Daily driver

[BigBlockFE]

Who daily drives a car or truck with a Ford FE in it, if so what are the specs of your engine and how does it behave in the modern real world of driving..

[cjshaker]

I daily drove my '68 F250 4wd for 18 years until I had to stop 2 years ago because of rust issues. Then it became an "as needed" deal, until I parked it for good last year. My "new" truck to replace it is a '70 F350. I'll also drive my 390 '65 Galaxie everyday, as long as the weather's nice. No winters or rain just because I don't want it to start rusting. It's just got a stock 390.

The engine in the truck was a 390, solid cammed with .227 duration, mid .500s on lift, 112 LSA, so it was easy on the valvetrain. New Process 435 "granny" 4spd with 4.10 gearing and a locked front axle. It ran on any gas from 89-93. I never had a single issue driving it daily, but I live in a rural area. I did often take it to local cities, out of necessity, and on long distance camping vacations. Still never had an issue, except for the idiots that think you need to take off from a stoplight and instantly accelerate to top speed. I couldn't even begin to count how many people almost rear-ended me when I  had to shift, but I still have that problem with every stick shift car/truck I have. I swear, I don't think there's hardly anyone left who understands what tailgating and MAINTAINING A SAFE DISTANCE is!

Driving an FE daily wouldn't be an issue unless you lived IN a big city. Then old braking systems have a hard time keeping up with modern drivers. Gas mileage also suffers from the acceleration rates that people drive today. And they wonder why their cars don't match "Factory Ratings"   In my conservative estimation, 95% of people on the road today drive like total freakin' IDIOTS! That's the only drawback to driving your FE daily, in my opinion.

Just last night I took my wife to dinner at a nice restaurant in the '09 GT. Driving 60mph on a 55 speed limit, some idiot with a car load of guys rides my butt, only 15ft behind me, max, for at least 5 miles. That's no exaggeration either. Finally STOMPS on it and blasts by me....only to get behind the car that's a couple hundred yards in front of me (which he soon blasted around). 7 miles later we pull into town at a stoplight and....you guessed it, I pulled up right beside him! The idiot risked lives, both vehicles and LOTS of gas, to gain NOTHING!! But this happens on a daily basis, many times.

Ok, rant over. What was the question?

[RJP]

Daily drivers, I have 2 that have D/D status. 1st: a 69 F-250 2WD, 390 C6, D-60 3.73 gears, stock lower end, cast flat top pistons, log ex. manifolds, D2 heads with SS valves, 2.09/1.65, hyd cam in the 270 deg range [I can't remember the exact specs as I built this engine in 1991] Stock iron "S" manifold, 600 cfm Holley and stock dist. with some tweaking of the advance curve. Runs good on Calif. 89 octane and gets 12.5-13 mpg. 2nd: 66 Fairlane GTA, 390, C6, 9" w/3.00 gears. Stock lower end, cast dish pistons, C6AE- 14 bolt heads, stock GT exhaust manifolds, SS valves 2.09/1.65, Hyd Crane cam 272/284, Edel. Streetmaster, 600 CFM, stock dist. and the usual advance tweaking, also runs good on Ca. 89 octane and gets 16-17 mpg hiway. A 3rd that is not exactly a DD anymore. 66 Galaxie, 428, C6, 9 3/8" 2.75 gear. Stock lower end, cast dish pistons. log manifolds, C1AE heads, 2.09/1.65, old 406 solid lifter cam 276/.479" Ford C7 P/I aluminum manifold, 600 Holley, stock dist. and the usual tweaking of the advance curve. Also runs ok on 89 octane with occasional 91oct. and gets 15.5-16 mpg hiway. All 3 have decent street mannners, dead nuts reliable and fuel mileage I can live with. It would be nice to get better fuel mileage, say 20 mpg but it just isn't happening with 50- 60 year old technology, big heavy cars/trucks and with an occasional heavy foot.   

