Resident Engine Builder Published on Engine Labs

[Royce]

My sister-in-law has a line she uses when she runs into these types .. conceited. know it all  braggart (numerous in the corvette crowd)   She will say:  "I am sorry your penis is so small"

[chilly460]

Think the guy is just one of those strange socially awkward types.  He throws shade at all types of designs on his page, but his pet vehicles are stock mid 80s S10 and Blazers.  Odd duck. 

[Gaugster]

Couldn't resist...

[Joey120373]

That guy,….. wow, would comment but I live in rural fly-over country, and I happen to disagree with him, so there fore I am not anywhere near smart enough. So I’ll just leave alone, gotta remember to not feed the trolls.

Great work Brent, can’t wait to see the next version, those new pistons look like they should do the trick.

[WerbyFord]

I got a kick out of the last reader comment, "Do I see some sort of adapter to allow use of a 351C manifold?"  FE Power, still flying under the radar...

Did anyone see the other comment? 

"The poorest engineered of all of the 60's engines to come out of Detroit. A wedge style combustion chamber with symetrical intake ports. The worst lubrication system and an extremely heavy engine block for its diminutive 352 cubic inches. Only an emotional "Ford lover" would build this joke of an engine."

That was from a big dork named Dennis Moore, who apparently is a professional armchair engine builder.  Either that, or a Chevy guy.

There's some iffy engineering in the FE (exhaust valves too near the edge, washboard & ledge in the exhaust port, backwards valve cover bolts) but that is pretty minor stuff and NOT what Dennis Moore mentioned.

Ford's big 352 mistakes had nothing to do with the engine, which by the way was from the 1950s, not 1960s as DM seems to think.

1958 brought out the
Ford 352
Chevy 348
Mopar 350 & 361
All similar "big blocks" of the day, all low-priced affordable car market.
Heavy? The 352 was about 40 lb heavier near as I can figure, but also had a taller deck.

Ford's mistakes (other than the trivia I just mentioned) were corporate mistakes, not engine mistakes:
1. 352/300hp was WAY overrated as we all know. Shoulda been rated about 260-270hp. I guess Ford wanted the 352/300 to "make" 300hp to replace the 312/300 F-code of 1957 which was not going to happen with the corners that were cut along the way.
Chevys base 348-4v was only rated at 250hp, just about right on. The 352/300 was stronger but not 50hp stronger.

2. Chevy and Mopar offered their new "Base Big Blocks" but also lots of options, right from 1958:
348/250-4v base
348/280-6v
348/300-4v solid
348/315-6v solid
These all Gonkulate darn near their ratings, which may be why there are a lot of NHRA 348 wins and very few for the 352/300.

Mopar had options too:
350/275-4v
350/295-4v
350/305-8v aka Christine
361/305-4v
361/320-8v
The Gonkulator feels that these were a bit overrated (maybe 5% on average) but at least there were numerous OPTIONS, even in 1958.

Sadly, FoMoCo repeated this same blunder in 1966, with the 390GT:
1. Overrated at 335hp. Good engine, just rated too high - a trap that began in 1958.
2. No options other than the unobtainable 427. FoMoCo parts bin was overflowing by 1966 so no excuse this time.

I think DM was just jealous and making stuff up. But hey, without the good old Ford-vs-Chevy-vs-Mopar rivalries, this era of history wouldnt be complete!

[67xr7cat]

Well if we want to pick on the FE I'd say the narrow rod journal and half a head intake biggest issues. Now the whole intake other than harder to seal and r&r actually was a plus as it allowed a better transition to the head.

Seems either you like the FE or you don't.  Nothing from the 60's or 70's will make 1.5hp/ci without a bunch of work. Of course the hemi and canted valve stuff not as hard, but still needs some rubbing. Now a days with a coyote, gen 3 hemi, or ls fairly easy do. A 6.0l ls can do 530hp with just a cam change.

Just is what it is. I have an old autolite box with the racing GT40 car logo on it. Always found it cool and says it all about ford racing and the FE back in the 60's.