Which FE had cross bolted mains?

Jason

 

Some 406's and 427's.

 

The 406 did not come with crossbolted mains from the factory. Some of the 406's did however have the bosses or nubs on the crank supports to crossbolt if desired but came stock with 2 bolt caps. Many 64 and later blocks were cast with the crossbolt bosses besides the 427 and 406. It's not uncommon to find them in 390's and rarely in some 428's. But 427 maincaps are needed to crossbolt the block. There were a handfull of crossbolted 406's made for NASCAR but by then the 427 was soon to be unveiled and the short lived 406 was retired. Some HD FT blocks I've seen had the bosses also but all had 2 bolt maincaps. Some 427 industrial engines thought to be 406's were indeed 427's with 2 bolt maincaps with bosses cast in place. Also there is one aftermarket company that makes a crossbolt cap. It uses no spacers like the Shelby, Genesis and Pond 427 maincaps. So really the 427 was the only Ford production factory crossbolted block beside the newer 4.6 mod motors. G.

 

According to my book the C2AE-BD 406 block has the crossbolts.

 

Yep they were and rare as hen's teeth. Those were the NASCAR blocks and I've only seen one in my lifetime and heard of a guy who found one a few years back. The one I saw was blown up and missing the maincaps but the block was drilled for crossbolts. I'm pretty sure it was original but this was back in the 70's long ago. The block and rest of the engine was from Holman Moody and don't know if Ford or H/M did the crossbolts. The 406 had such a short life and they are getting hard to find. Exact numbers are not documented but under 4500 units are the figures I've come across. Many have been blown up or junked over the years. I also though there were more crossbolted 406's. It sounded like they were quite common but indeed quite rare. So I'll retract my previous statement givin the BD block was crossbolted but it's not totally clear if these were Ford or Holman's baby's. If I remember correctly there were like 20-30 of these blocks ever made if that. I don't think anyone really knows and I've searched for answers a long time and have not found much. :-) G.

 

This kind of ties in with a previous post but its worth mentioning.

I've heard that the 427 had cross bolt mains but I also heard that the 389 FT engine had cross bolt mains as well. Ever heard of this?

 

I've not heard much about the 389 period. I'm not sure about the crossbolts either. I do know some of the FT blocks have the bosses but have never heard the 389 was crossbolted. It would be interesting to find out though. The 389 crank thread is interesting as I never heard of a 3.78 stroke steel crank other than the 427's. I wonder being it has a D 70's number if it's really the same spec's as the old steel 427's. Now that would be interesting to know also and I'm already looking into this as we speak. Hmmmmm. I suspect it has the larger 391 style snout however. G.

 

G, I'll be looking for new info and threads on the subject. Keep us posted and I'll do the same.

Jason