1969 Ford Mustang FE 390 S Advice & Help

[1969-Mustang]

Well To Start Off, Hope I'm Finally In The Right Place, I Have Accounts On A Ton Of 1969 or Classic / Vintage Mustang Forums, I Asked Them So What Would Happen If I Were To Take Out My 302 Small Block For a 390 4V FE Big Block, And What's The Difference Between a 360 and a 390 (I Was Originally Planning on Swapping a 360 / 390 That The Owner Claimed Out Of a F350 So I Figured It Was a 360 And I Decided To Go For An Original 390 S Code) Everyone Told Me That There Horrible To Put Performance Into And They Cost Way Too Much, Just Build a 351W or Your 302, But That's What They Suggested, I'm Still Sticking With The 390, I'm Going With a Detroit Speed Aluma-Frame With The FE Mounts So It'll Clear It Plus It Deletes The Factory Strut Towers, My Question Is If I Put a 390 4V, Do I Have To Modify My Original Gas System, Because I Was Originally Planning On Putting a Fast EZ Efi System On It Anyways, Also I Really Don't Want To Bore a Motor, Is It Neccessary (Sorry If It's a Dumb Question) But I Wanna Stay As Close To Original As I Can, But Knowing That FE Motors Weigh 100 Pounds At The Least Then a Small Block Aluminum Heads and Intake, I Wanna Put Aluminum Water Pump, Intake, Heads, Etc. Any Advice or Ideas On Where I'm Going? Thanks

[ec164]

Welcome! YES your in the right place(forum)!! Their are several very knowledgeable people here that can tell you, not just engine parts but what you will need for the installation, and many also own Mustangs with FE Power...................Al

[ScotiaFE]

I had to look up that Detroit Speed front end.
It looks really expensive and heavy.

https://www.detroitspeed.com/1964-1970-mustang-products/032050-aluma-frame.html

A stock front end is really light and can be made to handle really well for a modest amount of $$$
and combined with a well planned FE you can pretty much out do any small block 69 Stang,
for looks and go.
How fast do you want your car?

[bn69stang]

A 390 with alum heads , intake , water pump , and headers only 490 lbs , thats light for a big block .. Bud

[1969-Mustang]

Welcome! YES your in the right place(forum)!! Their are several very knowledgeable people here that can tell you, not just engine parts but what you will need for the installation, and many also own Mustangs with FE Power...................Al

Sweet Glad I Finally Found The Right Forum!! 

I had to look up that Detroit Speed front end.
It looks really expensive and heavy.

https://www.detroitspeed.com/1964-1970-mustang-products/032050-aluma-frame.html

A stock front end is really light and can be made to handle really well for a modest amount of $$$
and combined with a well planned FE you can pretty much out do any small block 69 Stang,
for looks and go.
How fast do you want your car?

I'm aware of the price, I know a few people and an old friend of mine got me a price around $4500 plus I'm going with ridetech shocks so I'm not gonna use the ones they supply, I'm also going to do a cobra rearend IRS swap, and I'm going to be doing road course and street as a daily driver and I want to do an article on the aluma-frame along with other components, just curious about a FE

[jayb]

Well To Start Off, Hope I'm Finally In The Right Place, I Have Accounts On A Ton Of 1969 or Classic / Vintage Mustang Forums, I Asked Them So What Would Happen If I Were To Take Out My 302 Small Block For a 390 4V FE Big Block, And What's The Difference Between a 360 and a 390 (I Was Originally Planning on Swapping a 360 / 390 That The Owner Claimed Out Of a F350 So I Figured It Was a 360 And I Decided To Go For An Original 390 S Code) Everyone Told Me That There Horrible To Put Performance Into And They Cost Way Too Much, Just Build a 351W or Your 302, But That's What They Suggested, I'm Still Sticking With The 390, I'm Going With a Detroit Speed Aluma-Frame With The FE Mounts So It'll Clear It Plus It Deletes The Factory Strut Towers, My Question Is If I Put a 390 4V, Do I Have To Modify My Original Gas System, Because I Was Originally Planning On Putting a Fast EZ Efi System On It Anyways, Also I Really Don't Want To Bore a Motor, Is It Neccessary (Sorry If It's a Dumb Question) But I Wanna Stay As Close To Original As I Can, But Knowing That FE Motors Weigh 100 Pounds At The Least Then a Small Block Aluminum Heads and Intake, I Wanna Put Aluminum Water Pump, Intake, Heads, Etc. Any Advice or Ideas On Where I'm Going? Thanks

Here's my two cents:

- Your original fuel system probably has lines that are too small to feed a performance oriented FE, plus you should have an electric pump for the EFI system anyway.  Its not that tough to replace the factory fuel lines with a 1/2" aluminum line, which will give you more fuel capacity than you will probably ever need.

- Boring an engine isn't a big deal, and if the engine you are starting with has a lot of miles on it, boring is probably advisable.  And if you are going to take the engine apart to bore it, you might consider a stroker kit; they are extremely popular for 390s, and will increase your cubic inches to about 445 without adding any significant weight to the engine.  The FE might be 100 pounds heavier than a similarly equipped 302, but if you stroke a 302 to 347 and compare it to a stroked 445" 390, the extra hundred pounds is more than offset by the power from the extra 100 cubic inches.  And you can't tell by looking at the engine from the outside, so if you want to maintain an original 390 look, a stroker kit is a great way to do that while still making a lot more power.

- My suggestion for an easy, lightweight FE with 500 ft-lbs of torque, 450 HP, and under 500 pounds complete:  Stock 390 block with 4.25" stroker kit, Edelbrock heads, an aluminum Edelbrock water pump, an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Holley 750 double pumper carb, Comp 282S solid cam or an equivalent hydraulic, and a decent set of headers (FPAs work well in FE Mustangs).  I did a similar build for $6000, featured in Car Craft several years ago; here's a link:

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/ccrp-0808-ford-390-fe/

Good luck on the project!

[RM69]

.

[RM69]

- My suggestion for an easy, lightweight FE with 500 ft-lbs of torque, 450 HP, and under 500 pounds complete:  Stock 390 block with 4.25" stroker kit, Edelbrock heads, an aluminum Edelbrock water pump, an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Holley 750 double pumper carb, Comp 282S solid cam or an equivalent hydraulic, and a decent set of headers (FPAs work well in FE Mustangs).  I did a similar build for $6000, featured in Car Craft several years ago; here's a link:

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/ccrp-0808-ford-390-fe/

Good luck on the project!

I have a 69 Mach 1 390 and that is almost exactly what I want my engine build to be. But I will be installing a Shaker so instead of the RPM intake I'll use either an iron CJ, aluminum PI, or a Holley Street Dominator. I'll need a little more advice on that once I get to that stage.

[rockhouse66]

There is a version of the Blue Thunder intake that will work with the shaker FYI.  Be careful because BT makes a few different configurations.