cylinder wall thickness

[fekbmax]

Like said before, regardless of what anyone say or anything you read that anyone wrote,. The best thing to do is sonic map it and know what you have. I been taking D3 and D4TE truck blocks out to 4.130 and 4.140 bore for years as well as a Couple 391 FT  blocks. Countless people say it can't or shouldn't be done, just as many say it can. Best thing you can do is sonic map it and find out for yourself what you really have. I'm willing to bet though that no 428 or any other FE or FT block could be taken out to a 427 bore. Less it just happens to be one of he freak blocks cast with the 427 cylinder's.
JMO.

[fryedaddy]

i believe you that no 428 block can be bored to 427,but i still think a c6me 428 block has thicker walls than a c6me-a 428 block.i have no intrest in trying to bore it that far.im just trying to verify the story that the c6me is thicker

[plovett]

Unfortunately, more often than not, what you read in print is simply not right. Jay and Barrys books are the exception to that.

Amen, Brother!

JMO,

paulie

[fryedaddy]

i still have not heard from JAY or BARRY on this subject all i want to know is,is a 66 c6me block thicker

[Barry_R]

We are crazy, stupid, unreal busy right now - - sorry that I can't really spend as much time on the various forums as I would like to.  I really enjoy the back & forth and the question and answer stuff - I learn a heck of a lot from the shared experiences.  Most of the time I am looking in at 11 at night or 5 in the morning (I'm having a slice of pepperoni right now and typing one-handed...   )

With around 50 or so blocks sonic checked this past year I can tell you that I have had perhaps two 390s that could safely go to a 428 bore.  That's it.  One of those actually had a "C" scratch in the bell like a Cobra Jet even though it was a 390 bore.  Split cylinder wall "standard bore" ebay 428s are the number two damaged goods engine that shows up here, right after the windowed 427s that show up on a regular basis.

I have no evidence of any 428 being thicker than any other.  We have checked a lot of them, but not as often as 390s.  The better ones do have the extra main web ala CJ....but the same walls.

[fryedaddy]

i guess i will let it go for now.if i can dig out my old books out of my barn i will post the article that read about the 66 428 c6me block.the guy who wrote about it was a engine builder in the 70s -90s

[fekbmax]

I should add that the blocks I have taken to 4.130 or 4.140 have all been used for drag racing only and all were filled with hardblock to within 1" of the deck. A couple i even set up as reverse flow but never really seen any kind of benefits from it for drag racing purposes.  Of course this much block fill wouldn't fly on any kind of Street cruiser, not even on a weekend cruiser, nor would anything much less than .125 wall thickness and a dam good cooling system.
The standard garden 428 I'm building now is at .010 (4.140) . it has decent cylinder walls but no third Webb. I'll take the thicker cylinders any time I can get them. The lack of the 3 web mains made it an easy choice to use the main girdle.

[fryedaddy]

for now im just going to be glad i have a spare 428 standard bore and standard crank in good rebuildable condition for future use.i have a 30 over 428 in my comet right now with less than 500 miles on it so if im lucky i can sit on this spare for a while,i think i may have 3 390s left,like a dummy i sold a gt 390 and a pi intake last summer at the fairlanes of america show in kingsport tn..that stuff is getting hard to find.i have a couple of rare intakes left,a 2 4 bbl and a 3 2bbl set up.i have had them since 1980 or so.i love this stuff but i cant run it all,but its nice to look at

[chris_r]

Hello fryedaddy this is chris in johnson city my phone# 930-6912  I can sonic map your block if you like.

[fryedaddy]

thanks Chris,if i do anything with it we can check it out.do you know Larry Sneed in Bristol.he has been doing my fe stuff for years,good guy,he has been drag racing fords since the 70s

[chris_r]

Yes Larry did the machine work on my 302 boss drag car back in 80s. I stop in and said hello 3 or 4 weeks ago.   You said it Larry is a good guy.

[fryedaddy]

i think the c6me blocks were the police interceptor blocks which might explain it if they are thicker bores or better blocks,if i happened to be right,which it aint looking like with all the negative feedback.i know you cant go by the casting number alone but the pi blocks used this casting number

[fryedaddy]

i should have said something earlier about the 66 c6me being pi blocks

[fryedaddy]

the article i read said the pi,7 litre gal blocks had .050 thicker walls instead of the .110 i had thought,but according to this forum,that may not be true,but it said .050 instead of .110 thicker.either way i guess i read a bunch of bull in that article!

[manofmerc]

Since your block is at the machine shop why don't you have a sonic test done ?This way you would know for sure .I have a std. bore 428 block from a t bird .If I ever build it I would try having it bored .015 .That would leave me able to have it bored another .015 if I damaged a cylinder .A sonic test will let you know just what you have it isn't so expensive .Our fe engines seem to be somewhat inconsistent with bore thickness .And don't forget c6me blocks came in more than 428 size .I have a 352 truck block that is presently at 4.050 .