Evening, Fellas.

Going to look at an A-scratch 428 out of a '67 T-Bird over the weekend.

It's completely disassembled, so the opportunity is there to really look it over carefully.

Thought is to just warm it over a little and swap out the 360 we have in this '73 F250 in my sig.

Read up as much as I could take here and on the web, wondering what you guys who have been inside a 428 know to both look for, and stay away from.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate your insight.

Mel

 

428 out of a '67 bird is going to be pretty much just a bigger 390. As OEM they probably had the same castings for heads and manifolds.

Good old days car specs:

FE Series Engine Specification Chart

I would think beyond the usual things to look for like cracks, that making sure you have a usable bore would be nearly number 1 on the list.

 

First I would check the crank casting numbers followed closely by the bore diameter to make sure that it is actually a 428 that you are looking at.

 

Ditto....

 

The bore would be very important. Some say they've taken them out .060 but the truth is the FE's did suffer from core shift and many are done if any more than .040 is needed.

 

Thanks, Gents.

'85, that chart you provided sure supported what you said about that era 428 not being too much more than the 390. And even then at a higher RPM. Kinda makes me second-guess whether I want to go down that 428 build road...

Seller is an FE guy, been working on in and with them for years and says he's all about the 428. Says he has CJ heads for it.

Y'all mention casting numbers, what numbers should I see when I have a look? Crank, heads, etc...

He also said it's a std bore but has new slugs for it, so it sounds like there should be plenty of meat left.

 

I'll grab a few pics when I check it out tomorrow and report back. Looking forward to seeing what y'all have to say, thanks for the intel so far - wish I knew more about these things.

 

You are correct.
It's best to have any FE sonic checked before boring. On our 428cj I bored it out for 4.170 pistons after having it sonic checked. I don't like anything less than .125 on the thrust side.

 

Thanks men, great to see you "long timers" comment here, I value your input.

Although I have a few successful performance engine builds under my belt over the past 37 years, I'll be farming this one out to the local go-to shop for all NDI, machine work and assembly.

They also offer start-up and engine dyno services, so depending on what all Wifey and I have going on in our life and what we can afford... Well, you know the drill.

But I don't want to put the cart before the horse, will get a better feel for this after meeting with the seller later today.

Thanks again y'all.

 

Just some food for thought, but this is my take on it.

I built a nice 410 (360/390) block and 428 crank. It runs well and definitely pulls harder than any 390 I've been around.

When I built it, I had it done right. Bored the block .030, bought a 428 crank and had it turned, forged pistons, balanced and blue printed, C4AE heads rebuilt with CJ valves, etc.

If I were to do it over, I would have skipped the 428 crank and built a 445 stroker with a set of Edelbrock heads. It would have taken so much less machine work that I could have put it together for about $800 more than my 410 and would have ended up with more cubes and another 200 HP and maybe 100 ft lbs of torque mostly due to the better heads.

I guess what I'm saying is, unless you want the 428 just so you can say that you have a 428, I would take a hard look at finding a good 360/390 block and putting together your own 445 - It might not be any more expensive in the long run and can get you more power.

 

Thanks, '72, and you're right - maybe I am just letting sentimental or romantic reasons be my motivation for focusing on the 428 when clearly there are better options / combinations out there that yield more power for the same or less money.

And that I really can't come up with a reasonable explanation as to why I want a 428 just kinda makes it sound less thought-out, even to me.

The "good news" is that at the last minute the seller backed out of meeting with me yesterday, having forgotten he had party plans. We'll shoot for sometime later in the week.

I don't know what exactly is required to build a 445 stroker, but maybe it's time to learn.

 

Bore a stock 390 or 360 "4.05" to 4.08 and add a 4.25 stroker crankshaft and you have 445 ci.
Better option for a truck application than a 428ci engine. "more torque".

 

^ Listen to this guy. He knows a little something about FE's...

 

Lol, hey that's why I'm here!

 

How's the 360? Some headers and a dual exhaust will wake it up and be a lot cheaper than a build.