What kind of street motor build is this, can it be driven in traffic with a stick box plus also turn to 8,000 rpm's and stay together I must ask? Talk about being slightly out of the torque range by a couple rpms you think? What is the dollars spent doing this motor build, backed up by a Indy engine developement program with buckets of gold? The only motors I have heard about operating at those high rpm's was in the old NASCAR motors. This some 332 crank in a 390 block motor with all high dollar aftermarket rods, crank, pistons, cam, valves and springs? I have seen, "watch this" in a 69 428 SCJ Mustang in a 2nd to 3rd gear shift nearing 7,600 rpm's then a BIG BOOM! That block was almost a couple V2, V3 and V4 engines. All destroyed about the only item reused was the rocker stands. I did this with a tach on a V8 with the rear switch on 6 cylinder to fool the fools of friends I had, they were impressed. I understand Pro Stock turn 10,500 rpm's but this is not a daily driven motor plus not using cheap parts. Wow I learned that one of thes motors will turn 8,000 rpm's, learned something new today and shall delete my years of Ford motor memory. Thanks for this posting I was shifting 3,000 rpm's too short all these years.

 

[quote=CowPie;8667468]What kind of street motor build is this, can it be driven in traffic with a stick box plus also turn to 8,000 rpm's and stay together I must ask? Talk about being slightly out of the torque range by a couple rpms you think? What is the dollars spent doing this motor build, backed up by a Indy engine developement program with buckets of gold? The only motors I have heard about operating at those high rpm's was in the old NASCAR motors. This some 332 crank in a 390 block motor with all high dollar aftermarket rods, crank, pistons, cam, valves and springs?

Not every one uses their truck as a work horse and keeps the rpm within the torque range.
By looking at his rocker assembly and the aluminum heads you can see that this engine was built for fun. He was most likely lighting the tires up just showing off and having a good time.
7,000rpm engines are not all that rare anymore. My Lincoln Mark VIII which is bone stock with 199,000+ miles on it will run up to 6,500 rpm and bounce off the built in rpm limiter whenever I ask it too. The little 283 SBC would run to 8,500 rpm easily in the stock 270 hp and 283 hp versions until flywheel and clutch explosions made the guys more careful, and that was in 1957.
The high rpm Fords you mentioned were 396 cid engines that were built using the steel crank from a 361 FT engine in a 427 block and when I worked ar H-M they would run to over 10,500 rpm but were limited to 8,500 rpm in race trim, mainly because the oil pumps and valve springs couldn't keep up under the strain of 200 to 500 miles of racing at those rpms. Those engines were used in the Fairlanes and Comets in 1966 and later. And of course they had special rods and cams as well as being balanced as fine as possible. A few knowledgable drag racers built the 396 engines back then and raced them as 390s, they really kicked *** too.

 

One of them "watch this" but he did not get away with it thing?
Pushing a motor is one thing, to flat go out and beat it to death
then ask "why did it break" moment, sounds like it to me. One too
many times and got snake bitten.

 

Yep, thats what them Cobras will do for you if you don't watch out.

 

I agree on the coolant leak between your head and block. But I'm sure that is not what caused your push rod problem. And your push rods may be to long as well. Which could have contributed to your problem.

If you look at the radius on the under side of the rocker arm and compare it to how close that part of the rocker gets to the push rod at full valve lift, I will bet your push rods were actually binding against the underside of the rocker arms at full lift. That would cause you to bend a push rod alright. And if you were wound up tight something had to give. Fortunately it was the push rods. So, go with slightly shorter push rods, screw in your adjusters, and that should help with clearance. Some brands of roller rockers have extra clearance at this location to help prevent binding.

And verify adequate clearance before you button it up. You can mock-up your valve train with your intake off and turn the engine over by hand to verify everything is clearing. And watch your red line!!!!! Bruce

 

8000???? Nope, not me, fellas!! Obviously did get it up too high - easy to get carried away with something that will light the tires up so easily. Oh well, if three pushrods are all that I hurt, then I'd say I got really lucky. In any case, I got the new pushrods and gaskets just a few days ago and I'm about to start re-assembly. Probably will be asking for help with adjusting the rocker arms, as I have no experience with this. The heads cleaned up really well, so I plan to bolt them back on and hope for the best. I also took the Edel intake down to the local Napa and had it bead blasted... What a difference. I'll post that separately. Thanks for everything, as always.

 

Finally got her back together and running again. No sweeter sound than a hot FE through an x-pipe with side exits! In any case, I learned a lot... particularly about adjustable valves and how to adjust them, and as always, lots of good advice from this forum.

I have a week left before going into the hospital for a bone marrow transplant, and finishing this rebuild was on the top of my list of things to do before going in. Thanks to everyone.

 

I too am a survivor and I wish you well in your upcoming procedure. Congrats on getting it back together and running well. I prefer the 427 FE over all of the Fords I've owned. Treat it right and it will last a very long time.

 

Thanks and congratulations to YOU as well... always nice to hear the success stories.

 

Yeah man, wishin ya the best of luck with your transplant and hope all's well with the 'ol Ford

 

Hey, '71 good luck with your transplant. I hope the very best for you. And BTW, that's a sweet lil engine you got there!