0.018" on the intake and 0.022" on the exhaust for recommended lash. I'm planning on doing that or maybe a hair tighter on the exhaust.
I have a hot Rod Magazine 1975 I believe. Master 428 CJ engine builder Carl Holbrook. He ran a 1969 mustang convertible superstock 428 CJ. You can still find the magazine on eBay probably. I read the article when I was in high school around 1979 and I was just as impressed as the editor after reading it. I was talking to an engine builder and I told him more or less every engine has its quirks and tricks you have to know. I prefer working with an engine builder who specializes and Ford engines. He did not agree with me. I did not agree with him. Great advice thanks.
Thanks for the thoughts. Yes the Ford FE has lots of quirks especially the 427. Ford loved to make changes to their engines and the 427 saw most of them since it was their engine used in racing. Many of their changes had no part number updates or changes. Since that video I have built a virgin 427. I had saved a brand new short block for 40 years. Ford cut a full groove behind the cam bearings, in this block, to make sure oil got up to the rockers. The other 427 blocks, I have, don't have this groove. This way you don't need to be sure the 2nd and 4th cam bearings have the extra hole in them to feed the rockers. This is important since most FE cam bearings don't have the extra holes drilled in them. I saw your other request on the '69 Mustang. Sounds like a good idea to do a video on it.
Tom Tucker . Just curious have you seen any Dyno results on the stock 427FE single carb, dual carb and the other dual quad racing intake? I personally think they were under rated at 425 hp single carb. I think for 428 cobra jet was actually around 400 hp?
@@surreallife777 I have read many articles on the 427's and 428's, CZcams spots too. The stock 428 was rated at a very meek 335HP. Probably was closer to 400. The 427 articles I have read (and still have) all vary between 450 and 550+HP depending on the modifications made to the engine. With the right parts the 428 can be right there too. Just pay attention to good rods and rod bolts etc. As you know they are both FE's with virtually the same cubes. 427 bigger bore smaller stroke. 428 just the opposite. With the smaller bore the 428 was a little safer/better for street use since the bore spacing between the bores was better with the smaller bore. I really think I'm somewhere between 700 and 800HP with the Blower, Injection and bigger/better heads and Cam. Good luck, Tom
So I'm writing an article on the 427 used in the Lemans GT40's and outside of the basic info on the engine / seeing as you've built these, what strengths do you think that mill had that aren't well known
Hello, I think one feature that adds a LOT of strength is the extended lower block that is a good 3 inches below the centerline of the crankshaft. This adds a rigidity to the block and allows the middle 3 main caps to have extra bolts come in from each side. Most 427's are also side oilers which is great for endurance races but not so necessary for street use or drag racing. It is still the sought after block though. Another feature that is overlooked is the shaft mounted rocker arms. This creates stability to each rocker. You will see many engines that do not come that way from the factory but are converted to this by high performance head manufacturers. One last thing. There are many manufacturers of high performance aluminum and cast iron blocks and heads now. This was not the case about 10 years ago. Cross bolted mains, great oiling and superior strength plus high flowing aluminum heads. I hope this helps, Tom T
@@tomtucker7571 thanks it does help very much. It's cool to see the reliability strategies from 50 years ago like the cross bolted main capss, because the LS crowd thinks GM came up with that in 1998 when they released the ls1 (hell that's what I thought) and how that in addition to extending the blocks skirt gives the bottom end enough strength to handle ridiculous amounts of power, or like you said the priority of lubricating the crank first ups the reliability if say your 7 liter needs to run a 24 hr endurance race. Anyway thanks for the response it's much appreciated
I tore apart a 390 I got from a guy te hat said he couldn't get it to run right and it was free so I took it. When I tore it apart I noticed he had install the rear freeze plug backwards and the cam gear was misaligned from the cam being too far forward. Did you drill the oil hole from the pump to the filter port with a 7/16 drill bit?
