Thread: 396 Chevy- 390 Ford

Tweet

On another car website they were talking about this age old dispute.
Let me clear up some points.

1st the 390 is not a truck engine. It was a car engine starting in 1961 and was later used in trucks.

2nd the 390 is a high performance engine making 401hp with 3x2 and 375hp with 4 barrel in 1961-62 -63.

3rd it came with aluminum intake,10:5:1 compression,header style manifolds and solid lifters all the goodies the Chevy guys say about their 375hp 396.

4th it is not a passenger car motor though it was used as such iin Parklane,Montclair,Thunderbird,LTD,Monterey,Meteor and Marquis but remember many of this cars could be had in 2dr coupes with 410,427,428 engines and 4 spds just like Chevys Impala and Biscayne.

But it did come in every hot rod Ford and Mercury ever made. Torino,Ranchero,Mustang,Cougar,Fairlane,Comet,Cyclone,Galaxie,Marauder,Montego.
Does that look like a list of 4 door passenger cars and trucks???
Looking through drag times from 1965-1972 its tit for tat. 1966 Fairlane Gt._ 4spd 14.44 Chevelle 396 4spd 14.66. And Chevy had a 3:73 gear to Fords 3:25.
Sleep on the 390 and you'll stay asleep!!!

Oh I'm not saying there is anything wrong with 396 cuz there's not. My dad was a Chevy man and had two cars with 396 a Camaro and Elcamino. They were both quick but I used to beat both of them in my big block 451ci 1976 Cordoba. Though truth be told they were a lot closer to stock than the Doba was. I didn't have my 69 Ford before he passed away.

You left out the 406-------------

Had a friend with a 1968 Torino GT - 390 automatic with only modification being dual exhaust through free flowing mufflers and a cross over pipe. That thing ran like a scalded rabbit and on a regular basis surprised the unsuspecting SS396.

everyone can recall a car that ran ungodly fast for what it was .. one of the baddest i remember was a hipo 289 65 fairlane .. whipped up on 428 stangs with ease ...

QUOTE=jerry clayton;533030]You left out the 406-------------[/QUOTE]

The 406 while part of the family did not make it into LTD,Marquis,Montclair,Montego,Parklane,Thunderbird ,,,,, I don't know why you almost always see them in Galaxies.

I'm really not talking about any type of car really. I'm talking about the 390 itself and the fact it came in the baddest Fords and Mercurys on the planet is just icing on the cake.
I was really addressing the fact that Chevy guys say the 396 was a race engine and 390 was a truck and passenger car engine. That is as far from the ttruth as you can get.
The 390 can and does make 600hp look their right on ebay and wind to over 6,000 rpm. Will take your breath and your money. Beware!!!

Well one fact your overlooking (or ignoring) is that the whole FE family was created because cars were getting bigger and heavier. Ford/Mercury needed a larger motor with torque. Pure and simple, it was meant for the big land yachts of the day.

Being a torque motor meant it was good for us hotrodders, torque is what gets us off the line.

The first "series" of 396 (a real 396) was routinely beat up by a 390, the next series of 396 (402) mmmmmm.. not so much...

And my 383 powered 68 Charger could, on most occasions, could thump either one.

True that 32/40 and I'm not overlooking or ignoring the torque needed and provided by 390 and its cousins to move heavy land yachts as you put it. Wustang,Cougar,Torino,Ranchero,Cyclone aren't land yachts but high performance 2dr cars. Those are the cars the 390 came in as well as Marquis,Thunderbird,Montclair and the other so called land yachts lol. But point taken and known. Thanks

Actually there were no 390s in the Thunderbolts. For those cars, Ford used the 427 FEs.

".... I don't know why you almost always see them in Galaxies......"

That's pretty simple......The last year Ford produced the 406 was 1963 and at that time Ford did not produce a body other than the Galaxie that the FEs would physically fit in.

