Thread: What's the TRUE worth on a 427 FE Block???

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Have a friend selling a 427 cross bolted FE block with 900 hrs out of a Chris Craft. Its NOT a side oiler, but a '66 427 FE. Never Bored (4.23) What's this block worth on the street these days? I see anything from 1500-4k. What's the real picture?? I may be interested in buying this for my old 'stang project.

Thanks in advance!

Ya might want to ask on our sister club http://www.clubcobra.com/

Maybe I should CLARIFY. BLOCK not engine. BLOCK

Marine blocks can be nice just watch out for the crusty and corroded ones. The Chris Crafts had both open and closed loop cooling systems. The open loop cooling system cooled by using the water boat was being run in either salt or fresh and the closed loop system by antifreeze. Saltwater heavily corrodes these blocks after time. I had a few myself as they were not well known about and cheap at the time. A good 427 marine block is worth $1500-1800 at best today. With all the new FE blocks coming out and I'm sure even less after a while. Pond MFG is the latest offering at $3000 and the Genesis for $3500 but both require some machining before building. Even before the Shelby block first came out the 427 blocks went way up in value no matter how good or bad the block was. I've seen NOS sideoiler blocks going for over $7500+ and still up there today. The 427 marine is a nice drilled centeroiler block cast as a sideoiler and most have part of the sideoiler hump shaved to clear the Chris Crafts motor mounts. I don't think the ones in the Trojans had this problem. As the sideoiler galley is not drilled it's really not an issue. You can still find nice production car std bore centeroiler blocks for $2000 and there were two just sold last week on ebay for $2000 each. JMO, G.
ps. check the guys at www.fordfe.com as well.

if you're planning on an engine of that size for a mustang, you better plan on butchering your shock towers

Depends on year and valve covers. My car is '69, and the tall valve covers hit the brake booster. But Branda has/had repros of the Cobra logo CJ covers.

The other problem is changing plugs, but not too bad with practice. The one under the master cylinder is the only really horrible one, and it could probably be easier done from underneath.

Headers are a special form of hell, though. If you install headers on an FE-block in a '67 to '70, I'd think real hard about a little blue Loctite on the bolts. Used to have to tighten mine every couple of months, and some of them are right against the reinforcement plates on the shock tower. The CJ manifolds are available as repops, and with the ramp-lock bolts, they seem to stay put and still breathe okay.

But the pickup will get headers. Let me know if you want some photos of the engine installed in the '69 car. It's tight, but works okay. Oh, and motor mount insulators seem to be getting a little harder to find. The local Napa dealer didn't have a clue, so I went to a Mustang specialty house.

Hey Tim... I have a couple nice 427 blocks and I am thinking about sticking one in my 69 mach 1. Could you send me some pictures of yours? Thanks... Nick (HockersN@msoe.edu)

Hi. Sorry for the delay - I travel too much. I'll see what I have and send 'em, or take some new ones.

The fit isn't bad, but getting it in there is a bit of work. While I like to install engine and trans as a unit in most cases, I don't think I'll do that again with this car - the angle is too steep, so you have to get the car way off the floor. Brake booster/cylinder is tight on the driver side, and not much wiggle room. But once you get the tailhousing of the trans down far enough, it drops right in.

If you have a sling with the worm gear adjustment, so you can change the angle easily, it will help. But I figured the complete assembly was probably near 1000 lbs., and most of the adjustable rigs I found were too light-duty. Meant for the tuned rice jobs, it looks like. So I got a sort of small (140 lb) friend to stand on the tail housing to get it down far enough to clear the trans hump on the way in.

Watch for the emails...