James, I cleaned up the passage. This was a year ago and I forgot the exact drill bit size but I did enlarge the passage a little. I've always been fortunate to have 427's and their passage may be a little larger to start with. Tom
@@tomtucker7571 I found a 70s model fire truck and pulled the full sump oil pan and the rear pickup tube so now I run 3 gallons of oil, windage tray. The first stroker i put together only made 4 passes and threw the rods out. I didnt think the front sump pan would be an issue until my truck got into the 11s but apparently ford released a memo back in the 1970s warning about drag racing with a front sump pan.
Fine to reuse them if they're in good shape. The only way to add compression would be to buy new pistons with a bigger/taller dome on the top of the piston. If you choose to do this don't go past 10 to 1 compression for street use.
One thing I was told is for high rpm endurance racing Ford reduced the crank shaft diameter and I think they were using different bearings possibly Chevy bearings I’m not sure. Is this true?
I read the long article you attached comparing steel cranks to iron cranks, friction, strength etc etc. Interesting but like he said it is a lot of thoughts put together from several articles. I think if you keep the RPM within reason, maybe 6500 tops, you don't need to worry about different journal sizes. I run my car/Ranchero at 7200 but am thinking of backing the rev limiter down a little just to be safe. I do have one of the best (and very rare) Ford steel cranks. If you do feel a need to change you will find that many of the stroker kits (Crank, Rods, Pistons) are the same price as buying a stock stroke (3.78) Ford or aftermarket forged steel crank and that's if you can find one. Good luck.
Hello Tom Tucker, I have 1968 428, has 1963 6090 J heads, pi aluminum intake, what all do I need to build this to its best Daly driver with extra power
William, The 69 Mustang in my video has a 428 CJ motor and I also used the police interceptor intake manifold. Just pay close attention to matching the manifold ports to the heads. As far as a good street engine I would suggest a nice low RPM cam. I went overboard with the cam so it takes a little RPM to get the power up and loves to drink gas. I'm still happy with it because I like the rough (mean) idle. The usual hop up things work like headers etc etc but with the right cam this motor will be very strong.
You said the plunger goes in first, in the oil galley in the rear if the block. Then you say the spring goes in first. Which is it? I saw which it was, but you needed to be gigged on that.
You are right, I did misspeak. What you see me doing is correct. Spring 1st, plunger 2nd with the narrow rod facing out of the hole so the threaded plug contacts the rod and pushes the plunger in against the spring.
The stroke is the same, 3.78 on both engines.. The 427 has a much larger bore. You cannot bore the 390 out to the 427 bore. The cylinder walls would be to thin. You can bore it .030" over or maybe a tad more and end up with about 400 cubic inches. The two blocks share almost all parts. Crank, cam, heads etc. Just be careful with the heads. The rare medium riser heads have the valves spaced further apart and the valves may contact the cylinder walls. There are many good aftermarket aluminum heads or just go with your 390 heads. They can be worked on to flow better. Tom
Thanks for your honestly and assist in helping others learn about many of the pitfalls. I appreciate this video greatly.
Ralph, Yes I love the Ford FE engines and am lucky to have a few 427's.
They do very from year to year and even month to month ( sometimes) in regards to what Ford decided to do to them for improvements.
One thing I always used to do when I Prime Motors make sure the oils flown down up every pushrod or rocker arm shaft even the old antique Chevys we used to squeeze off the tube with oil with drain back to the head for oil pressure to the Rock arm
Thank you for the great tips! Also love the comments too good info there as well!
Have a top oiler 427 marine engine that I converted to side oiler for the 3 center mains, old trick you drill out the side caps and bolts to 3/8 then tap the bolt to take a pipe tap oil line fed from oil filter adapter. Used it many times helps a bit. Poor mans side oiler. Keep up the good work, not to many FE anymore.
Reid, Great idea. Takes some patience and skill but us motorheads must have both. I think i screwed up, in the video, by mentioning how I shimmed up the oil relief valve spring. In hindsight I ended up with too much oil pressure (105psi) and should have left the spring alone without shimming it with the allen bolt. I believe Ford had it designed to relieve pressure at 80psi which would of been fine. I'm pulling the trans tomorrow, to get at the relief valve and correct my mistake.
