New guy at work found out I have a few fe s. Asked if I wanted to buy a 427. Says its low mileage and he heard it running before he bought it. I know I know can't trust anyone, but figured it was worth checking it out. I have Steve Christ how to rebuild big block fords and other books. I will make sure to know what it is before I even consider buying it. He said he wants a 1000. What are they going for? anyone know? Guess I would be buying it to either sell or put in my living room till I figure out what to do with it. Just dont want to miss out if it is the real thing and worth it.

 

If it's the real thing and rebuildable I'd say it's worth a grand. I've been offered that for the standard bore 428cj block that I have sitting on a shelf.

 

$1,000 is a reasonable price if the block is sound. You need to sonic test it, and make sure it can be bored no more than to 4.26" to clean up the cylinders, which is .030 over stock. I have an extra 427 side oiler that has been bored and honed to 4.25 and would not sell it for under $5,000.

 

$5000for a bare block? Granted you said side oiler. This is supposed to be pretty complete. I guess asking if I find out it is a 427 and no holes in the block and it looks decent is it worth dropping a grand on it. He says its a 427 but who knows, I started asking questions and doesn't really have a clue. Could be 390 360 or anything wont know till I go look at it.

 

There were some marine, and service, irrigation 427s too. Not trying to talk you out of it just get all possible info on it before laying your money down.



John

 

Thanks jowilker. That's my plan and didn't know if one like that would be worth it. He told me what it came out of but I forget. I need to read up on stuff before hand. I never really thought I'd be considering buying one.

 

If he won't let you pull the heads and the oil pan, to see what condition the bores and crank are in, walk away from it. It's too easy to pass off a 360/390 or a worn out FE off as a 427 to buy one "sight unseen". Last one I ran across was like this. It had LR heads and a dual 4 factory intake on it, and was sitting in a 64 pickup, but the seller refused to let me pull the heads before handing over the cash for it. Never saw it again.

 

Aren't all but the marine 427s cross bolted mains and screw-in freeze plugs?

If there are no cross-bolts, even if it is a 427, I would question buying it.

You can turn a garden variety 360 into a 445 pretty easy and not have to worry about paper thin cylinder walls, so why mess with a non-cross bolt 427.

 

I have a thought, 1st get the cash in hand, 2nd you guys agree on a price, 3rd offer him $250.00 down, a good FE should be worth that, with the remainder (cash) when the block is verified to your satisfaction that you indeed have a useable 427.

There is a lot of nostalgia in the 427, but it is waning. You would need a 427 correct car to install it in to be worth that kind of money. 50 years later and there are much better engines.

Owning one just to say that you do is like gray hair to me.


John

 

Very true. A 428 crank and a 360/390 block makes for a nice package.

The 427 is a big bore engine. (4.232x3.784 in) To put bores that big in an FE block, it becomes almost a throw-away.

Besides being able to say "it's a 427", and even then, if it's not a SOHC, is it really worth the hype?

 

Basically the only reason i am thinking about it is there is a local guy on craigslist posting every other day for a 427 thought i could make a quick buck and flip it if it was real or just put it in my living room for future use

 

Spoken by someone who's never owned one. The bores are anything but thin. I know, I had to sleeve the one I had (and it wasn't because the bores were thin to start with) The machinist punched it a almost a 1/4" total (1/8 per side) and never got thru the walls. I built this one the first time with a 428 crank, low riser heads and a single four and the power over the GT 390 it replaced was like night and day. It was like trading a 302 for a 390.

 

Heresy, at least to true FE'ers!!

If you can't get him to go with jowilker's 3-step process, at least try to get a look at the thing, and reach down in there to see if there are cross-bolts at the sides of the block, above the oil pan. Should be three of them per side, if memory serves.

Good luck.

 

I bought the last one I owned for the same reason. The block was trashed as the guy I bought it from stored it out doors (but on a concrete slab) and covered. But down in this neck of the woods, we've got critters who love to make homes in stuff. This one was the home of a fire ant colony who moved about 20 pounds of dirt from off the slab to make it a "better" home. Needless to say, that dirt held moisture when the rain managed to make it's way under the tarp covering it. The medium riser heads were trashed too from the rust. I did manage to double my money by parting it out though, sold the heads for $100, the rocker stands for $125, don't recall what the steel crank went for, nor the block (which had damage from a rod coming loose as I recall) Like I said before, make sure of what's there and the condition it's in before handing over any money. If he won't pull the heads and the oilpan, walk away, or talk him down on the price.

 

Sleeving is different than overboring. If the sleeve is thick enough, you don't really need to care about the strength of the remaining cast cylinder.

But we digress. Back to the subject at hand...