Hi all So, I have a Thunderbird here for which I bought an engine 2 years ago. The owner claimed it was an original engine but I highly doubt that, certainly because it was a 60 Tbird and the trans turned out to be a C6. Anyway, I'm having issues with identifying the engine. I'm almost certain it is a Ford FE but there are some things about the engine I find odd... So, first of all, a lot of casting numbers: Another view: Drilled hole at bottom (cross bolts?): A (what seems to be) weird freeze plug: Block number seems to be C3AE-H, but very unclear. Might as wel be C8AE-H or variants. No other numbers found. Only following: Heads: C1AE-A Intake: C4SE-9425A Anyone got a clue? Haven't seen any picture of an block with that much casting numbers or that weird freeze plug(?) Thanks in advance!
Freeze plug, maybe a block heater all FE motors will have 352 on the right front side of the block. Heads usually have a 6090-? code You can also Google FE casting numbers, for more info on the years the blocks were made
That weird freeze plug is a heat plug to keep coolant 'temperate' in freezing conditions. Plug it in overnight (or in freezing weather) while car is parked and sitting for the duration of the freeze. The 1/2" tapped hole isn't for cross-drilled mains as in the elusive 'side-oiler'...It's there for the bolt of the spring bracket that attaches the automatic transmission cooler hard lines from the radiator tank.
another way to tell if its an fe is if the pushrods go through the intake manifold, the valve covers also bolt to the intake.
The 'net says the C3AE-6015-H was the service block for the 62-63 390 PI. It's a hyd lifter block and is the service replacement for the C3AE-6015-E solid lifter PI block...
Thanks for the input and information for now guys. About googling the block number: I've been searching around a lot but no real information about an engine with just C3AE-H. Didn't know that about the block heater, sounds fancy! Won't use it though Where did you see it's a C3AE-6015-H? I'm not seeing any "6015" numbers. Still need to check on the "352" casting number. Only thing I could find on the heads were the C1AE-A casting numbers. Maybe I have to search a bit further... I'm wondering what (seems to be) the "5H F3 17" next to the block casting number is. Anyone got a clue?
352 means nothing on an FE. If you want to know the real scoop on it check the stamped ID number ( serial number?) on it. It will tell you what it came in what year and so on and so forth. It may be hard to find decent information on deciphering the serial number but someone on here will be able to do that for you.
first you need to learn how the part numbers work on Fords. An engine block is 6015, no matter what application it is for. Since even the parts counter guys can spot an engine block, they don't really need to put that information (that it is an engine block) on the block itself, in the engineering part number. The C3AE part of the number says it was originally designed for a 1963 full size car and that it is an engine part. The -H part is the specific application that it was originally used on. So an engine block only needs the C3AE-H part of the complete part number C3AE-6015-H for us to know what it is. Back to your regularly scheduled program. (and read this http://www.fordification.com/tech/partnumbers_overview.htm if you want to learn more)
Trying to identify a FE though casting numbers is a path to madness.... LOL. It certainly looks like a FE in the limited photographs. But the only way to positively identify it is by measuring the bore/stroke. There are a few visual clues that help identify the general era the block was cast in; the pre-'65 blocks have only two motor-mount bolt bosses on each side of the block, the '65-up will have three. Four bolt bosses makes it a truck block. There's various blocks cast and/or machined for solid lifters only, but they're pretty rare. Bore sizes are as follows... 332/352 4", 360 truck/361 Edsel/390/410 Mercury 4.05", 406/428 4.13", and the 427 at 4.23". There were only four common stroke lengths; 3.3" for the '58-59 only 332 (this was also a solid-lifters-only block), 3.5" for the 352/360/361 Edsel. 3.78" for the 390, 406, and 427. And 3.98" for the 410/428. There were a couple of oddball medium-duty truck motors but it's very unlikely you'll run into one of those.
Your heads are 1961 full size car And your intake is 1964 thunder bird Ford codes are amongst the easiest to decipher Ciae C is the decade 1960 D 1970 E 1980 F 1990 12345670 is the year D4 ae 74 full size E7 ae 87 full size Following ??? Ae is fuul size car Se is thunderbird Te is truck Me is mercury C6ae is 66 full size C8se is 68 thunderbird C2te is 62 truck D5te is 75 truck If
Which is true for the non-FE applications, but with FEs block/head casting numbers merely tell you what that particular part was first used on or which engineering change it was. Ford didn't always (or even regularly) change the casting numbers on FE blocks/heads from year to year or model to model so finding a motor with multiple years of casting numbers is common. With the heads in particular, some castings were machined differently for the specific application so finding the same casting number didn't guarantee you had the same part.
Expanding on the heads; Ford had three basic FE designs with two main variations (excluding the exotic heads like the tunnel port and SOHC). The basic designs were the low, medium, and high riser port design. The high riser was a race-only piece, and needed a dedicated intake for proper port match. Low riser were common on everything up through '63, the medium riser appeared in '64/65 as a compromise for the high riser which wouldn't package in production cars. These were used in both 'performance' applications as well as grocery-getters, a lot of time depending on how they were machined although there was different casting variations. After the medium riser came into general use, Ford discontinued the high riser. The other variation was exhaust manifold attachment. Up through '65, all heads used two bolts per port in a vertical array. Starting in '66 with the installation of the FE in the newly redesigned Fairlane/Comet, Ford added two more bolts per port at an angle for redesigned manifolds for clearance. These were also used for the Mustang/Cougar. Some very early heads had only the angled bolts, but most later versions were drilled for both. These were usually only used in the intermediate-sized cars, but you find them occasionally elsewhere.
when I started working at the junkyard in 1979, they had old pickup beds full of various types of parts. One had FE heads stacked like cord wood.
Probably because they were light. You'd have to be a pretty good hoss to stack a bed full of the intakes. Good info on this thread.
Why did Ford have to make it so difficult? :-D Didn't know about these standard block numbers, I've seen images of engines including these standard numbers. Some people with C3AE-H block are 390 and others 427. My shot would be the 390 PI (as said above) due to missing cross bolts. I guess I'll have to open the engine up to check the bore and stroke. We need to open it up anyway (seems to have a leaking piston ring). For now, I'll measure the stroke with the "dowel through spark plug" method and see if I can get some more information out of it. Thanks for the information guys!
Heads look like standard 352 390 versions. Kind of a hodge podge of parts ,but nothing wrong with that. Just check stroke and that should tell you pretty much what it is. Probably a 390 though .
A C3 engine is a 63 casting design. A C8 casting would be a 68 design. Ford a particular casting number for more than one year, but it tells you that the engine is period correct for a 63 car. The frost plug with the plug in, is a block heater. These are used in parts of the cold white north.
I tried the 'dowel in the spark plug hole' and, from what I can tell, I'm not a reliable person when it comes down to this! Measuring anywhere from a 428 to a stroke smaller than a 352. Guess I'll wait until we have to open the block or I might check the crank.
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