Nice job , thanks for sharing 🇺🇸
Luv this engine...,,Ford has its way, lol.....I’ve used grey rtv at that main bearing joint to seal the top.....it’s common on some older engines
Thanks Tom for sharing about a great classic..
JC I keep trying. Hope the dragstrips open up again in 2021. Stay well.
Good stuff, thanks!
Excellent tips, thank you!
Thank you for your comment. Tom
Nice cars!
Had to put plugs with holes drilled in them to run a solid lifter cam in my 428cj. High pressure/high volume oil pump provided plenty of oil pressure. Thanks for the info btw.
Ken you are so correct. I should have covered that too. It is very important to restrict some of the oil flow to the lifters. Ford actually made 2 types of solid lifters that did a great job of restricting about 90% of the oil flow past the lifters. Both styles did not have a wide groove around the outside middle of the lifter that normally lets the oil flow past the lifters. One was a hollow shell type and the other looked like a hydraulic lifter but the center section was held in by a clip and would not move.
Ken I realize you took care of the oiling the best way. Just thought I would provide the lifter info for others. Not sure if Ford, or anyone, still makes this type of lifter.
Tom T
Not many of those manifolds out there, especially with the timing cover and special gear drive. Very rare. Good to hear there's another crazy Ford FE guy out there with a blown engine.
Ken,
I too had to restrict the oil flow to the lifters. I should have mentioned that in the video.
Tom
Very cool stuff.
Thank you
Good video, beautiful mustang too.
Thank you for the nice comment. I do love my Fords. 2 more, 62 Galaxie and another 871 Blown 57 Ranchero with a 407 SBF.
Great video Tom. I found that those cork manifold gaskets soak up oil and weep. I also ground oil drains where you have, built up Permatex oil dams, but those cork gaskets keep on weeping, very slightly though. This is my first FE build.
Thanks for the cork gasket tip! Have had that problem every time I rebuilt one.
Thanks
I HAVE THAT VERY SAME BLOWER MANIFOLD AND FRONT DRIVE COVER WITH DISTRIBUTOR IN IT WITH SPECIAL GEAR TO DRIVE IT
I hope I replied 10 months ago. Awesome that there are actually 2 of these setups still out there. Do you race it and where?
Tom T
Tom I just got a my 427 side oiler and I live in the Inland Empire. Who does you engine work? Looking for a reliable FE builder. Thanks JB
I bought a new 427 engine block from Ford in the 1970's. it included a, "soft" plug to put somewhere in the block to use it for the 1968 hydraulic lifter camshaft. Without the plug, the oiling was like the solid lifter models. I'm not sure where in the block the plug would go though.
Jim, The 427's came 2 ways as far as lifter oiling. Drilled for hydraulics or not drilled for solids. If your block is drilled for hydraulic lifters you will need to block or at least restrict at least 90% of the oil flow through the lifter bores IF you are going to run a solid lifter cam. Is your block drilled for hydraulics? You will see a good sized hole going through each lifter bore if it is drilled. Okay, if it is drilled AND you are going to run a solid lifter cam you need to block the lifter gallery's. There are 2 plugs, leading to these gallery's, at the rear of the lifter gallery.
You can do this several ways. The original way was to pull the pipe plugs out and tap further down in the 2" hole, for a smaller pipe plug to block the oil flow to the lifters, then put the plugs you took out back into their original spot. Not easy. 2nd way is to pull the plug and force a round rod into the bottom of the hole. This rod would be about an inch long. You can use drill bits to check for the correct tight fit size and either cut the bottom of the drill bit and use it as your plug or locate a metal rod, the correct diameter, and pound it in. Be sure to put the original pipe plug back in. Both these ways block 100% oif the oil flow to the lifters. The way I choose to do it was to determine the hole diameter at the bottom of the hole using drill bits. I'm at work, I have the numbers at home. Whatever that diameter was I choose to use a rod, about 1" long and about .010 (thousandths) smaller than the hole diameter. I did want some oil flow through the lifter bores to lube the cam and bores. Some say good idea and some say not needed. I wanted some oil there.
