Nice job on a budget build. Ignore the Nay Sayers ! They're the guys who have unlimited funding. All of your process looked sqeaky clean upon assembly. Key element !
I built my first motor at 13 yoa. It was an FE. My Fairlane (1968), was the same age and came with a 390. The owner of the shop I worked for said it was 'Junk' and got a 428 from one of his friends. I am glad that he did but learned later that a 390 can be a real badazz. It's just easier to make power with a 428, and they were plentiful in 1981! Ya'll Take Care and I subscribed for you! -John
I'm kind of OCD, so I would have checked valve timing (Intake and Exhaust) on at least one cylinder before I decided to go with "Zero" cam timeing and I would have verified actual #1 piston TDC showed TDC on the timing pointer. Yeah, it takes longer and you need a dial indicator, but if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right.
thanks for documenting this. I did an FE rebuild and wasn't sure how much RTV to put on the front and rear walls and was concerned i used too much. Glad to see either we're both doing it wrong or we're both doing it right.
The best thing to do for a 390 is to take as little off of the bores as possible and put a 3.98 410-428 crankshaft in it. Eagle and Scat sell OEM size cranks and I and H beam rods with the 6.49 and original size bearing journals. And Molmar sells 6.49 rods too. Use good ARP bolts. But you can hone it to 4.06 and get it very close to 413 CI. I have run hyd roller cams with light hardware and they can rev cleanly to 6500-7000 rpm’s. It needs a good internal balance job. A set of Trick Flow heads and a Track Heat intake with a Holley 750 and headers, you can get 525-550 hp and 500- 515 ft lbs. In a Mustang it will slap you silly with a 4 speed manual.
AMEN! ON NEARLY EVERYTHING! On the very few, you can install the crank first, just don't put rods and pistons in before the Cam! If you do it this way, you can guide the cam through its bearings and NOT Scuff any of the bearings or Lobes. It kills me to see these RU-vid engine builder experts grind the cam into its Home... I'm not busting on this video, this man is doing nice work. Mostly it's the twenty year old kid making videos. He'll beat the He'll outta everything, while he's telling ALL about building engines for all these racing teams. If a race team saw his videos, they wouldn't let him be a parts washer! Ya'll Take Care, -John
Sweet! Personally I like to install the harmonic balancer before cinching down the timing cover so that the seal isn't off center cause it'll weep eventually. Is that a CVF pulley kit?
Those are original 2v 390 pistons. I've found them to be 16cc dished. What u called the "390" heads that have the smaller intake ports are the later heads. Like C8AE-H. The ealier heads have bigger ports like what u called "428" heads. 352s & 390s used heads with the bigger ports also. And ya, bad move using a gear puller on the balancer. Never ever pull on the outer of a balancer. Lesson learned I hope.
The rear main halves are installed offest. The side seals dont seal very well. On your next rebuild, pitch em and fill with silicon. Use real assembly lube. Take it easy with the 3M scotch pads!
The gasket makes the seal. Why dump RTV everywhere which could ultimately break off inside your engine and block your oil intake? The RTV, is it a 24 hour dry time?
either one works fine. i do both i put the gasket with a thin layer of silicone on both sides of it to make extra sure it's sealed. The material isn't the most confidence inspiring just on it's own idk why they don't have a nice thick o ring one maybe they do i haven't done an FE since 2008.
hi, at least ya honest about the dosh, not like some channels, hope ya do not put in promotions as that would cause me to make a swift exit, on the whole great first view and new subscriber.😎
A 390 and a 427 crank already share the same 3.78” stroke. The piston diameter on the 427 is larger (almost 4.25”) you’d have to resleave the block to make it a 427. Best way to achieve that CID is to stroke it to 432CID with a .30 over piston and a 4.125” stroke.
@@YouScroob a 4.06 bore and a 4.125 stroke works out to 427.23 cubic inches. Obviously that's not the same as a short stroke big bore 427, but it is a 427 nonetheless.