If you do some checking you will find that in the FE world the real heavy lifting for racing was done by the Ford 406s (usually in Tri-Power form) until 1963 and from that point on it was the 427 FEs and later the 428s. Ford actually did very little performance development on the 390s. As an example, far as I know the only “performance” manifold was the 62-63 M code Thunderbird (only) Tri-Power intake and any benefits gained from those was negated by the stock log time exhaust manifolds that those cars came with.

In all reality the 390s were designed to be Fords basic grocery getter FE and entry level performance big block….it was at the same level as the 335HP 383 Mopars and 325HP 396 Chevys. Back in the late 60s when I was first getting into the whole street racing/drag racing thing we only had 2 390 powered cars that would come out and play a Fairlane GTA and a 67 Mustang……neither ever won too many races.

As far as the 396, you had to be careful which flavor was under the hood of that SS Chevelle or Camaro you pulled up next to. Unlike the 383 Mopar Magnum engine or the 390 Ford which which could be had in only 335HP and 320HP respectively (1968) the 396 was available in 325, 350 and 375 HP versions.

When you look at who was winning races back in the day when these cars still covered the earth, you will find the Ford FEs well represented in everything from sports car racing to NASCAR to Drag Racing, but it was not the 390s that were winning it was the 406, 427 and 428s.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve owned a few 390s over the years and worked on a bunch more. They are a good engine and with a few tweaks can be made to run pretty well……but the same can be said comparable engine of the time made by GM and Chrysler.


.

There is always one, I mean you and the Thunderbolt. Wikipedia lists 390 as coming in Thunderbolt but of course it does not. But of course the other slew of hot rods I listed do come with 390.

Your statement about 406 is not quite true as Thunderbird could fit 406 and latter fit much larger as did Ranchero and Fairlane but at time they may not have been big enough but T-bird was. Also 406 came in Mercury Monterey S-55 and Mercury Marauder.

Quarter miles times in magazine's of that time do not reflect that I posted 1/4 times for 1966 Chevelle 396/375hp and 1966 Fairlane GT with 390/335hp and the Fairlane was quicker. In 67 and 68 396/375 in Nova and Camaro were quicker but not by much. Earning respect 1/8 at a...TIME!!!!! lol

The best stock parts for a 390 , were the 390 GT heads & cam, add in a 428 CJ crank and get a 410 that flat out honks!

I ran my 68 Charger many Sundays at Lions in 69-70 and I never found a stock 350 horse 396 I couldn't beat. It ran E/PSA in the high 14's, low 15's around 92 mph and it was bone stock on street tires. I had problems with 68 Roadrunners and Super Bees, but the 69's were a different story.

‘…..There is always one, I mean you and the Thunderbolt. Wikipedia lists 390 as coming in Thunderbolt but of course it does not……’

Ain’t that the truth, and god knows if you read it on the internet it must be true


You do realize the 100 Thunderbolts were actually put together at Dearborn Steel Tubing, not the regular Ford production line. This was due in large part to the shock tower mods that had to be made in order for the 427 to physically fit into that body. If you’ve never seen a Thunderbolt or clone first hand I can tell you it is 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag.

“….Your statement about 406 is not quite true as Ranchero, Fairlane,
Thunderbird all could fit 406.…..”

1963 was the last year of the 406 (although I have heard rumors of a few early productions 64s with them). The 63 Fairlanes had an engine compartment that was close to the same as the 64s meaning they would require the same shock tower mods to fit an FE in. As far as the Ranchero, these were falcon based in 63 meaning an even tighter engine compartment than the Fairlanes …..there was definitely a reason the FE wasn’t available from the factory in these bodies.

I will give you that Ford could have fit the 406 into a 61-3 Thunderbird, but frankly it would have been a wasted effort. Again even in that body the shock towers were so tight with the FE that only the factory flat log type manifolds fit without modifications. There was a reason that that majority of all the 406s came with factory cast iron headers….they needed them to breathe. Additionally the banana nose birds optimistically weighed about 4200 pounds with no options, check a few boxes for things like AC, power seats etc and they easily were in the 4500+ pound range…….a bit portly to be considered a hotrod.

I’m not trying to rain on your parade…..I actually like the FEs but I’m also realistic about their strong and weak points.


.