I then put a nice 1-1/2" long spring on top of the rod to hold it in place and then ran the pipe plug back in to keep all under pressure. Worked great and I can remove the plug easily with a magnet if I ever want to run a hydraulic cam. If you need exact sizes, measurements and part numbers let me know. I got all from McMaster-Carr and very inexpensive.
Tom T
@@tomtucker7571 This was a 427 engine block bought new from Ford in the 1970's. It was a replacement block for both the solid lifter and the hydraulic lifter engine blocks. Whatever way it was drilled, it came with a soft plug so it could be used for both. The replacement block drilling may not have matched either original drillings. It was the only 427 replacement engine block available at the time I ordered it and it could be used for 1967 or 1968 engine block replacement. Ford kept replacement parts available for 10 years after the last year a part was used, but they weren't always exactly the same as the originals.
Jim, The only way you will know, if any of my suggestions will work, is to check the lifter bores. I'm quite sure, from what you're saying, the lifter bores are drilled. Do you see a hole/passage going through each one of them? You should also see, on top of the block, at the rear of the lifter valley 2 allen headed pipe plugs. They are angled down toward the right and left lifter gallery. If so then decide what you want to do depending on which type cam you will be using.
@@tomtucker7571 I no longer have the engine block. I never built it. I bought one engine block and one dual carb intake new from Ford in the mid-1970's. The intake I wanted had a -A part number, but the one available was a replacement part with a -B part number. The engine block was the only 427 block available and sold as a replacement for both solid lifter and hydraulic lifter models. I don't recall the instructions for the included soft plug, but it was to change the type of lifters used in the engine. That was the way Ford sold the replacement 427 engine blocks in the 1970's. I think the plug was to divert more oil for using hydraulic lifters, but it is possible it was to restrict oil for solid lifters.
@@tomtucker7571 I put a solid cam into my 390 "hydraulic cam" block without restricting those galleries, and runs ok and plenty of oil pressure. It just means there's a bit extra oil going by the solid lifters and onto the solid cam.
Why don’t you do a video on your 1969 mustang? My dad had a 1969 mustang mach1 orange with black flat hood but it was 351.
Tom, thanks for your time and well explained video. Question, are all the tips/mods the same for the 428 FE ?
The 427, 428, 390 are all in the same "FE" family so the basic blocks are the same with the 427 receiving some special enhancements. The 427 has crossbolted mains on #2, 3 and4. The majority of the 427's are side oilers where the 428's were not. Most of the mods, in the video, will apply to the 428 except for the oil relief valve at the rear of the block. 428's do not have one there. The only other oddities may have to do with how the oil gets to the rockers. The 427 side oiler needs grooved cam journals on #2 and #4. The 428 does not .If you're building the engine leave it on the engine stand, no heads on yet, and drive the oil pump with a drill motor or air ratchet and be sure oil comes up through the 2 small holes, at the deck of the block, that feed the rockers.
@@tomtucker7571 Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. I'm building a 428 now for my 427 Cobra and looking for needs for the FE. I'm wanting a mechanical roller. Any advise on who's rollers and cam core ? Please email me when you can. Patty550@windstream.net
@@427HISS You'll love the motor and don't worry you don't need the side oiler version. Okay, cam and mechanical rollers. I have had some major headaches with this part of my build.. I'm waiting for my roller lifters to come back. The cam manufacturer is changing the top of my lifter to work with a pushrod that has a 3/8 ball on the bottom. I was told that my lifter would work with 5/16 or 3/8 ball. It did not. I should have used a pushrod with a 5/16 ball, which would have let the pushrod settle down into the lifter a decent amount.. When you get to that point be sure to find out what size bottom ball to run on your pushrod. I did ask but the young man at the company told me either one would work fine. Not true. Since I already had pushrods with the 3/8 ball I used them. Didn't work. I won't say the name of the company. Another lesson to be learned. Just triple check everything.
@@tomtucker7571 Well,...that sucks ! What did you end up using ?
@@427HISS I won't get the modified lifters back, and cam, until next week (i hope). I'd prefer to not say the brand. They are working with me to solve the problem.
