hey guys, my brother is going to be rebuilding a 390 FE for a '79 thunderbird and wanted to find some parts catalogs that deal with these engines. not just performance parts but everything. anybody have some sources from which i could order a catalog. thanks

FORDS_FORLIFE

 

I got alot of stuff from P.A.W on the last 390 i built

 

LMC.....www.lmctruck.com

Dennis Carpenter....www.dennis-carpenter.com

Blue oval truck parts.....http://blueovaltruckparts.com/catalog


Just some I like, there are more.....


I just have a question not pertaining to this thread, but why the heck did Ford make the parts for these engines so complicated??? I had a rod bad and got another one with the same casting number but the dern bolts were bigger. aka for a 427...HOW DUMB.... This isn't the only bs I have run into with parts for these motors. I see why people put chevy motors in ford vehicles now. LOL Sorry had to vent a little.

 

Not dumb, but smart and cheaper for everyone. They changed the bolts because they were the weak place on the rods. It's smart (read cheaper) to just change the problem part. So the rod would have worked fine, in fact a lot of rebuild places just upgrade the rod bolts as it is cheap and makes the part not fail regardless of what the customer puts it in. Go build your chubby as any moron can!

 

What I was saying was dumb was the fact of the casting number. All they had to do was make it a B instead of C or something like that. I am putting the ARP bolts back instead of the ford bolts anyway. ex...C6AE-C....make it a C6AE-B for bigger bolts.

 

Like I said, the rebuilders are doing the bolt upgrades and they don't ever change the numbers. Ford usually did change the suffix or prefix. Actually a suffix of A means first in the series and B is the second and c..........

 

Both C3AE-C and the later C7AE-B rods both came with big and small rod bolts. These for the most part are listed as 427 and 428CJ rods in big bolt version. Not many books mention there was a small bolt version also with the same casting numbers. Both C3-C and C7-B rods are identical castings other than the large and small rod bolts. I've often found them mixed in engines I've had through the years. But all were the large bolt version.

G.