Guess the horsepower game, 1961 Ford 390

[blykins]

This 390 is for a customer's 1961 Thunderbird.   

He sent it to me a few months ago so that I could figure out where the horrible thrashing sound came from.   When I received it, I went ahead and put it on the dyno and wasn't even able to make a complete pull on it because the thing sounded like a combine on the inside.  There's a good reason for that, the previous builder put a new style cam/timing set in a block that was not drilled/tapped for a thrust plate.  The cam was moving so much that lifters were being actuated by the wrong lobes!  I digress...

We have corrected that little faux-pas by drilling and tapping the block for thrust plate bolts. 

In addition, it got a new set of Racetec custom pistons, the rods were resized and fitted with ARP bolts, the crankshaft was ground, a custom hydraulic roller camshaft was slid in, the heads got 11/32" stainless SI valves along with some modern dual valve springs, and the cast iron intake was ditched for an early aluminum that has a breather hole on the rear instead of a road draft tube connection. 

I had originally stripped and repainted (Ford Argent Silver) the factory Thunderbird valve covers, but after putting them on the engine, they were so bent/warped that I don't think they will ever seal up.  I'm not a body man, so my customer asked me to put on a new set of baldy valve covers and if he ever wanted to swap back to the originals, he could find someone to try and straighten them. 

So, here's what we are looking at:



Waiting on a fuel pump to show up along with a few other minor details, but it should be ready to dyno as soon as all the planets align. 

Per the spirit of the game, the one who gets closest to the corrected peak hp without going over will win some Lykins Motorsports goodies. 

The specs:

*Factory 390 block, honed with torque plates to 4.091", mains honed with ARP main bolts, decks squared
*Factory connecting rods, resized, fitted with ARP rod bolts
*Factory 390 crankshaft
*9.6:1 compression ratio
*Mahle 1.5/1.5/3mm standard tension ring pack
*King main bearings, coated Federal Mogul rod bearings
*Custom Lykins Motorsports hydraulic roller, 219/227 @ .050", 109 LSA, 103.5 ICL, .590" lift
*Morel standard travel hydraulic roller lifters
*Factory style pan with Melling M57B oil pump
*Factory distributor recurved and fitted with Pertronix module
*Cloyes billet timing set
*Factory C1AE cylinder heads, 2.09"/1.65", 11/32" SI stainless valves
*Lykins Motorsports non-adjustable roller rockers
*Trend pushrods
*His carb is a Slayer 650, but he's wanting to try other carburetors and hopefully end up with something that will look more period.  For the intents and purposes of the dyno session, we will be using the Slayer.

Happy guessing!

[Heo]

402 hp

[DuckRyder]

375.

[My427stang]

367/440

[machoneman]

418 hp

[shady]

390

[wowens]

357

[Gregwill16]

395

[jwrmach1]

410

[KsHighboy]

Stock cam heads?

[KsHighboy]

Meant to say, stock heads? Any porting or anything?

[blykins]

No porting. 

[BigBlueIron]

428

[Royce]

341

[70tp]

360

[Joe-JDC]

364/434   Joe-JDC

[ToddK]

372hp

[frnkeore]

393 @ 4900

[475fetoploader]

401hp

[stubbie]

355

[KsHighboy]

362hp
409tq

[bsprowl]

416 HP

[6667fan]

371

[driveamerican]

375/440

[BBFORDFAN]

378/430

[fryedaddy]

388 hp

[Stangman]

Ok 392 HP
     438 TQ

[oldiron.fe]

    hp 385

[troublemaker427]

357 hp

[WerbyFord]

Well in the Gonkulator it depends a little on which intake, and of course depends a LOT on headers vs iron.
So here are 4 depending on what you run on the dyno. Assuming a 1" 4-hole spacer on all the intakes.

35t418 51p372 (Torq 418 at 3500, Powr 372 at 5100) your usual dyno headers and 390HP intake
34t408 50p358 with 352HP intake

36t408 51p343 with 2" flat iron logs and 390HP intake
35t400 50p333 with 352HP intake

Good luck Brent and thanks for helping keep the FE hobby alive!