Great video gotta make more !
Thank you. I'm not the sharpest on things like posting a video. I will give it another try. Restricting the oil to the lifters should be covered with a couple of different ways of doing it.
Great video Sir.... what year is your 427? Is it a medium riser?
My parents had a 63 galaxy 500 427 4 speed transmission.
I grew up working on that engine. Points and condenser days....😁
The 427 block in the video is a service block '67 or '68 I would guess. It was a bare block to start with so medium riser heads would work fine. Before the blower went on I was running High Riser heads with Hilborn 8 stack injection. As we all know Ford made it tough to tell what year and was constantly making small changes to the block. The 427 I'm working on now has a groove cut behind the 2nd and 4th cam journals which I haven't run into before. No need for a cam that is grooved. Just another change.
Loved the video, it was just straight no nonsense info a lot of which was helpful to me personally! I have a 63 427 in my 69 Mustang as a daily driver. I'm sure you already know, the stock valve lash spec is .025 cold, and that's, well, a whole lot by modern standards and pretty hard on the valvetrain. When I look at all the aftermarket cams for the 427, valve lash is way tighter. What are your thoughts on tightening down the lash to .018 or .020? I don't want to burn up an exhaust valve, but as a stock headed engine, the lash doesn't seem to move much hot/cold and I suspect Ford was just being awfully conservative on the old Police Interceptor cam design.
I guess I should mention I've checked around online, but as you've also undoubtedly found, for every person who really knows what they're talking about when it comes to the 427, there are 20 more who claim to know, haha.
Hello,
I run .021" cold lash in the race car but when it heats up I end up with close to .025" because of the aluminum heads. I think you're fine to run the lash a little tighter but I would only go a few thousands tighter (.002-.003"). You're dealing with the opening and closing ramps on the cam lobes. To be really safe I would direct that question at one of the cam companies. They have good tech departments.
Okay. I don't know how many will read this correction to my 427 video regarding the side oiler relief valve. I mentioned how it was always good to run a shim( i used an allen bolt) inside the relief spring to raise the pressure at which the relief valve opens. Not necessary. My oil pressure was too high, 105psi with 5-20wt race oil, because of a miscue with my bearing clearances. I pulled the trans this weekend to get at the relief valve. I pulled the allen bolt shim out and the oil pressure dropped to 83psi when I fired it back up. I realize now there is no need to run 100psi and the shim will not raise oil pressure if it is to low. For instance if you have 40psi that's what you have. I you have over 80psi then the relief valve will do its job and open to keep the pressure at 80. Now I can run 20-50wt oil and hopefully not have oil leaking past the pan and valve cover gaskets.
Tom T
@@tomtucker7571 Hey Tom, thanks for the info. My top oiler has the oil pressure relief in a different spot. The engine builder added a machined piece of aluminum into the bore with the spring and oil pressure went to the cusp of 120psi on the dyno run of my engine. I pulled that spacer out. My dad said the engine seemed to bypass at 105psi according to his oil pressure gauge back in the 60s. I run 5w30 oil in mine and it idles around 80psi cold, eventually dropping to about 25psi when nearing 200* sitting in traffic with the cooling fans running. Crusing down the road at 2,000rpm at operating temperature is usually about 75psi. I'd heard there were different springs people sometimes swapped into the blocks to decrease pressure a bit too. So much info and so much of the info is of questionable truth out there haha
@@randomologist77 Hello. I finished my oil pressure tests yesterday. I mentioned, in my previous reply, that I pulled the shim out of the oil pressure relief spring and the oil pressure dropped from 105psi to about 83 psi. I drained the 5/20wt oil yesterday and put in 20/50wt oil. The pressure stayed right at 83ish pounds, just as it should have. I ran the engine for 7 or 8 minutes and it stayed close to 80psi. Water temp got up to about 180. I'm sure if I was running the car at the dragstrip the heat would be much higher and the oil pressure would have dropped some. With the 20/50wt oil my mysterious oil leaks through the gaskets disappeared. Yeah.
