427Stang,
  Yea, that's what I meant to say. I'm debating taking the 410 out of my 57. It's a sweet running motor but it's just too much for the car. I'm lucky if I get 15mpg on trips and it can't make the car that much faster drag racing because I can't put big enough tires on it. I've still got the 270hp 390 I had in it before and it gives me just as good of 60' times (2.1) as the 410. I'm through drag racing anyway. I've got a 66 Fairlane Convertible I'm restoring now and it will have a C6 in it. I think it will be better suited with the 410 in it. I've gotten as much as 21 mpg out of that little 390 and the car just seems to feel better than the 410 when driving it. I run a 570 avenger on the little 390 and it still sends me through the quarter in 15.2. The best I've gotten out of the 410 is 14.3. Thanks for your help when building that 410. It's a strong motor. Jim

Guys,
   Maybe you can help me out here. I've got a 410 in my 57 Fairlane with manual transmission external balanced flywheel.  If I pulled that engine out and used it in another car with an automatic transmission is there a way that you can balance a flexplate to match the engine without re-balancing the whole (crank, harmonic balancer) assembly again.

I've got a question maybe can get answered for me. I built this engine a few years ago with a cam that just had .500 lift and proceeded to put pistons in it that put it .010 down in the hole at TDC. I then used .020 X 4.42 head gaskets that gave me a .030 quench. My CR is 10.7 and my DCR is 8.0. It runs fine, that's not the problem. But, from day one this engine will smoke a little when idling and a little when you've got the rpm's wound up (both pipes about the same). After 30K miles it's always remained about the same. The other engines I've built had cast pistons, this is the first forged piston engine I've built. When someone asks me about the smoke I always just told them it's because I'm running a .005 clearance on the piston walls. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad and I don't use a lot of oil. I just wondered if you guys thought it was the quench or piston clearance causing it to smoke. I'm running Viton valve seals so I really don't think it's coming from the top. Thanks, Jim
 

Well, I got good news and bad news about the Powermaster XS 9506 starter I bought.
THE BAD NEWS FIRST:
I positioned the starter with the motor pointing straight down. That left the starter cable turned toward the back but what the heck. It'll work, I'll just put the cable on before installation. Got it all ready to go in and you couldn't insert the bottom bolt because the starter motor and flange hole were too close. That's alright I'll loosen the index screws, swivel the mounting flange around insert bolt in hole and re-index to correct position. That done I'm ready to install. OOPs, starter won't fit flat against bell housing mount. Starter motor is hitting the bottom ear on the block, bell housing bolt goes in that ear so I better not cut it off. Disassemble starter again and index starter motor until it just clears the block casing. Bolted it all up, hooked up the wires and just let it crank a short time to make sure it engaged correctly and turned motor over without any unusual noises. Proceeded to hook up header pipes 3 and 4. No. 3 went OK and No. 4 hit starter motor to where you couldn't connect the header. Took starter off and put it in the box ready to ship back to Summit.
Conclusion.
If your running Maddog Full Length Headers the No. 4 tube will keep you from using the indexing option on the 9506 Powermaster starter. If you didn't have a header pipe running straight down from No. 4 cylinder you could index the motor straight out toward the right tire without any problems. But then again you wouldn't need the damn starter if you didn't have header pipes running down by the starter creating heat in the first place, now would you.
THE GOOD NEWS:
NAPA has a lifetime warranty on their starters so they just replaced it. I'd bought it in the summer of 2012. So, it was two years old instead of a year old like I thought before. Anyway, I'm going to buy a thermal wrap for it ( hope it fits). Jim

UPDATE: New Napa rebuilt starter wouldn't restart the car after 5 min of engine running (thermo shield wrap installed also). Called Powermaster and he suggested 3131 OEM type starter they had. I ordered it. Also, he said throw that thermo wrap away. He said it just held in heat and Powermaster didn't want you to use them.

Thanks guys,
   I just ordered the PowerMaster XS 9506. I figure for an extra 35 bucks if it fails, their best failed. I'm working with a guy now on the cast shorty headers for my car and getting rid of the Maddog full length headers. I don't drag race it anyway so it may as well look like stock. He's asking a fortune for them but says that they aren't pitted and no welds or cracks. Hopefully between a 240 dollar starter and stock headers I won't have to replace starters from heat soak damage every year. Thanks again guys. Jim

I guess my point to you is.....................why not just pull it and make it right, bandaids seldom work in cases like this.

You're right, I should.
I had a heart attack last summer and I don't think I can physically crawl around the floor lifting engines and transmissions like I did before. I got a knee going out on me too. And, it'd be expensive to get someone else to take the time with a show car to ensure everything goes back like it should. It's the 57 Fairlane and I don't even have a power steering leak, anyone that knows 50's Ford power steering knows it's unusual to not have that leaking. The leak comes from the very bottom of the bell housing and I can have it sitting inside a catch pan by at least an inch. It should catch the drip while going down the road as well as being parked. 

I've diagnosed the oil leak on my new engine as coming from the rear main oil seal. I let the car warm up real good today and watched the oil drip from the bottom of the Lakewood Bell Housing. It drips one (1) drop of 10W30 every 2 - 2 1/4 minutes. I calculate it will drip 30 drops an hour or 1500 drops between oil changes. Since I am physically unable to pull the engine right now I was thinking of making a metal drip pan (@ 1 qt.) to fasten to the bottom of the Lakewood Bell Housing with a drain plug to catch the drops of oil between oil changes. I can make it so the bell housing sits down in the pan some to ensure the drip is dispersed inside the catch pan.
MY QUESTION IS THIS: Has this been done before and if so is there a ready made oil pan like I'm talking about already built. Thanks, Jim

I don't know if this will help you or not but when I built my 406 I didn't have the original balancer. So, knowing that the TDC mark was correct I advanced my timing until I got the highest vacuum I could attain (14") and backed it off one inch. Using a timing light with advance capabilities I determined the timing was @ 17 degrees BTDC. If I set the timing for anything less the engine sat there and loped and shook the car too much to allow comfortable city driving with my Broader C6 transmission. I then had a smooth idle at 650rpm. But, every time you tried to start the car it was quick to tell you the timing was advanced too far for easy cranking. So, to fix that I bought a Duraspark distributor setup that retards the timing 5 degrees when cranking the engine. It worked great. Jim