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FE Technical Forum / Re: Holley Prep for Dichromateing
« on: September 06, 2026, 12:41:50 PM »
The cat doesn't like it either.
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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: Tire recommendations for my '66 Galaxie
« on: September 01, 2026, 12:39:53 PM »
I've switched to Cooper Cobras from Radial T/As for a few reasons. #1 price. Coopers are on average 25-30% cheaper than the T/As. A big consideration to me as I have several cars that are date coding out. 10/11 years is my cutoff date. #2 Coopers have a higher speed rating than the T/As 118 to 112 mph [That doesn't mean much to me as I don't race anymore] and as an added bonus the Coopers have a longer tread life rating but that also means very little to me as I will never wear out a set of tires on any of my collectable cars. #3 Availability Coopers seem to be a bit more widely available than T/As and since I still need 14" tires and two sizes for my Fairlanes [215/70R14 front and 225/70R14 rear] the Coopers seen to have better availability of 14" tires. Since you mention a Galaxie I've switched from Radial T/As to Coopers using 245/60R 15s on 8.5"x15" wheel [front] and 275/60 15s on a 10"x15" wheel on the rear of my 66 Galaxie. Fills the large wheel wells up nicely.
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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: RockAuto question about parts and returns.
« on: August 27, 2026, 12:00:07 PM »
I also have been ordering parts from Rock Auto for many years and never had a problem with what I ordered so I never had to do a return. With that said if you can't get anywhere with RA try going through your credit card co. and file a complaint.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: aluminum block mains
« on: April 01, 2026, 02:08:36 PM »
Jay, is the expansion rate the same for steel and iron cranks?
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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: Starliner roof rail trim
« on: March 01, 2026, 04:18:22 PM »
Although I have never personally done it or needed to, I was told by people that have done it many times to use a "church key" bottle/can opener. Using the bottle end wrapped in tape to avoid damaging the surface, very gently pry up on the lower lip. Take your time and you should be able to remove the trim without damage.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: Lack of oil to rear lifters
« on: October 21, 2025, 05:14:20 PM »
Don't know if you remember but you joined us for lunch at the Nantucket in Crockett after one of the Fun Ford Sunday shows in Vallejo quite a few years ago.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: Lack of oil to rear lifters
« on: October 21, 2025, 01:09:35 PM »Try Al Hubbard Machine on Meekland Ave. Hayward. Talk to Wade but hurry as he is looking to close up shop and retire. I've dealt with that shop for well over 50 years when Al Hubbard owned the shop.
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[/quote]
Did you ever run into Cantrell in there? That and Hannan's
[/quote]Yes, many times. Almost always at Hannan's. I'd have lunch with Paul and friends once or twice a week many years ago.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: Lack of oil to rear lifters
« on: October 19, 2025, 01:55:47 PM »I had to go to Chicago for work, so I haven't been able to work on this in a while. Today I started it back up and got it warm enough to start making the noise again.Try Al Hubbard Machine on Meekland Ave. Hayward. Talk to Wade but hurry as he is looking to close up shop and retire. I've dealt with that shop for well over 50 years when Al Hubbard owned the shop.
Then I took both valve covers off and started it back up. The back three rockers on the driver's side had less oil flow than the front five and the passenger side all rockers looked the same with about the same amount of oil as the front rockers on the driver's side. So changing the lash didn't help oil flow to the back. I thought I took a good video of this, but when I went back to watch it, I forgot to hit record. I did get a good video of the engine warming up when the noise starts to happen.
When I figured out I didn't get a recording with the covers off I restarted the engine, but it must have cooled off a bit because it was now throwing oil everywhere. The back three on the driver's side still had less flow, but they were flowing as much as the front five were when it was hot.
Should these things be throwing oil all of the time? When it's hot and making the noise I'm getting a dribble of oil coming out of the roller tip of the rocker arm and a small puddle of oil on the spring retainer. A small paper dam about an inch higher than the springs mostly contains it. When the engine was colder there was more oil pooling and it was splashing off the tops of the springs and over the paper dam.
Unless someone has other things for me to try, it seems like I'm going to pull this engine. Things to check:
1) lifter bores worn / too big
2) Lifters coming out of the bore and unshrouding the oil band
3) Trash or maybe a restrictor in the lifter oil gallery
4) Cracks around the cam tunnel or oil gallery
I don't really have space to pull this engine where I'm at, and we might be moving soon where I would have more space to work so this isn't a project I can start right away.
Also, if anyone has a recommendation for a good FE machine shop in the Oakland - Stockton California area, I'm probably going to need one.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: Uncle Tony's Garage: Basphemy upon the FE
« on: May 29, 2025, 12:29:04 PM »
Does anyone see the irony of UT's example of the 426 hemi? Has a hole in the block you can drive a small car thru. I guess that is one of the downsides of the internet, anybody and everybody can be an "expert" on any topic they want by posting videos and blathering bullsh*t into the camera. The time I wasted watching that video was valuable time I'll never get back.