@@tomtucker7571 Nice!!! Sorry, didn't see your reply. I'm definitely going to take a look at my relief valve. Finding spring replacements is a nightmare these days, but I sure wouldn't mind seeing a little lower pressure. I'll have to take a look and see if mine has the shim.
As a heads up, I found that Crane Cams (now Comp Cams) makes a blueprint cam for the early 427s like mine. The specs on it show 0.018" on the intake and 0.022" on the exhaust for recommended lash. I'm planning on doing that or maybe a hair tighter on the exhaust.
I have a hot Rod Magazine 1975 I believe. Master 428 CJ engine builder Carl Holbrook. He ran a 1969 mustang convertible superstock 428 CJ. You can still find the magazine on eBay probably. I read the article when I was in high school around 1979 and I was just as impressed as the editor after reading it. I was talking to an engine builder and I told him more or less every engine has its quirks and tricks you have to know. I prefer working with an engine builder who specializes and Ford engines. He did not agree with me. I did not agree with him. Great advice thanks.
Thanks for the thoughts. Yes the Ford FE has lots of quirks especially the 427. Ford loved to make changes to their engines and the 427 saw most of them since it was their engine used in racing. Many of their changes had no part number updates or changes. Since that video I have built a virgin 427. I had saved a brand new short block for 40 years. Ford cut a full groove behind the cam bearings, in this block, to make sure oil got up to the rockers. The other 427 blocks, I have, don't have this groove. This way you don't need to be sure the 2nd and 4th cam bearings have the extra hole in them to feed the rockers. This is important since most FE cam bearings don't have the extra holes drilled in them.
I saw your other request on the '69 Mustang. Sounds like a good idea to do a video on it.
Tom Tucker. Thanks for the info. Do you use Facebook? If you do I could send you some photos of the Hot Rod Magazine article.
Tom Tucker . Just curious have you seen any Dyno results on the stock 427FE single carb, dual carb and the other dual quad racing intake? I personally think they were under rated at 425 hp single carb. I think for 428 cobra jet was actually around 400 hp?
@@surreallife777 I have read many articles on the 427's and 428's, CZcams spots too. The stock 428 was rated at a very meek 335HP. Probably was closer to 400. The 427 articles I have read (and still have) all vary between 450 and 550+HP depending on the modifications made to the engine. With the right parts the 428 can be right there too. Just pay attention to good rods and rod bolts etc. As you know they are both FE's with virtually the same cubes. 427 bigger bore smaller stroke. 428 just the opposite. With the smaller bore the 428 was a little safer/better for street use since the bore spacing between the bores was better with the smaller bore.
I really think I'm somewhere between 700 and 800HP with the Blower, Injection and bigger/better heads and Cam.
Good luck, Tom
So I'm writing an article on the 427 used in the Lemans GT40's and outside of the basic info on the engine / seeing as you've built these, what strengths do you think that mill had that aren't well known
Hello, I think one feature that adds a LOT of strength is the extended lower block that is a good 3 inches below the centerline of the crankshaft. This adds a rigidity to the block and allows the middle 3 main caps to have extra bolts come in from each side. Most 427's are also side oilers which is great for endurance races but not so necessary for street use or drag racing. It is still the sought after block though. Another feature that is overlooked is the shaft mounted rocker arms. This creates stability to each rocker. You will see many engines that do not come that way from the factory but are converted to this by high performance head manufacturers.
One last thing. There are many manufacturers of high performance aluminum and cast iron blocks and heads now. This was not the case about 10 years ago. Cross bolted mains, great oiling and superior strength plus high flowing aluminum heads.
I hope this helps, Tom T
@@tomtucker7571 thanks it does help very much. It's cool to see the reliability strategies from 50 years ago like the cross bolted main capss, because the LS crowd thinks GM came up with that in 1998 when they released the ls1 (hell that's what I thought) and how that in addition to extending the blocks skirt gives the bottom end enough strength to handle ridiculous amounts of power, or like you said the priority of lubricating the crank first ups the reliability if say your 7 liter needs to run a 24 hr endurance race. Anyway thanks for the response it's much appreciated
I tore apart a 390 I got from a guy te hat said he couldn't get it to run right and it was free so I took it. When I tore it apart I noticed he had install the rear freeze plug backwards and the cam gear was misaligned from the cam being too far forward. Did you drill the oil hole from the pump to the filter port with a 7/16 drill bit?
