Here is another thing you might try to see if you can identify the crank, and that is a borescope through the drain plug hole. We did that to verify a 4 bolt sbc block last week. I also should point out that there are partial vin's on the '68 and up motors, on the right rear of the block. Also, a lot of people think that they have a 390/428 and are not neccessarily lying about it, so don't be surprised if someone gets offended if you question them about it. And you thought all sbc's being Corvette engines was bad..
There was an article in one of the car mags 'back in the day' that did just that for a 'cheap' 428. Now, they did recommend using older castings and sonic checking before trying; according to the article, a '65 truck 352 block was probably as new as you wanted to try. But 'doable' with the 'right' block... I've seen late 302s bored .060 over that run just fine, so there must be more meat there than is generally thought. There's NO FE that can be bored to the 427 size...
I’m familiar with that article ,Steve, it is kinda infamous with the FE crowd, causing a lot of grief to a lot of builders. Like mentioned there are some FE blocks that can go to 4.130 but they are rare, unless an attempt is made with the common 391 FT block, and that’s a crap shoot. Bones
A thousand bucks??? Aw c'mon, go buy that thing, it wouldn't really take up that much room, it is not as big as it looks. I'm rooting for the little truck, it is just too cool not to have a loving home. -Abone.
I can appreciate the Real Estate factor! I presently have in my 2.5 car garage: 1) 454 Chev engine 1) 406 FE 1) 390 FE 1) 455 Olds 1) 460 Ford w/ extra D0ve heads 1) 354 Chrysler hemi (the DeSoto hemi is in my shop out back...with 4 other flatheads) 1) '47 Merc flathead 1) 283 SBC 1) Datsun 4 cyl., dual carb 'hottie' 1) BMW 2-ltr 4 cyl. w/T.I. head, dual Weber side drafts 4) '37 Cad/LaSalle trannies in various states of ass'y 5) '39 Ford trannies, + 1) 5 foot Allen engine lathe 1) 30" 1932 South Bend lathe 1) Sioux Valve grinding machine Our new Samsung washer and dryer! Now, my bud wants me to come by and get his '53 Merc flathead and attached 3 speed O.D. box. ($100) At the moment, I don't have room... Can you believe it???? Screw it, I can probably hide it under the evergreen bush in the front yard... Pray for me, fellow HAMB Bros...
Mike, You may be happy to learn that you are not alone. 10 keeper engines in the garage, including a real Corvette 427/425 and more outside. Bob
11 FEs 8 Flatheads 7 Yblocks 4 289s 1 302 Ford 3 302 GMCs 2 big GMCs 1 477 2 300 six 1 Naihead 2 400s 4 460s 2 351s 1 200 six 1 283 Bones
Regarding the notes above on whether or not you can bore the regular FE block out to the 4.130" , I came to the conclusion through my hours of research, that the only way to determine if there is enough meat to do this properly, is to sonic test each bore. I have a core from a 335 hp 390 FE engine that I wanted to bore out a few years ago. This was because I had the rotating assembly and all the other parts from a failed engine. On the back, flywheel side, of the block, there is a large 427 carved into what was the outer casting. I used the .100" drill bit measurement between the cylinders (through the frost plug holes), and even then, the shop I took the engine to, stated that there could be so little metal left that the cylinder would flex. They stated that I might end up having to sleeve the block. I didn't think it was worth the risk. One answer I got for the confusion, was that Ford might not have always used the matching inner and outer cores when they were casting the engine blocks for the smaller bore engines. Bob
The thing about boring a 352/390 FE to 428 is the the cylinders are going to be thinner than before. And as you stated the FEs were kinda wishy washy on centering the cores and had drift. Much overbore would be kinda iffy. Now let’s talk about why you want to go to 428 bore. You are not going to cruise around loafing with it.... your going to rod the piss out of it... or you don’t need the 428! Thin cylinder walls with a big cam, big carb, high compression,etc is a bad combination. Folks do it and some get away with it......some don’t. I would stroke a 390 to 445before I would overbore it to 428. Thats just me. Bones
Is a cross bolt 427 worth fooling with? I know a fellow that has one. It's a convoluted story..... It's in a 63 289 box top Galaxie. Dual quads.... After market heads... 427 badges on the car..... I crawled under it...., Sure enough there was the cross bolts.
I punched one years ago to try to make a 428 Cube , it lasted 2 weeks split the cylinder , like I hit it with a meat Cleever . Those FEs have torque like a diesel and never runn hot . As stated a mild cam , a good set of headers , nice Aluminum water pump and intake and you save 150lb off the tank .
There is one I have been watching over in Seattle, out of a boat. Cross bolt mains, but nothing special heads. He wants 3,500.00 for it. Which is probably a decent buy. But it's still 3,500.00 for an engine you can't hear run.