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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: Question for guys who have been to PRI
« on: December 01, 2024, 03:13:00 PM »Is it worth doing more than one day? I have been to SEMA and we were pretty beat up trying to see it in a day.Ross, I've never been to the PRI show in Indy but I have been to a few when they were on the West coast. Santa Clara, Sacramento, etc. I saw just about everything I wanted to see in one day and that included breakfasts with keynote speakers that took about an hour or little more. I'm sure the Indy show is a lot bigger now than when it was on the west coast. FWIW I much preferred the PRI show over SEMA by leaps and bounds. PRI is geared more to the hard core gear heads, engine, transmission, rearend, chassis builders and associated machine equipment/tooling whereas SEMA has a lot of accessories, headlights and tail lights, stereo systems, wheels and what ever is the latest fad that is sweeping the car world at the moment. But I'm sure a lot has changed over the years since I last went.
If anyone else is going let me know, maybe we can grab dinner.
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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: Tom Posthuma - Farewell to a great FE guy
« on: November 05, 2024, 03:07:56 PM »
Very sad to hear. I never met Tom but I enjoyed reading his posts as he was one of the more knowledgeable FE people on these forums. He will be missed. RIP Tom
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Non-FE Discussion Forum / Re: You Tube Video 1966 R Code Galaxie
« on: July 03, 2024, 07:01:58 PM »
Beautiful car. Who built those valuable BC/BD carbs? And did anyone notice the pos needle/seat assembles? Not Holley approved as any ham fisted wrench spinner will have those bowl threads stripped out in short order.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: Puzzle Time
« on: June 19, 2024, 02:54:30 PM »
Your problem of the baseplate to main body leakage is fairly common. It leaks from the fuel transfer passage that the base plate has going from the primary to the secondary. The main body warps at the 3 side screws on each side preventing a tight seal. The base gasket will look like it is compressed normally by 'reading' the imprint but after some time it loses some of its compression. Other problems related to this is it can affect the power valve passage seal at the baseplate as well as sucking air at the idle feed and transfer slot. I had this problem on an #1850 that's on my F-250 P/U
when I shut the engine off it would then leak raw fuel from the carb base as you described. Standard procedure on every Holley I rebuild is that main body base gets milled as well as both metering block surfaces.
when I shut the engine off it would then leak raw fuel from the carb base as you described. Standard procedure on every Holley I rebuild is that main body base gets milled as well as both metering block surfaces.
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FE Technical Forum / Re: Compression ratio
« on: December 29, 2023, 02:13:01 PM »
Frank...Stop trying to pick the fly shit out of the pepper. 
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FE Technical Forum / Re: big ,med, or small block
« on: November 26, 2023, 02:30:50 PM »The reason a 390GT can't run with a 396/375 is obvious when you look at the flow comparisons. The 390FE heads of the era only flowed in the 235-240cfm with the 406-427 heads flowing 250-260cfm. The best FE MR heads only flowed ~280cfm in 1966/67. Any 396 head would flow 290-310cfm and the hp heads flowed 320-330cfm. A 396 aluminum intake manifold would flow 390-410cfm, where the C6/7-F/H intakes would only flow ~285-290cfm, with the sidewinder J averaging 305cfm. I just within the last 3 months flowed 4 sets of 396 Stock Eliminator heads and 3 unported intake manifolds for a local racer who went to INDY this year. His heads flowed 320-330cfm and the intakes flowed 409-420 cfm average. The best SS FE heads I have had on my flow bench only flowed 305-320 cfm. The 428CJ heads only flow 260ish cfm and they would keep up with the 396SS in pure stock trim. The 427HR heads as cast flowed 285-290cfm, and the 8V intake manifold would flow 365cfm as cast and they were used in lightweight cars to make them competitive. All these FE heads could be improved by 10-15% but that is still not on par with the BBC if we are honest about them. Joe-JDCNot to question your findings regarding head flow and to a slightly lesser degree manifold flow but it needs to be taken into consideration overall average flow not just the peak numbers. What about the flow under the curve at various valve lifts? What about the manifold flow between the 375hp/396 aluminum high-rise piece to the 390's iron "S" manifold? The comparison is laughable. I agree that the 396/427 BBC heads will or at least should out flow almost any FE Ford head. But when actual cars are matched up the Chevelle and others against the Fairlane/Comet, the Fairlane [or for the sake of this argument] it was the Comet Cyclone 325hp/390 beats the Chevelle 325hp/396 This was gleaned from a vehicle comparison tests done many years ago by an Oldsmobile club testing 7 of the base engine muscle cars offered in 1967 that anyone could walk into the dealer and drive out with a typical muscle car of that time. IIRC the only car quicker and faster was the Dodge GTX 440. The Comet was #2 in 1/4 mile speed and ET. The Chevelle was almost full second slower than the Comet. My comments were more directed to the 325hp/390 that was not a high performance built engine and the comparison of that to the 375hp/396...Apples and Oranges perhaps?