390 FE

[sanddoc]

just thinking
 In 61 you could get a 390 solid lifter with 375 HP... ok everyone makes up numbers.
but in today's word would you not think with roller lifter, roller rocker,
an aluminum edelbrock intake, and say 750 cfm Carb that you could 400 hp of
it, with out doing any porting, or increase in valve size.
 Another question is with the roller setup you should not need to adjust the
rockers as often as some of the wear is eliminated
I get a kick every time I watch some auto show, or auction, and they say
"big block"  meaning chevy. Hell I've yet to hear anyone state what is a big block
or small block, I've even seen were they use the spacing between the heads!!!!
 Fords first OHV engine you could say are small block, then the FE came out in
57\58 with a 332\352 and up she went.
 I'm suppose to go pick up a 390 today, have no need for it, but for the price
I can live with it...
 I want to thank all of you who put up with me last week about what heads and
block what  it could be. In the end you just have to buy what it is,
 

[thatdarncat]

One clarification, the Ford Y-block ( 292/312 & others ) introduced in 1954 was not Ford's first production OHV engine, Another engine family commonly called the "Lincoln y-block" came out in 1952. They were used in Lincolns & Mercury's thru 1957 and heavy duty trucks into the 60's with displacements from 279 to 368 c.i. These engines also had success in racing including the famous Mexican road races of the early 50's.

375 HP on the '61 390 has been shown to be fairly accurate by others. As the exhaustive dyno testing Jay did for his book showed, the evolutionary changes Ford was making to the FE at that time were working well. The "Shorty" cast iron headers introduced in 1960 were probably one of the biggest improvements over the very restrictive flat manifolds used on non-Hipo FE's. The 1961 aluminum intake also  showed significant gains over the 1960 version. A dual point distributor was part of the package allowing the higher RPM of the solid lifter cam to be utilized without ignition misfire. In the industry as a whole higher octane gasolines were being developed which allowed the manufacter's to steadily up the compression ratios. So yes, 400 HP out of a 390 isn't very hard simply by picking some good basic parts.

[sanddoc]

thanks Kevin for the reply, I do know about the Lincoln engine.
 just did not mention it..
375 HP is nothing to sneez at for that time.  Even the 352 had a 360 hp engine.
best

[sanddoc]

Well I passed on the "390"?  No real reason why, maybe because the deal took so long
buyers remorese before the buy... hahaha
  I'm now looking at a 66 390  10.5.1  315HP    $500  of course I'm not paying that
much..
 But its a better start then the other one.. set of roller rockers and a performer
intake and staying with a 9510 carb. Big breathing carb...
I'll assume  (there's that word) that it's a hydro cam\lifter which can be changed.
when the money comes in..

[BH107]

One clarification, the Ford Y-block ( 292/312 & others ) introduced in 1954 was not Ford's first production OHV engine, Another engine family commonly called the "Lincoln y-block" came out in 1952. They were used in Lincolns & Mercury's thru 1957 and heavy duty trucks into the 60's with displacements from 279 to 368 c.i. These engines also had success in racing including the famous Mexican road races of the early 50's.

375 HP on the '61 390 has been shown to be fairly accurate by others. As the exhaustive dyno testing Jay did for his book showed, the evolutionary changes Ford was making to the FE at that time were working well. The "Shorty" cast iron headers introduced in 1960 were probably one of the biggest improvements over the very restrictive flat manifolds used on non-Hipo FE's. The 1961 aluminum intake also  showed significant gains over the 1960 version. A dual point distributor was part of the package allowing the higher RPM of the solid lifter cam to be utilized without ignition misfire. In the industry as a whole higher octane gasolines were being developed which allowed the manufacter's to steadily up the compression ratios. So yes, 400 HP out of a 390 isn't very hard simply by picking some good basic parts.

Add to that the significantly higher compression ratios on the early hipo engines, and the hipo 390 had very efficient shaped combustion chambers.