James, I cleaned up the passage. This was a year ago and I forgot the exact drill bit size but I did enlarge the passage a little. I've always been fortunate to have 427's and their passage may be a little larger to start with. Tom
@@tomtucker7571 I found a 70s model fire truck and pulled the full sump oil pan and the rear pickup tube so now I run 3 gallons of oil, windage tray. The first stroker i put together only made 4 passes and threw the rods out. I didnt think the front sump pan would be an issue until my truck got into the 11s but apparently ford released a memo back in the 1970s warning about drag racing with a front sump pan.
Have a 426 fe in my drag truck and on pump gas it runs 12.08 in the quarter. With iron ford heads.
building fe 390 it has trw .030 over pistons in it shud i reuse them or get new one will give it more compression
Fine to reuse them if they're in good shape. The only way to add compression would be to buy new pistons with a bigger/taller dome on the top of the piston. If you choose to do this don't go past 10 to 1 compression for street use.
@@tomtucker7571 thanks
Think I'd be finding me a new machine shop.....Yikes!!!
Charlotte, I did switch to JMS in El Monte. Good shop.
@@tomtucker7571 Goodis for you...
One thing I was told is for high rpm endurance racing Ford reduced the crank shaft diameter and I think they were using different bearings possibly Chevy bearings I’m not sure. Is this true?
I'm quite sure Ford did not do this but many of the aftermarket cranks have smaller journals on them.
I read the long article you attached comparing steel cranks to iron cranks, friction, strength etc etc. Interesting but like he said it is a lot of thoughts put together from several articles.
I think if you keep the RPM within reason, maybe 6500 tops, you don't need to worry about different journal sizes. I run my car/Ranchero at 7200 but am thinking of backing the rev limiter down a little just to be safe. I do have one of the best (and very rare) Ford steel cranks. If you do feel a need to change you will find that many of the stroker kits (Crank, Rods, Pistons) are the same price as buying a stock stroke (3.78) Ford or aftermarket forged steel crank and that's if you can find one. Good luck.
Hello Tom Tucker, I have 1968 428, has 1963 6090 J heads, pi aluminum intake, what all do I need to build this to its best Daly driver with extra power
William, The 69 Mustang in my video has a 428 CJ motor and I also used the police interceptor intake manifold. Just pay close attention to matching the manifold ports to the heads. As far as a good street engine I would suggest a nice low RPM cam. I went overboard with the cam so it takes a little RPM to get the power up and loves to drink gas. I'm still happy with it because I like the rough (mean) idle. The usual hop up things work like headers etc etc but with the right cam this motor will be very strong.
Thank you Tom, hunters out there looking for these so better take care of it, Enjoyed your video
You said the plunger goes in first, in the oil galley in the rear if the block. Then you say the spring goes in first. Which is it? I saw which it was, but you needed to be gigged on that.
You are right, I did misspeak. What you see me doing is correct. Spring 1st, plunger 2nd with the narrow rod facing out of the hole so the threaded plug contacts the rod and pushes the plunger in against the spring.
Hi can you turn a 390-FE into a 427-FE...
The stroke is the same, 3.78 on both engines.. The 427 has a much larger bore. You cannot bore the 390 out to the 427 bore. The cylinder walls would be to thin. You can bore it .030" over or maybe a tad more and end up with about 400 cubic inches.
The two blocks share almost all parts. Crank, cam, heads etc. Just be careful with the heads. The rare medium riser heads have the valves spaced further apart and the valves may contact the cylinder walls. There are many good aftermarket aluminum heads or just go with your 390 heads. They can be worked on to flow better.
Tom
@@tomtucker7571 Thanks Tom :)
FordEdsel
I have been happy with JMS Racing Engines in El Monte. 626 579 4567
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