Thanks for the info so far....you guys treat the new fellas pretty well...not all message boards are so kind!

But back to buisness...Maybe I was lucky to pluck an original(virgin) '71 Lincoln Cont. Town Car from the salvage....it took a monster trailer to get it to my house (the beast was 18.75" long & 6'-6" wide & approx 5000lbs). The car body was badly rusted but was otherwise in great shape mechanically. I got the engine to run in the car before I pulled it & the tranny out to use for my hot rod project. As I have continued to learn more about the 385 series I thought I would ask even more questions: This engine has basically DOVE-C everything, from heads to intake manifold, accessories , etc...but most interesting is the exterior block casting is DIVE-AA....does this mean anything special?

Thanks,
faststangs

 

Just that you got a good motor. Great heads, great block.

 

15 years ago everyone wanted DOVE Blocks, and no one wanted the D1VE casting blocks. Then everyone figured out the D1VE block was really a better block because it has less core box shift. Which means Ford improved there castings, and therefore more uniform cylinder wall thicknesses throughout the block. This really does'nt concern the average builder but makes a big difference if your building a race engine. So although your block is'nt a rare piece you have a nice solid block to work with.

 

From a little more research I did, it would seem that the DIVE-A block is common but the DIVE-AA block is a little more special because it has thick main webbing and could have been a 4-bolt main CJ block. The 2 bolt DIVE-AA block can readily accept 4 bolt main caps because the material is there.

see this link: http://fordifiedracing.homestead.com/460tech.html

-faststangs