When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Recently purchased a 66 that I was told had a 390 in it. Now I have not checked the stroke yet to be sure but I do have 5 bolts for the valve covers.
So I was taking out the plugs to change them and noticed the plugs were 14mm threads and the new store plugs were 18mm.
It’s my understanding in reading other posts here that FE engines use 18mm plugs. I read that Edlebrock RPM heads use a 14mm plug. The heads are painted so by looking at it I can’t tell if it is aluminum. Is there any other way to ID them?
Recently purchased a 66 that I was told had a 390 in it. Now I have not checked the stroke yet to be sure but I do have 5 bolts for the valve covers.
So I was taking out the plugs to change them and noticed the plugs were 14mm threads and the new store plugs were 18mm.
It’s my understanding in reading other posts here that FE engines use 18mm plugs. I read that Edlebrock RPM heads use a 14mm plug. The heads are painted so by looking at it I can’t tell if it is aluminum. Is there any other way to ID them?
Thanks in advance for any help.
If the spark plugs are out the threads should be visible. Also, iron heads are magnetic.
D2 heads are '72 or later with hardened seats for unleaded gas. Decent FE head. Very similar to an earlier C8 head. (too lazy to look up the full numbers...)
The spark plug holes could have been repaired with heli-coils and are now the 14mm size. Hard to know what PO's have done to their trucks. Check the stroke to verify that it's a 390.
Besides the 14MM plugs, at least going by that one head fastener, it appears to have head studs. That isn't something the factory would normally do. Just a guess but it seems that could have been an industrial engine or from a real big truck. This is when we need ND to show up.
Post some pictures from further away so the whole engine is visible.
You can see inside the plug holes in both pictures--looks like maybe a heli-coil....
That one fastener in the middle does appear to be a stud. Who knows why, but with the stock exhaust manifolds on it I wouldn't expect to find a "performance" build.
It would be unusual if it hasn't been rebuilt so maybe that's what was available the last time it was put together.
As far as Heli-coils go they cannot reduce the size of the threads. That requires an insert and considering the expense involved with those I doubt that was done. You could remove a valve cover and find the casting date if it happened to be after 1976 it would be a service replacement or industrial.