[Rusty_Old_F250]

I've got a 73 f250 I drive every day. A couple years ago I put a used 390 in it and I put on my Holley 600, an Edelbrock performer, headers and I used this cam a buddy found for me. It's a custom grind intended for a marine motor, I can't remember the specs but it's tiny. Also has a granny 4spd. 12 MPG seems to be my average lately, very drivable and very torquey. Not bad for a 5200 lb truck! I have a feeling my mileage would be even better if I stuffed in the clark 5spd I'd got sitting out back...

I drive pretty slow, so I hung a railroad tie on the back for a bumper, it's a rare driver that'll get close to that!

Sam

[falcongeorge]

Well, Ill probably catch hell for this. Its not an fe, and brace yourselfs, its a chevy. I daily drive a s10 with a 355 with 10.5/1, aluminum heads and a 246@050 solid, 700r4 and 4.56s. Its actually a hell of a daily. I live in a suburb of a large city (Vancouver) the majority of my driving is 35-45 mph in moderate traffic with a stoplight every 3-4 blocks. It averages around 18 mpg if I use a reasonable level of restraint, runs 12.0s on drag radials, and its a shitload of fun when you downshift and stab it when one of those aforementioned morons starts riding your *ss. Funny most of them seem to back right off after they see both doors and 150' of posi. Great for hauling parts, engines and steel home in too, and I can park it in the Wal-mart parking lot and not worry about door dings.
Only thing I really hate is the 3.06 first gear in the 700r4, blows the tires off in first, then falls flat on its backside off the 1-2 shift. I will be putting one of those close ratio gear sets in it later this summer.

[BigBlockFE]

I figured most would be trucks, I have a 1974 truck FE ford sitting out back that one day im going to rebuild it cheap and use it on the farm...It's cool to see that some still drive them...

[turbohunter]

Yup, '74 F100 short box 4x4
'79 front end installed for the steering, brakes and axles.
Engine is a 105 block.
4.125x 4.125
D2 heads, roller rockers.
Comp 270HR
400hp 500tq
Drive it every single day in the hell of Los Angeles.
Stop and go every day. Yup 4 speed.
Mileage? 10 to 12.
If I worried about mileage I'd get a .......  Nevermind.

[abyars]

I drive the crew cab in my signature daily.  I've never been in the engine so I assume it's bone stock internally.  It is a 390 per the stroke test I did.  I run a Holley 500 cfm 2 barrel carb, a set of Stan's tri-y headers, edelbrock water pump and a Faron Rhoads rebuilt and recurved Duraspark distributor.  I also changed the plugs to FT spec spark plugs, I can't remember the part number. 

[ChiefDanGeorge]

It was my daily driver until I started biking to work, but my '63 Mercury Colony Park has a 390 in it.
I need to start an introductory message as I am here to get some 411 on an engine build.

[woodboatwayne]

I am building a daily driver with a 390, performer plus cam which reads like an RV grind. Will be put in front of a t85 overdrive in my 56 ranchwagon. I am tentatively planning to use a quadrajet because of the tiny primaries. I got some gasket matched cast iron heads
and a streetmaster intake also gasket matched in a trade. Maybe someone can tell me if the streetmaster intake can work under 2500rpm because of the strong signal to the quadrajet primaries? FE dual planes seem expensive and I already have the streetmaster.

[Lenz]

Could daily drive (if it ever stops pouring) my Galaxie, that was my goal from the start.  .030" over 390, 1/2" stroker with 9.8:1 dish pistons makes a very streetable 445. Heads and intake are Ed performer RPM, cam is flat tappet hydraulic Comp XE274HD.  Lift comes in at .565 w/1.76 ratio Harland Sharps.  Vac secondary 750 Holley.  Sounds great at idle, comes off idle sharp and runs strong.  Idles at  lights in town and cruises without issue.  MSD 6AL rounds it out.  Drove it through a pouring rain for 1/2 hour plus with no issues a couple of weeks ago.  Only real problems I've had were adjusting to and/or rebuilding pieces I got from as far away as Arizona into 1 coherent build.  First time I ever ran into a need to shim an FE starter outboard or to relocate the pivot for the clutch fork in the bell.   Won't do that again.....

Put it together knowing that I'll probably do more, but for now it's just right.

[Drew Pojedinec]

I daily drive (as much as I can) my 76 F100 with 390.  Great ride, wouldn't have it any other way.