Early 63-64 used cast cranks , except for some early high riser race stuff. The steel $ sign cranks came on mid  late 64 , but much more common by 65 and used in the 65 up engines. You dont say if its fresh ready to go or std needing fixed but $500 to a grand is where it would fall.  Yes they have core in them and are hollow. Some have press in some screw in plugs.

My understanding was that the 68 hydraulic lifter W code 427s, as well as the "300 HP" 427 marine engines were also equipped with cast crankshafts.

I have TFS heads and FPA headers on my 428. Although using 2 bolts per port may well be adequate, I always try to get in as many bolts as possible, did the same with my 428 CJ 16 bolt heads. I have never had any 16 bolt FE headers that I was able to get every single bolt into, as there is usually at least 1 tube that blocks a bolt hole in the header flange. That said, I can usually get at least 13 or 14 bolts in per head, and I can also say, that doing so, I have never had a header gasket leak on a FE in almost 50 years. And that was because I installed  a set of 428 CJ heads on my 66 Fairlane GTA 390, that had Cyclone headers made for the 14 bolt "GT" heads, and at that time I was not aware of the exhaust port height differences. But if you do choose to use 2 bolts per port, make sure that they are opposite from each other. As in, the 2 vertical bolts, or the 2 angled horizontal bolts per port.

The "Best" FE roller  rockers would be either the Jesel or T&D shaft rockers. They are expensive, and totally un necessary for a hydraulic cam.

Seems that there are THREE Holiday Inns around Muncie. The one on W Bethel in Muncie, as well as two Holiday Inn Expresses, one on Homeland Blvd in Muncie, and the other on Holiday Drive in Portland . Kinda confusing!

It`s too bad that the people that bought Jerico chose to ignore so many of their loyal customers, and eventually ran the company into the ground. I had 2 Jerico DR4s that I ran from 199 thru 2018, and was very happy with the transmissions, and had no problem getting parts from Jerico when needed. But when I broke a mainshaft on the Jerico in my Fairmont, when I called them to order a new mainshaft, they told me that they were no longer going to supply parts for the earlier models, and suggested that I buy the latest DR4-4 version. Luckily a buddy had an extra mainshaft in his stash of parts, so I was able to finish the race season. But since I felt that Jerico had turned their backs on a loyal customer, and hundreds of others, rather than give them my money for a new transmission, I bought a barely used G Force G101A 4 speed. In 7 years of running the G Force, I have not done anything besides change the fluid, but at least it`s nice to know that if and when I do need replacement parts, they will be available. Sad what Jerico did, as it appears that the racers running Jerico DR4s greatly outnumbered the G101A drivers, but for whatever reason, Jerico chose to ignore their customer base. I am guessing that there are enough guys with Jerico parts laying around, that they will still be guys running DR4s for many years to come, and maybe somebody will try to revive the company or start making parts for them, but in the meantime, I am guessing that as DR4s break, many will be cannibalized for parts.

I am looking at attending the FE Race at Muncie dragstrip in April, just wondering what the hotel/motel situation in the area is. Is there an "official" hotel, like  the Quality Inn in Selinsgrove PA is for the Beaver Springs event. Any recommendations, or places to avoid? How far are the hotels from the track? I have been to Beaver Springs 3 times, looking to give the Muncie event a look.

If by "good idle", you mean fairly stockish, I am very happy with the mild Oregon flat tappet solid that I have in my .030" over 428. It has .528" gross lift, and 228 @ .050 duration. It idles almost like a stock Cobra Jet, pulls strong from idle up to 54-5500 RPM, has the solid lifter "sound" and is very street friendly. In my 4025 pound 59, it has gone 12.5s at 108 MPH thru the mufflers and full tailpipes, and on the dyno, it made 470 HP and 515 ft/lbs of torque. It has a pair of TFS heads, a Performer RPM with a Holley 780 vacuum secondary carb, with iron adjustable rocker arms, a Duraspark distributor and module, with a pair of FPA mid length headers. I am running a wide ratio 4 speed Toploader and 3.50 gears., and it is very driveable in town, and decent on the freeway, although I do change to 2.91 gears for longer freeway trips.

If your engine is truly a 57K mileage and never been into, then you should definitely think about changing the camshaft timing gears and chain.  You can still find C6AE-9425-H aluminum intakes and C7AE-F intakes with the thermactor tubing holes and remove about 50# from the engine.  735 cfm Holley and FPA headers, and 2 1/2" exhausts and call it good for the street.  Joe-JDC

I absolutely agree with Joe on replacing the stock nylon camshaft timing gear, if it is still in there. Same with the valve stem oil seals. I have pulled down quite a few "untouched" Ford engines, that had an abundance of fragmented nylon timing gear teeth, and disintegrated valve stem seals in the bottom of the oil pan. And for whatever reason, Ford chose to put a round hole in the screen of the oil pump pickup tube, which is more than adequate to allow small pieces of cam teeth/valve stem seals to find there way into the oil pump, which will jam up the oil pump gears, which then lock up, and twist up the oil pump drive rod, like a barber pole, until it snaps. The engine keeps running, but with no oil pressure, and even if you catch it as soon as the oil pressure gauge drops, or the idiot light comes on, and the lifters start ticking, there is a very good chance that you won`t be able to shut the engine off before the crankshaft bearings get destroyed.. I lost a very good running , low mile 302 in my 79 Mercury Zephyr Z7 that I bought from the 94 year old original owner about 10 years ago. I was cruising down the freeway, and suddenly the oil light came on, so I shut off the engine right away, and coasted to the side of the highway.  I checked the oil level first, which was fine, but when I tried to crank the engine over, it was already stuck. I sure wish that I would have changed the timing chain set and valve seals before hand.