FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => FE Technical Forum => Topic started by: thatdarncat on February 21, 2016, 08:34:06 AM
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For those members that get cable / satellite television, the Spike TV channel show Engine Power is going to build a 390 on the new episode that is on this morning ( Sunday Feb 21st. ) 9:30 am EST. Sorry, not much advance notice, not sure if the show repeats or is available online. It's always interesting to see if these people know what they're doing or continue to spread bad information.
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Oh Lord, if they're Chevy guys, expect a total disaster for sure! :o
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http://www.powernationtv.com/shows/engine-power
says available online 2/28
Yeah, I'm kinda scared to watch as well.
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Just watched the show and boy did they disrespect the ol'390! Right off they handicapped the build with only a 9.2 compression while using some good flowing aluminum heads and a good street/strip hyd. roller cam.
413 HP I believe was the max they got and they could have gotten more with 10.2 compression and some carb jetting maybe.
They kept calling it "Papa's truck motor"! ::)
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That went as well as I expected.The C/R was a joke.
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Was not impressed. They took short cuts and did not explain the rear seal install very good. Even left out the nails! Piston install was very lame as well as the intake install.
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Like their Chevy builds they could have put some stroke in it as the parts cost for it during a full build is about the same as using stock parts.
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Considering they have zero FE experience, I think "Papa's 390" held it's head up pretty good. It could have been so much better though.... :-[
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They said that the FE was never a performance engine, guess they never heard of a 406, 428 Cobra Jet, 427, 60s NASCAR racing, LeMans in the mid 60s, NHRA Stock and Super Stock,...........
Anybody else notice that they didn`t use a PCV valve, or install an oil fill tube or oil cap on the valve covers? Just a pair of old style breathers on the valve covers. I guess they never plan on changing the oil?
Also, although each time they advanced the dist timing, it picked up power, they said that for the last pull that they would advance it to 35 degrees, and leave it there. I guess trying a little more timing would just be too much work. Strange. At least they didn`t blow it up!
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Yes, the only engine ever to win in FIA distance races (i.e. LeMans), NHRA, NASCAR, AHRA, NASCAR drag racing (yes, NASCAR sanctioned drag racing, Kalitta's Cammer AA/FD in '67). No Chevy SBC or BBC ever did all of this.
Morons!
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Bob you should have told us all a lot earlier on that the F E was so famous , lol , yeah tried to watch the show but just could nt .. Bud
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How much Hp would they have gained by going from 9.2 to 10.2 compression with this style build?
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I have not seen the episode yet, so my comments are based on whats been written about it. Sounds like a normal Edelbrock build. I have done that one a couple times now and the power is about right at 410-420. The low compression is truck & towing or boost stuff - bumping it up would give +/-4% per full point. The timing is tied to the compression - with only 9.2 it would have been making more power with 38 degrees or so.
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I'd stick with Barry's numbers as it's based on real world experience. But, Wallace Racing, a website worth saving to your favs btw, does have a calculator to fool with.
http://www.wallaceracing.com/hp-cr-chg.php
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Bob you should have told us all a lot earlier on that the F E was so famous , lol , yeah tried to watch the show but just could nt .. Bud
Hah indeed! Funny but among Chevy fans, they have no idea of anything but Chevy stuff in racing, on the street, etc. Must be a recessive gene or something I guess.
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Just watched the episode online, what a disgrace........ :-[
A few beefs:
Prepped deck surface for mls head gaskets with 220 grit sanding block?
No mention of cam plug orientation, probably backwards.
No mention of the rear main side seal install.
Didn't seem worried about piston ring gap orientation.
Could've used feeler gauges while torquing rods.
Never checked endplay for cam/crank.
No mention of necked down stud to supply oil for rockers.
Didn't use damper spacer to install timing cover.
Didn't set dist. in while torquing intake for alignment.
Didn't check rocker geometry. Probably couldn't figure out how to adjust it.
9:1 comp. and only 35° timing.
A few things I picked up watching. Some were mentioned, and I'm sure I missed more......
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Hey..they only have 25 minutes to build and test it! ;D
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Luck would have it that the day this aired I stumbled upon it while flipping through channels. This was the first Horsepower TV show I've watched in years. Whether they left out info or could have done more with tuning, it was a plus in my book to see them feature an engine that all of us here like.
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I guess the on-line play date kicked in -- direct video link.
http://powernationtv.com/episode/EP2016-07/fords-390fe-engine-gets-attention
The JBA "COMPETITION READY" headers is an amusing stretch, they are obviously designed to be run with an exhaust system and almost non-existent collectors. Except for D'oh! ... the linked to mentioned JBA Headers Competition-Ready Headers 6813S are for BIG BLOCK RAT!
I think they did a pretty dam good job fitting the whole works in of about ten actual FE minutes of the 20 minute video -- they didn't miss a single advertiser or mentioning the parts mfg's which is fine. The click-on and go to the parts is impressive!