Take pride in your Ford bashing my friend. I have always heard that you have to be good at something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_FE_engine wikipedia even says "relativley light weight medium block" again I am a chevy guy but I beleive Ford has done quite a bit to mold what the automotive world is I just find I have better luck and with GM products still own a Ford RV with a 460 think its a good set up just not a fan of the 8MPG going down hill with a tail wind. maybe swap in a 6.9 IDI non turbo motor or a 7.3L powerstrock for fuel economy and keep the heavy but bullit proof c-6
There have been less Pinto's that went boom than Chevy trucks with the gas tanks that were mounted outside the frame. The difference was the amount of press Given to the Pinto cases when Iacocca made his statement that "safety doesn't sell" along with the internal memo, which turned out to be false about the potential failures and that made the public go a bit crazy. Yet the interesting this is, while the infamous Pinto fire legal case happened in 1972, the cars continued to sell very well through 1980, with well over 3 million sold - I guess the public wasn't that worried afterall.
Actually a damn good little car too! I had a couple of them, one of which was given a Viking funeral of sorts in White Bear lake north and east of St.Paul about thirty years ago.
The Ford flathead was plentiful, inexpensive and had lots of speed equipment available. The SBC is plentiful, inexpensive, and lots of speed equipment available. The SBC is the flathead of our day. And I agree, Ford screwed up by not providing interchangeability.
Probably not a great one to bring up. The J car was a failure as designed, although it was fast, it was aerodynamically unstable and killed Ken Miles during testing at Riverside when it went airborne and the honeycomb chassis did not hold up as designed, crushed and burst the car into flames. The body style was abandoned and the MkIV was developed. Of the 12 J car chassis that were built, J1 was crushed by Ford for structural testing (some of the parts, like the spindles, wheels and some castings, were subsequnetly sold and it was "remade"), J2 was the one in which Ken Miles was killed. J3 was a test mule. J4 through J8 became MkIV cars and were raced extensively (but this was not J-car body work) J10 became an open cockpit Can Am car (as I believe J9 did, although it was not apparently raced as such). J11 and J12 were left as chassis only, but many years later KarKraft did make MkIV's out of them
You are right about those Chevy trucks with saddle tanks. Chevys answer to the Pinto. I like some Fords (with Chevy motors)
I always thought it was Gorgeous - too bad it didn't work. I had an Aurora HO slot car of it at the time and due to it's short lived history, no one believed it was based on a real car. It was Tan and Brown and quite striking.
Never would have believed that would come from your mouth (or should I say fingers! There's hope for you afterall
1965 Thunderbird taillights with 64 bezels very cool. The basic tub is the GT40 mkIV. in fact all the MkIV serial #s start with a J
No I didn't. I included the 351W because it is in the same engine family. But even without the Windsor, all the information I gave about firing order, engine imbalance, rod bolts, water pumps, block differences, timing cover differences, brackets, and dipstick location is all valid even when only discussing 260/289/302s. I didn't even mention the block changes for roller cam engines. The running changes made to SBF engines throughout the decades is enormous. PS, no need to be defensive, I've had a lot of SBFs and I like them. I even put one in my Plymouth wagon.
Yes there are lots of variations between the sbf , it has also been shown there are lots of variations in the sbc too. Also you are giving the sbf more credit than it deserves in the rod bolt sizes Lets face it neither of them is perfect.
Fords what is not to like?? Sometimes a little difficuilt with pulleys but we still have the good old Flat Heads..It still is nice seeing a Ford in a Ford!!
Bingo- and why I'd like to get you to those vintage races to see for yourself. I've been able to make just about anything run well, because I've had wrenches in my hands since about age 5, and built my first engine from scratch at 10- a Wisconsin V4. Pistons all go up and down the same. Also spent quite a few years crew chiefing and tuning roundy rounders up to a 410 sprinter, even played with the World of Outlaws a few times (actually we pretty much played behind them with most of the other locals, but pitted between Sammy Swindell and one of the Kinsers at Calistoga in '03- them boys play hard)- wasn't my favorite engine but I knew how to make it run its best, and the owner/driver, speed shop owner (who lives across the street) and the engine builder are all good friends and was helping them out. And that aluminum 410 Shaver engine didn't actually have one single Chebbie part in it anywhere- the internals are pretty much the same at that level, and as has been said, everybody has their own version of a Cleveland top end these days- the basic design just works
I still have my 1/24 Cox Chaparral 2E slot car, the one with the movable wing- worked just like the real car, the motor is on a pivot and moves the wing for braking.
I worked on hundreds of them and seen thousands more on the road, never heard a quibble about one exploding until the class action lawsuit came out yrs. later, my take was it was more of a trumped up ruse to make money for lawyers. I owned one at the time the suit was settled that had taken a direct hit from the side at about 40 mph, no fire. My settlement was a coupon from GM for a small discount on the purchase of a new GM vehicle. Did me no good, but you can bet the attorneys were well paid.
After having a few Y-blocks I wonder how the Chevy guys put up with a distributor in that location, and yeah, the extra wight/width is mostly ignored. Each to their own - if we ALL had a sbc in our cars the world would be boring!
I do remember all the hoopla about those saddle tanks and those lawyers always get the biggest piece of the pie and average joe is left with crumbs. Never fails.
What are you putting this in? I have a "5 bolt' SBF adaptor to an early V8 trans, have the tin cover for the back of the motor, might be able to dig up a flywheel and clutch plate too. Lemme know...
NBC rigged the tests used on dateline with rockets to make the tanks explode on the trucks they showed on TV exploding from side impact. It made for good TV, but eventually the truth came out. I don't believe what I see on TV, especially on news programs.
Pure Physics. Where is the oil under heavy acceleration, at the back. Where is the pump at the back, what drives the pump?, the distributor, that's Why.
And what is one of the biggest causes of timing instability? The whipping action of the cam when you drive the distributor off the back side. That's the main reason why Chevrolet went to front distributorship location on their NASCAR motors years ago! It's very easy to control oil sloshing in pan design, and it is really only a problem in Drag Racing anyway.
The Jalopy Journal