NOTES FOR FUN:
* A 600 Holley cost about 3hp on top, nothing down lower. A side hung 600 would look very period correct.
I also gonkulated the dyno headers & 390HP intake version with:

36t424 52p383 stone stock C8OE-N CJ heads
36t423 54p392 stone "stock" CCJ heads (not really from Canada, "dreamer" heads I guess)
I am still learning about those amazing CCJ heads. They may well explain why "Cobra Jet Corner" is so big back in the NHRA Superstock era.
The 428CJ was totally dominant in the SS/8.50 to SS/10.00 classes. Just a sporadic winner in Stock class. I think the CCJ heads were one of many factors.
Hard to find data on these heads, still hunting.

[lowriser]

366 hp

[RougeRiverForeman]

369hp

[Twinibeam66]

389

[Adam Dice]

376

[447 Stroker]

336

[TTA89]

When does it go on the dyno?

My guess... 396

[blykins]

When does it go on the dyno?

My guess... 396

It's been dyno'd and shipped.    It made 390 hp.

[yellercat]

383

[shady]

Am I the winner winner?

[WerbyFord]

When does it go on the dyno?

My guess... 396

It's been dyno'd and shipped.    It made 390 hp.

I'm just catching up.
Results in dyno section, here:

http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=9879.0

DYNO:
Torq 458
Powr 390 at 5400

When I Gonkulate it as built in the dyno section (a bit different than above)
Torq 424 at 3600
Powr 387 at 5200

So:
1. This proves to me that the old "not cool" 390HiPo 4v intake is every bit as good as I thought,  maybe better.
2. This fits with my 4-intake shootout, where, up to 330ft and 60mph, The 390HiPo intake was the quickest of the 4 intakes I tested on my 4400 lb 3.00 geared dog (390HiPo vs 428PI vs Ed RPM vs Iron-Z)
3. Note the dyno made 34 ftlb more Torq than the Gonkulator. That's some incredible torq from this build.
4. Remember that when this intake came out, USA had not yet put a man in space. In fact IIRC, Ike was still President.

EDIT NOTE: JFK had likely won the election already, but the 390/375-4v is featured in Dec 1960 Hot Rod, so I figure Ike was still in office. Very visionary of Ike to build all those freeways, he must have seen the 1960s cars coming.

[427John]

When does it go on the dyno?

My guess... 396

It's been dyno'd and shipped.    It made 390 hp.

I'm just catching up.
Results in dyno section, here:

http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=9879.0

DYNO:
Torq 458
Powr 390 at 5400

When I Gonkulate it as built in the dyno section (a bit different than above)
Torq 424 at 3600
Powr 387 at 5200

So:
1. This proves to me that the old "not cool" 390HiPo 4v intake is every bit as good as I thought,  maybe better.
2. This fits with my 4-intake shootout, where, up to 330ft and 60mph, The 390HiPo intake was the quickest of the 4 intakes I tested on my 4400 lb 3.00 geared dog (390HiPo vs 428PI vs Ed RPM vs Iron-Z)
3. Note the dyno made 34 ftlb more Torq than the Gonkulator. That's some incredible torq from this build.
4. Remember that when this intake came out, USA had not yet put a man in space. In fact IIRC, Ike was still President.

Regarding item 4 unless your including the 352 HP intake with it, Kennedy was  pres then and while we were close to a man in space the original 7 were still perturbed to see a test rocket blow up on the launch pad occasionally.

[turbohunter]

I had heard Ike built the freeways in order to move troops and equipment around quickly in case of invasion. Remember the time we were in back then.

[machoneman]

I had heard Ike built the freeways in order to move troops and equipment around quickly in case of invasion. Remember the time we were in back then.

True, or mainly true. I'd read that as C-in-C of all forces in Europe, he and other senior commanders were impressed by Hitler's building of the Autobahn which was done primarily to move troops to all corners of the Third Reich.

[Dumpling]

Military use is why the bridge abutments are kept to an angle that military vehicles can easily climb in the event that the bridge itself is destroyed.

[Dan859]

I've had ex-military guys tell me that the interstates were intentionally designed with the straightaways able to be used to land planes on, in case the airport runways were damaged.