I would buy the truck. remove that winch and mount it to a Receiever hitch, That way you could use it on a trailer the front or rear bumper or even in the bed of that truck with gin poles and a tow sling. That truck would be as handy as a pocket on a shirt. and could tow great big heavy loads no sweat.
I'm really thinking about it. I just don't need it and don't really have the room. If I bought it I want to get it home and do what I need to do to it and get it gone. It's middle of winter here and I am not to enthused about dragging a truck home and messing with it in the cold snowy weather. Probably not too many other people around here either. If I had a place to stash it, it would be a different story. Time will tell. If someone scoops in and buys it, good on them. I won't have to worry about it ha! The engine is a complete grab bag and that's the only reason I went to look at it.
Ok, here is the scoop on the late blocks that are worth sonic checking to see if they will take a 4.130 bore. They have a casting # on the front of the block that is a negative image of "105", and you can find them referred to on the net as "mirror 105" blocks. They supposedly began casting them in 1973, they have a little better main webs, and are also machined for the FT distributor, with a bushing installed to allow an FE distributor to be used. They are 360 and 390 cu. in. motors, and can be found in pickups as late as 1976, for sure, cuz I have one here. They need to be sonic checked for sure, but the comical part is how many of those crappy 360's do you suppose have been scrapped. They are out there, thanks Bones!
I hope the 427 is a runner. Even if it isn't, I would jump on it like a spider on a fly. The only 428 that came close to the performance of the 427, was the SCJ. This version of the 428 was meant to perform. They have the nodular iron crank, Lemans rods, and other performance parts. I found an original, dual quad unit out of a Mustang, and even though it had thrown a rod, he still wanted $3,500 for the engine and top loader. It was going to require one or more sleeves, and the crank could have been damaged as well. I didn 't want to buy it without tearing it down to see exactly what parts were going to be needed for the rebuild. The guy said as is, so I passed. The pity is, that I have the right car for the engine. Bob
I had actually changed the write-up at the same time as you made your posting. I meant nodular iron, but was thinking about my Chevy and just wrote the wrong term. Bob
Friend has a 428 supposedly out of a late 60s T- bird. May check out the flywheel and dampner next time I’m over there I shouldn’t doubt him because I thought he was full of crap when he said he had a 429 4 bolt engine. I was wrong
The 428 was originally intended as a stop-gap motor; by '66 Ford needed something larger than the 390 to haul around the increasingly larger full-size cars. The 430/462 Lincoln was a poor fit plus being an obsolete design, and the 427 was too high-strung for luxo-barge service. While the 429/460 was on the drawing board, it was still two years away. So by using the easier-to-cast 406 bore with a small stroker, Ford created the 428, a inexpensive-to-build big-inch FE. It might have disappeared in '68, except Bob Tasca Sr. decided a mix of a 428 T-bird short-block with some judicious selections from the parts catalog in a '67 Mustang was worth exploring. The CJ was born, and the rest is history. Even so, the 428 only lasted until 1970; it was replaced across the board by the 429 in '71, never to be seen again.
My brother has a 445 FE in his 64 pickup.....holy cow it’s fun! Best sounding engine that’s not blown!!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I had a 454 FE (.030-over 427 block w/428 SCJ innards/heads) with a 4-speed in a '67 Cougar. Melt the tires anytime, anyplace.... Lucky it had vinyl seats, as I had to clean the passenger seat more than once... LOLOL...
There is so much mis-information here I can't believe it. I've currently got 28 FE engines in my "garage"/shop and am on the FE332-428 FEForum and FEPower.org as FERoadster. 1: C4 heads have a letter after the 6090 to designate the design they could be 390 or 427 LR or HR heads I've got 2 sets of H heads that are 427 LR heads. 2. 428 blocks were cast after 1965 but have no external features to indicate the CI size. measuring the stroke is the best way and close to 4" (3.98) thru the spark plug hole is the best way. but it could be a 410 Merc engine. I just got one for $75 3. If it's got ribs on the block behind the motor mounts it's a later cast block 4. The "105" 0r mirror 501 blocks are not only FT blocks but some were just later 360-390. 5. I've got a few blocks that have a 5 digit number where the 352 would be but looks like all are 360' with a 3.5 stroke but I'm not sure. Movin/ons.
Chris....just my 2 cents....and I've owned/drove 272/352's and 390's and still have a 1965 - a 1972 and 1976 big block trucks.....just get an early 390 block - that will push that truck nice enough....the early blocks have the bolt holes in the front so you can "bolt" them into the early frames with that early 1965 352 engine mount....kinda like the 292 front motor mount....
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