Hello guys, I used to mess with Ford FE engines back in high school and such but haven’t really done much with them for the past 20 years. I have a 428 (or 410...have not measured bore) that I want to put into a 1960 F250 crew cab. I pulled it from a 65 F350 of all things. The 60 is a heavy truck, and I’m not looking for high RPM power. If I remember the engine has D2 or D4 heads on it...I’m assuming those are not super great heads to run. Wanting good broad power and lower end torque, any FE experts know what heads I should look for? I plan on a single 4bbl (Edelbrock performer?) and a set of simple headers. Probably a mild cam for low end torque. The truck weighs a lot (5,000 lbs) and I want it to have some decent get up and go and go down the road decent. NOT looking to build a high winding, high RPM engine. Transmission will be a manual. I know the truck isn’t super Hamb friendly, but messing with FE’s is. If the Mods feel this is out of place, go ahead and delete it. Here is what it’s going in.
I used to mess with them too. Believe it or not but I had a set of regular 352 heads out of an early 60s car that had the same intake port size as a 427 but of course the valves were smaller. The later heads had smaller intake ports perhaps to aid velocity. But as you probably already know, the earlier head's exhaust bolt pattern had only 8 bolt holes. If you could locate some 428 Cobra Jet heads, that would be the cat's meow.
For what you are using it for, the heads you have will work fine. There are no bad FE heads and the smaller valves and ports will help with low end velocity while still flowing plenty for your truck. D4 heads should already have hardened exhaust seats which you need for that setup and will have the correct exhaust bolt pattern for a truck.
I passed on a set of EDC 58 machine combustion chamber heads over the weekend at a swap meet because I simply didn't know if that was what I wanted. I built a 390 in high school for my galaxie and remember I had C4 heads on it with larger valves installed. It ran really good for a heavy car. I am fine with 8 bolt manifold heads, I plan to run some simple tube headers, not factory cast headers because they won't clear the steering. I think 428CJ heads would be neat, but I also think they would break the bank. I do not need anything exotic on it, I just want a good runner that will get the heavy ball rolling
Thanks for that, I will look at the heads tonight and see exactly what they are. I figured they were choked down emission heads, I honestly cannot remember for certain what they are other than I figured I should find some better heads.
The heads you have will be just fine, in that truck, the performer intake is one of the best. If you bore, choose pistons that get you close to 10 to 1. Choose a mild cam, Oregan Cams can help here. Easy people to work with. Truck headers are cheap. Convert your engine to electronic ignition, have one of the guys recurve your distributor, set the timing to around 38 total mechanical, run a 650-750 vacuum secondaries Holley. You will have an engine that will amaze you... and drive like a dream. I’ve got a CJ in a OT (74) one ton long wheel base flat bed. I use for pulling a long gooseneck cattle trailer. I have smoked some later diesels with it, hauling and get 9 mpg. Bones
Chris, on another topic, your 4x4 problaly has 4:11 or 4:56 gears in the rear end. Ford ,in the years around your donor truck, put a five speed overdrive transmission behind the some of the FE equipped larger trucks. With your divorced transfer case it would be an awesome upgrade for your rig. They are hard to find, but are out there. I’ve got one for my one ton, but haven’t installed it yet. The easy way to determine if it’s an overdrive five speed is that fifth gear is up, instead of down. I always check every truck I see, to find another one! Bones
I’d use the stock or near stock cam with 4 to 8 degrees advance added. Low end torque will amaze you.
I have to be honest, for what it seems to cost to have heads rebuilt around here, I'd just pony up and spring for a brand new set of Edelbrock aluminum heads.
I would second talking to Kenny at Oregon Cams, he is a hard core F.E. Guy and really knows his stuff. I would stay closer to 9:1 on the compression if you are doing any towing or heavy duty use, #7 piston pin bushing will thank you!
