I'm wanting a 66 427 or 428 so I can have a period correct engine for my project. What do I look for to confirm what I am looking at? Are there any external markings to confirm the date of manufacture and which ci. it is?
Thanks for any help.

 

427 introduced in 1963, installed thru 1968. 428 introduced in 1966, installed thru 1970. Both were only factory installed in cars.

1958/64 FE engines were only installed in Ford/Merc cars, have rounded valve covers without holes for smog valve/oil cap. There is an engine oil fill tube on the right (passenger) side front of the engine.

Some of these valve covers are plain, some have FORD or MERCURY or THUNDERBIRD embossed on them

The holes in the engine blocks of 1958/64 FE's that the bolts for the rubber insulators thread into...are a different pattern than 1965/76 FE engines.
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Beginning in 1965, FE engines were installed in F100/350's (1965/67: 352 / 1968/76: 360/390) and Ford/Merc cars. Cars thru 1971, F100/350's thru 1976.

These engines have pent roofed shaped valve covers with holes for a smog valve/oil cap.

1965/66 valve covers are plain, 1967/76 valve covers have Powered by Ford (or 1967/68: Powered by Mercury) embossed on them.

btw: In 1966/67, only the Galaxie/LTD, full sized Merc's and T-Birds were available the 428. T-Birds with 428's were only available with the C6 that was also introduced in 1966.

And to add to the confusion, 1966/67 Mercury Parklane came standard equipment with the 410, which is similar to the 428. Why did Mercury bother with its own engine?

 

Many 427s can be identified by the combination of the 6 screw-in brass plugs on the engine block sides and just below them is the crossbolts for the mains. The 406 also had cross-bolted mains, but didn't have the screw-in brass plugs, unless further maching was done to install them after the fact. This is a new old stock 427 side-oiler.



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tcobra66 With the exception of some of the 427s I believe they all look identical, so build a 352 or 360 and tell everyone it is a 428.

A 427 is likely very hard to come by.


John

 

Thanks fellas. I have found a guy that claims to have a 66 428. Any way to confirm that without tearing it down?

 

I know you didn't say Cobra Jet, but this page gives a few good general tips to ID a 428.

https://www.428cobrajet.org/id-block

And the block casting codes might at least rule out one or the other.

Ford FE Engine Block Casting Numbers - FORDification.com

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On sale day, 352/360's magically become 390's!

On sale day, 352/360/390/410's magically become 428's! So, you need to measure the stroke to verify.

If the stroke is 3.98" .. it's either a 410 (very scarce today) or 428. If it isn't, it ain't.

 

Appreciate the info.

 

Well that sucks... I want the magic to happen while I still own it

 

It's hard to be sure what you have without disassembly and there are so many exceptions that even then you may be fooled. Add to that 50 or so years of whatever changes the engine owners made plus the existence of stroker kits, custom pistons, etc and you just about need an FE guru to look at it to be sure of what you have.

For instance, some 390's and 360's can be taken to the same bore as a 428. Most 427's will have cross bolted mains and screw in casting plugs but not all and on and on.

 

Get a copy of Ford Performance by Pat Ganahl.. It was written when these engines were still common and is full of good info on identifying and modifying them. It covers all of the performance engines of the day, FE's Windsor's, Cleveland's and the 385's You can get used ones on e-bay or amazon cheap.