I am considering buying a big block and installing it in my 55. An aquaintance of mine owns it. The problem is, he doesn't know if it's a 427, 428, or 429. How can we tell which it is?

 

I stand corrected .

 

If it's an FE, it's not a 429, since that's a different engine family altogether. (429-460, aka;385 series or Lima)

It's unlikely it's a 428, and almost nil that it's a 427. 427's were the high performance and racing engines found in 63-65 Galaxies and a very few select 66-7 Fairlanes. They would have cross-bolts on the main caps on the side skirts of the block near the oil pan rails. Very, very rare.




428's are a bit more available, but not much. They were the optional engine in Thunderbirds and Galaxies 1966-68, and in Mustangs and Torinos from 68-70. Again, not too likely someone has one laying around and they don't know what it is.

The next issue is there's no good way to easily ID a 428 from a mundane 390. There's no reliable external block clues. To know for sure, you have to drop the pan and measure the bore and stroke or look for crankshaft markings.

Good luck.

 

Jim, sorry to hear about your hand injury, sure hope it gets better quickly!

Ford 352, 390, 406, 427 and 428 Engine Blocks

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ification.html

Google

 

A 406 would have cross-bolts as well, and I see them on Ebay from time to time. I've been wanting one for my Fairlane, but no cash flow. Knowing what it came out of would help in narrowing it down as well.

 

If you have some way to measure the stroke accurately, here they are for each engine. You'll have trouble finding any accurate numbers on an FE, and as Wayne mentioned the 429 is a different family of engine.

Stroke on the 427 is 3.78" (same as all the FEs except the 427 and 352)
on the 428 is 3.98"
and on the 429 is 3.59"

I agree with Wayne, as all of those engines are fairly rare and were used mostly in racing or high performance vehicles. And like Wayne I think it actually would have a much better chance of being a "mundane" (ahegm!) 390!

 

Got something in your throat there, Julie?

When comparing the 390 and 427, or this...



and this...



...mundane is the first word that comes to mind.

 

Let me bump this for you!

 

I guess so when you put it like that. Granted, there's still nothing like a 427 - ask Carroll Shelby. But mundane Wayne? I'm not sure I'd call the 395NHP I have in my truck "ordinary." I'd hate to see what you would call a 302!

 

Uh huh. In two words: Im Possible.

You cannot go by block/head casting numbers on 352/360/390/410/428 engines to ID the size or the application.

All the blocks were originally cast as 352's. The same heads were used on all of them.

Some of these blocks will have 352 cast onto them, some will have 105. These are foundry marks only.

All these block/heads look identical...there is no way...none to tell one from another by lookin' at it.

For the gazillionth time: Casting numbers cannot be cross referenced to Ford part numbers.

Bore: 352 = 4.00" / 360/390/410 = 4.05" / 428 = 4.13"

Stroke: 352/360 = 3.50" // 390 = 3.78" / 410/428 = 3.98"

Post #7: 1966 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon available engines: 289 2V / 352 2V / 390 2V / 390 4V / 427 4V / 428 4V.

 

What Bill said, and which is why I asked what vehicle it came from. You can maybe narrow it down to1-3 possibilities just by that, and even then, if the original valve covers are on there, you can narrow it even further. Oil pan would narrow it down as well. So if you have a truck engine from the 70's, you know it's not even a 390, but a 360 would be the likeliest candidate. Early t-bird engine? most likely a 390 (t-bird valve covers), early Galaxie engine? Most likely a 352, block letter valve covers, or 390 again t-bird valve covers. So on so forth.

 

352: 1958/67 Ford Passenger Cars / 1965/67 F100/350 / Thunderbird: 1958/60 352 4V standard equipment; 430 4V optional 1959/60.

360: 1968/76 F100/350.

361: 1958 Edsel only.

390: 1961/71 Ford/Mercury Passenger Cars / 1968/76 F100/350 / Thunderbird: 390 standard equipment 1961/65, there were no optional engines...except on 1962/63 "M Birds" which came with a 390 with 3 2V's (3 deuces).

406: 1962/63 Ford/Mercury 'full sized' Passenger Cars.

410: 1966/67 Mercury Parklane.

427: 1963/68 various Ford/Mercury Passenger Cars (except T-Bird).

428: 1966/70 Ford/Mercury Passenger Cars.

1958/64 FE engines have rounded valve covers without any holes for oil caps/smog valves. These engines have an oil fill tube on the right front side of the engine, different mounting holes for the engine rubber insulators than 1965/76 FE engines.

1961/64 valve cover marked: FORD = 352 / MERCURY = 390 / THUNDERBIRD = 390 / No markings: 406/427.

1965/76 FE engines have pent roof shaped valve covers with holes in them for oil caps/smog valves.

1965/66: The valve covers are plain, 1967/76's have Powered by Ford (Powered by Mercury 1967) marked on them.

You cannot go by valve covers to ID what size the engine is, what the applications are...any more than you can go by the fracatta casting numbers.

Who knows what valve covers could have been swapped around after 40 + years have passed by?

People here on FTE go ga-ga over casting numbers, that in most cases don't mean diddly squat!

 

No offense, but I mentioned 'most likely' for valve covers, for that very reason.

 

No offense, .........but I think it might be ........some people?

 

More likely most people.

Most people on the net, just don't know...since most of them have no Ford literature of any kind.

A few only know it's a Ford, cuz it says so on the vehicle somewhere.

"Real world" dyed-in-the-wool car/truck collectors usually know, but on the internet, it's a whole different story.