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/697aad07-9c62-4cbe-a4f0-c39205f1d909-jpeg.4487738/ Did somebody tack weld the con rod nuts to the bolts? That is a serious self inflicted wound in my opinion. What is going on over to the left with the main cap and main bearing bolts? They almost look plasma cut or somthin' . I'm thinking that engine needs a careful "going thru." Anyone who would tack weld a rod nut to its bolt has some very curious ideas on engine building.
Thinking you might have a 352 from a '65 F350, but since you say it has D2 or D4 heads who knows what it is and where it originally came from. Time to measure bore, stroke and check the casting numbers on the block.
That’s oil dripping off of them... on the main cap/bolts, that's the edge of the pan gasket you are seeing
I have owned many big block engines over the years, and still have a couple of 390s and 428s. The 428 engines are torque monsters, and don't need much help. I have the Ford factory performance book, but won't have time to look for specific information until tomorrow. My experience is, that all the later heads are pretty good, and I have run the heads with soft seats for 20 years, with no valve wear issues that would have required hardened seats. However, I do use a gasoline additive. If I had the money, I would buy the aluminum heads, just to get the weight down. Just switching to an aluminum manifold, saves a bunch of weight. I would buy the aluminum heads before even going to the Edelbrock carb and manifold, unless the intake manifold you are replacing is the low riser version. Bob
You have quite a mutt there- but mutts can be the best dogs. D2 heads will be fine, they are basically the same as the C8 heads except they have hardened exhaust seats- medium-riser type high, short high velocity intakes, and the lower, later exhaust ports- beware as you look for headers, most of the later pickup type heads will be for the low ports. So you have late pickup heads, 3.98 crank for sure, 65 valve covers and an early dampener, not a bad mutt, should be a 410 or 428, either one will be a strong torquer. Can't go wrong with an Oregon cam if you give them an honest description of what it will be for, or something like an off the shelf 268H will work fine. If you really just want a torquer and get some mileage, the Performer 390 will be fine, but will run out of breath if you wind it up- which you say you don't care about. An unmodified Streetmaster or Street Dominator will be stronger, and not give up much on the bottom or mileage
Good info, thanks guys! New heads sound swell, but $1,500.00....My dads friend owns Cylinder Head Service here in town. I bet 3-400.00 will get mine up to snuff. I am going to look at my heads this evening. I actually had a thread on this truck/engine about a year ago trying to figure out if the engine was a 428 before I bought it. I found it and mentioned there it had C4 heads...my memory is slipping with age, I can't even remember my own words
Unleaded gasoline was mandated for cars in 1975 if my memory is correct, and not until a few years later in heavier trucks. So those D4 heads may well have unhardened exhaust seats.
If you don't mind spending some bucks on it, I'd put in a stroker kit. If you want tugboat torque, there ain't no replacment for displacement! I agree on throwing on a set of Eddy heads, right out of the box. Rebuilding the old heads seems to cost a fortune now days.
Never heard of any D4 FE heads, don't know how that one got started, but myths die hard- pretty sure the D2 pickup heads ran until the end- with hardened exhaust seats. They were pretty much the same as the C8AE heads, except for the induction hardened exhaust seats. If it indeed a 410 or 428, it already has more than enough compression for a low-RPM, small-cammed chugger- he specified a chugger, not a hot rod engine
I don't know a lot about FEs, only experience with them is building the Mysterion running engine but from my limited research, there really isn't much difference in any FE heads other than the obvious differing valve sizes.
Well I’m a big dummy. The exhaust manifolds are D2’s, the heads are C4AE-G’s which after researching for a minute look like a decent head. So after al that I’ll probably just stick with them
Yes, the C4 heads are pretty decent, and like Gene mentions above, the D2 heads were used on pickups through the end in 1976, and all the D2 heads have induction hardened exhaust seats. I will probably catch some heat for this, but to me, the Performer intake is basically an aluminum copy of the 4 barrel S intake that was introduced in 1966, which is a fairly decent manifold for a pickup. The Performer will save some weight, but the Performer RPM is a much better choice for performance if one is buying new. You may also find that a 600 cfm carb will give you all want in a truck motor, with really nice response down low. However, this is a hot rod forum, so...
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