Ford 390FE teardown and Buildup

[Daves69Coupe]

Picked up a 390 yesterday off of craigslist. I started tearing it down about 10mins after it was in my garage.

I plan on building this motor with high quality parts.

ARP bolt kit
Forged pistons
Forged internals
Aluminum Intake
Headers
Aluminum or Possible electric water pump
Billet pulleys
etc....

Ive attached a couple pics of teardown so far. Ive got to pull the balancer off then take out crank, cam and lifters next.

The have the engine baked and magnaflux to make sure everythings good with block.

[cheapthrillz]

Hey Dave! Interested to see how this turns out. What are your torque goals? Budget?

I'm probably going to build one for my car eventually....

[MichaelUser]

Cool. Are you planning on the 428 crank swap for the 410 set up?
A set on nice Edelbrock heads would be great.

or

Go for the aftermarket crank route which is generally better.

http://www.survivalmotorsports.com/

Good luck

[Daves69Coupe]

Hey Dave! Interested to see how this turns out. What are your torque goals? Budget?

I'm probably going to build one for my car eventually....

Id like to get it around 450-500hp.

Aluminum heads

havent decided if I wanna stroke it or keep it a 390. Im new to 390s so im learning as I go right now.

I have lots of options so Im gonna get it stripped down, get it baked and fluxed. Then Ill talk to an engine builder about my hp/tq goals and see what options I then have.

[cheapthrillz]

Check out some of the stuff at Survival Motorsports (http://www.survivalmotorsports.com/FE-Engine-Kits.html)

[Daves69Coupe]

i continued with the teardown last night.

Got the harmonic balancer, timing cover, timing chain, cam essentric, and 3 of the 5 main caps off.

the remaining to main caps have alot less wiggle room so there being a real pain to remove.

[Daves69Coupe]

got all the main caps off and crank out last night. Also removed freeze plugs. Next is lifter and cam removal.

[csx4766]

If you need any FE Parts including Scat or Canton or ARP products give Doug Garifo a call. He is a FE expert and manufactuers several FE specific parts for the FE motors. Precision Oil Pumps. I am not related to him but he is a friends and have built serveral motors with him. Including a 331 Boss I am doing now at his shop.

http://stores.precisionoilpumps.com/StoreFront.bok

[Daves69Coupe]

finished the teardown of the 390 today. Its already to get baked and magnafluxed.

[fetorino]

Love those FEs for sure. A 390 is a nice mill but stroke it, stroke it stroke it. A 445 will make your goals easy. Edelbrocks get sold second hand pretty often for a good price and will definitely wake it up. CHeck out this forum.

These guys really know their FEs

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/

Barry R from Survival posts over there often along with some other really top notch builders such as Blair Patrick. Easy recipe 4.25 stroke Skat rotating assembly Ed heads and Ed RPM intake, Comp 282s cam, 750 holley, headers and good ignition and you will make your goal.

[Daves69Coupe]

ive received alot of replies to checkout survival motorsports, They definently seem like the place to go for FE's.

[fetorino]

Blair Patrick racing in Tn
Barry R at Survival in Mi
Keith Kraft in Ky
Scot Main at camresearch in Co has great custom cam grinds for same $$ as comp

All these guys know FEs. Barry has a good web site and good deals on complete kits. Blair is a top notch SS racer of 428s. If you are buying heads new or want them ported call him first.

[Daves69Coupe]

Since its the early stage of the build im still deciding what I wanna do with engine. Either make it N/A with Weber IDAs or boost it with something like a procharger.

anybody on the forum have experience with boosting a 390?

If so how'd you build the engine?

What rods, pistons, heads etc.

[Barry_R]

We've boosted a couple FE engines - but never a 390. Bolt on kits are not readily available - but can be fabricated pretty easily.
Crank choices vary - we use a lot of Scat cast cranks at under 750 horsepower in some pretty serious builds - forged cranks are available in 3.98, 4.125, and 4.25 strokes. Pistons are usually Diamond or Probe although others are available. The Webers or EFI clones are also readily available but are VERY expensive. Lots of Edelbrock head options ranging from as cast to CNC ported. The as cast heads are likely good to around 450 horsepower N/A.

We've done a fair amount of these for Cobra replicars - so road race style builds are a known environment.

[Daves69Coupe]

whats th emost HP I can get out of this setup:

stock crank
Eagle Rods
Forged Pistons
Edelbrock Alum Heads
Edel Alum Intake

[fetorino]

whats th emost HP I can get out of this setup:

stock crank
Eagle Rods
Forged Pistons
Edelbrock Alum Heads
Edel Alum Intake

Why the stock crank? CI are cheap HP. Go 4.25 stroke and don't look back. Skat over Eagle every day. With a 4.25 Skat crank and rods 500hp
is in easy reach.

[Daves69Coupe]

Why the stock crank? CI are cheap HP. Go 4.25 stroke and don't look back. Skat over Eagle every day. With a 4.25 Skat crank and rods 500hp
is in easy reach.

500hp with Scat crank and rods? Damn

with edelbrock heads?

hydraulic roller or mechanical cam shaft?

[fetorino]

500hp with Scat crank and rods? Damn

with edelbrock heads?

hydraulic roller or mechanical cam shaft?

Well you can get more but within a decent budget 500hp is pretty regular for a 445. Check out the FE forum for engine questions. A boat load of info over there for these motors. Here are some dyno results

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182...+a+445+stroker

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182...ith+iron+heads

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182...Intake+choice-

[Daves69Coupe]

sweet, thanks for the info.

Just joined the forum.