The engine is a 410 (.030" over 1976 360 truck block, 428 crank & rods) with 1968 390 heads (not Mustang), mystery 3/4-length headers (3" collecters, will be tossed due to damage, rust, & being generally crappy), 428PI intake with an Edelbrock 750 carb, a really old, fairly mild cam (plenty of vacuum, idles smoothly at 750-800) with roller chain, 428SCJ valve springs, factory valve covers, & 2.5" duals with no catalysts & generic part-store turbo mufflers (both blown out), dumping ahead of the rear wheels. It's in a 1976 F-100 2WD with power steering & brakes, no A/C, a C6 auto, & a 9" rear axle with 3.25 limited-slip gears. It has about 50,000 miles on it, & passes compression & leak-down tests with flying colors. The plan: with the truck away this winter, the engine gets some modern parts. I'm a pretty experienced wrench, but have exactly zero experience with FE engines. HELP! Here's my plan...what do you think?

Dump the headers for shortys (if available...anyone?) or tri-Y's, probably 1 3/4" primary with 3" collecters.
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, probably with an 800cfm Quadrajet carb, maybe a Barry Grant 750 Road Demon.
New Comp Cams Xtreme Energy cam, with a geardrive.
Looser converter.
Maybe 3.50 gears.
3" duals with Dynomax Ultra-Flow mufflers.

Also, are "Power by Ford" valve covers available for the FE?

 

That sounds pretty good except for the gear drive. They have longevity problems in the FE and create bad harmionics in the engine. I would keep the carb 750 or below. The power by ford valve covers are probably the most common cover in the scrapyards. I would also go with a Crane cam. Comp cams seems to have a bad rep with their distributor drive gears. The Cranes come with better grinds anyway in my opinion. Take a look at the 343801 and the 343941 when you get a chance. It looks like you are trying to make good power with a smooth idle.

 

Jar, I'm wondering about the Police Interceptor intake you have now. Why are you thinking about replacing it with the RPM edel intake ? The P.I. will make just as much power, and you already have it, it would seem that the RPM will gain you nothing but a lighter wallet. DF

 

The Performer RPM is a hi-rise dual plane, & also lighter than the low-rise PI intake. It should make more power, & is a bunch lighter.

An 800 Q-jet was used from the factory on anything from a fire-breathing 390HP Buick 455 to a sub-150HP truck 305. It will work fine on the 410.

I like Comp Cams, especially their hi-lift Xtreme Energy line. I've never had a Comp take out a distributor gear. Thanks on the geardrive--we'll use a double roller instead.

I haven't seen any FE (but a couple of FT's) in a junkyard in years.

 

read this: http://www.hotrod.com/webonly_january/index.html
450HP and 460tq. you can get roller rocker arms for the 390. (you'll know what I'm talking about after you read the article) considering you already have the heads and carb, another 1000.00 will get you the same motor HR built. Assuming you have at least 9.5:1 CR.

 

Jar, what is the casting # on your Police Interceptor intake ? The P.I. intake is a high rise aluminum dual plane, it is every bit the equal of the Edel RPM. If the inrtake you have now isn't a high rise dual plane, it ain't a P.I. If you want more power still, the BlueThunder will give you about 20hp more than the Edel RPM. DF

 

Then it's not a PI--it looks like a low- to medium-rise iron intake. It was free...my friend said it was a PI intake...which it seems it is not. I don't have a clue what the casting numbers are...never checked.

Randy: Not sure where you misread, but we have 390 heads, and Hot Rod used Edelbrocks. That Performer RPM looks nice, though. The roller cam is tempting, but pricey. We may go with roller rockers. Compression is about 8.5:1, which is about as much as possible to still run 89-octane gas. Those Cal Custom valve covers are cool!

Also, the engine has a point distributor converted with a Pertronix Ignitor.

I should add that this is not my truck. It's a friend's truck I'm helping with.

 

You should be fine at 9.5:1 with 89 octane. 9:1 would be a definite go.

 

I'm running 10:1, measured and cc'd heads, in my 428 without any problems on 89 octane. It pays to have a HOT ignition and good exhaust flow.

 

Ditto on the spark and the exhaust. I have around 10.5:1, big 292/292, .554"/.554" cam and no problems with pinging on 93. The problem is you need a big cam to match the high compression. If you have too small a cam, PING. If you have too much compression for the cam, PING. Match them, and you'll be happy.

ak

 

You will love your road Demon however I would run the Speed Demon carb if your cam duration even creeps torwards 220 @.50. I have run both carbs on my 390 with RPM Manifold, headers, 2500 stall. cam is 214/224 at .50.

 

Sorry about that. After rereading this thread I'm not sure where I got that idea either.

 

With older designs (basically, engineered before the era of oxygenated, alcohol-blended pump gas & no lead), I've found that 9.0:1 is the limit for 89 octane in the summer. I have to pull timing out of my Caddy's engine to run 87, & I only have 8.7:1 compression. The 410 has about 8.8:1--the last post had a typo.

KREWAT: There's a problem with your theory. A long-duration cam bleeds off pressure at low RPM's. However, it INCREASES cylinder pressure at high RPM's, where you generally can't hear pinging. Also, this is a not-too-large engine in a big, heavy, tall-geared truck.

 

Combustion efficiency is the biggest part of detonation prevention. Some of the new SBC heads are allowing guys to run 12:1 on premium gas with no detonation. They are also making best power at about 24 degrees total timing. You can't compare the FE to your caddy. However if this is in a very heavy truck (over 5,000lbs) then you want to keep the compression a tad lower. 9:1 will pretty much let you run any cam you want in an FE. I see your point about Krewat's theory but he is right. At higher RPMs cylinder pressure can be higher without detonating than at lower RPMs. I have also found that gas quality varies greatly depending on which part of the country you are from.

 

Why not? Both are older designs, with old controls (carb mechanical/vacuum distributor), both are in heavy, tall-geared vehicles.