FE build

[Heo]

Hi
I havent worked on the FE engine since the 80s
and have a couple of questions
I have some C4AE-C and C1AE-A in the 80s
the word was there were equal to Cobrajet heads
with CJ valves installed but smaller cambers.
Dont know if thats true .Is it wort the trouble and
money today  or should i just buy new heads
I have a 390 PI thats bored .060 are going to
sonic the block but i suspect some of the bores is
flexing.How thick  cylwhals do you need ?

I got some other FE blocks,probably 390s  is there any better than
others or is they about the same
Im going to buy a stroker kit from survivalmotorsport
if not the shiping to sweden totaly kill my wallet
O''r i have to go there and cary it home in suitcases









8

[jayb]

Those are good heads with a minor port cleanup and CJ sized valves.  Here in the US its hard to beat just buying Edelbrock heads, but I imagine they are more expensive in Sweden when you factor in the shipping costs, so if you can get your heads worked on for a reasonable price you might want to stick with those.  If you just bought Edelbrock heads you don't really need any special port work to make 500 horsepower, and they have a good chamber and are aluminum for less weight.  It all depends on how much you want to spend, I guess.

If you are not going to crazy with the overbore any 390 block ought to be good enough for up to 600 horsepower.

[Heo]

Thanks for the answer Jay
2I gues in a perfekt world i had to spend nothing :)but.....
I dont mind spending on things that give result. say on a
engine like the prison break 390 in Car craft how much
will i be down in power with cj valved and cleaned C1AE
heads compared to Edelbrock.I gues after i buy valves,
springs,guides and so on and my time for machining
them the price is not much cheaper
I prefer the factory look with stock Ford parts
but i dont give away say 50 60 horses just for the look

And anotherquestion the shorty cast headers C1 something
how god are those.Ilike them leakfree and quieter but
again are they a bottleneck on such an engine

I also got a streetmaster intake on the shelf since the 80s
that i understand is a god intake compared to other
"modern"intakes..thought that was outdated stuf
till i started reading about resent FE builds and
almost started milling it down to make a efi intake
Now i wait for your intake bottoms to be ready









i

[jayb]

I doubt that you will be down too much with the C4 heads if you do some minor porting work and put in the CJ sized valves.  How much you will be down in power, or up in power, depends on how much porting you do to the cast iron heads.  If you port them so they flow like the Edelbrocks, I doubt you would be down more than a few horsepower, if at all.

The shorty headers aren't bad, but they aren't as good as a tube header.  On the testing I did for my book, they were down 15-20 HP compared to most of the steel tube headers that I tested on the 500 HP 390 stroker engine.

[Heo]

Thanks Jay
Where can i buy your book?

[jayb]

Here:

http://www.fepower.net/GFEIC.html

[Heo]

One book ordered

[JimNolan]

jayb,
    While you're here and if you'd be gracious enough to lend me your knowledge, I've got a question. I bought a set of heads that were advertised as 406 heads C3AE-C. They didn't have the big exhaust valves and they didn't have the spring cups cut into the casting. I took those heads and had a good head guy clean up the bowls and runners and install 1.65 exhaust valves along with viton seals. The heads ended up having 67 CC chambers. My question is, is the heads I've got now as good as a set of real 406 heads ( The 67cc chambers worked to my benifit I'm thinking by giving me a 10.4 SCR using .020 gaskets and a .043 quench). I run 89 octane. Thank you very much, Jim

[jayb]

Jim, I guess I don't know the answer to your question.  I've never had a set of original 406 heads, so I don't have any flow numbers or any dyno data.  However, if you have the same sized valves as original 406 heads and have the bowls  and ports cleaned up a little on the heads you've got, my guess would be that your heads will work better than an original set of 406 heads.

Maybe someone else here who knows more about these will chime in on this one...

[JimNolan]

Thanks Jay,
    I too just bought one of your books too. I bought a Streetmaster intake for my next project because of your dyno results, so did a friend of mine. Keep up the good work and then sharing it with us. Jim  PS. If the 406 C3AE-C head and the 390 C3AE-C head have the same casting except for the combustion chamber CC's, I'd think the 390 version would be more useable with good exhaust flow for a street driven car.

[Heo]

Next problem where to find Cobra jet valves??
Cant find them in manleys or ferreras catalog
Summit only has Cobra jet sized valves for
Edelbrock heads. Are they the same or are they
Only for edelbrock heads?

[jayb]

They are the same.  You can also usually find them on ebay for a pretty reasonable price.

[Heo]

When i get things running i guess the stock T10
gets a litle fragile .Im thinking about a TKO 600
anybody here that have tried one behind a FE
in a 64 galaxie ? do you have to modifie the
floor?Or is theré a better trans in my aplication?

[JimNolan]

Heo,
   I put a TKO 600 behind my stock 390 in my 57 Ford Fairlane 500. I've put over 30K miles on it since 4/1/2009. If you pay extra for the short FE input shaft you have no problems making the swap. I use a 3.50 tru-trac and street tires also. I turn 15.2 @ 91mph (shifting at 4K)  through the quarter and get 20 mpg with it on the way home from the race track or car show. It's the most amazing transmission you'll ever buy. I cruise at 60-65 mph @ 1850 rpm with that 3.50 rear end. I've got to be honest though, you'll spend about $4500 by the time you get you're drive shaft recut, clutch, pressure plate, new crossmember, special pilot bearing, throw out bearing, safety bell housing, flywheel, etc. But, it's the smoothest transmission I've ever sat behind at any speed. Jim

[Heo]

Thanks Jim
Yes like all conversions thats
more to it than just the gearbox