Thread: FE Flaws & Questions

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i am new to the forum and i have a 66 thunderbird with a 390FE (with a couple performance parts) i have been building for the past year to show the ricers at my school how pathetic their cars are. So here are a few questions i would like to ask.

1. what the biggest flaws are on my engine were.

2. is there anything that i can do besides taking off the emitions from the carb. for free cause i'm on a little tiny wee budget since i am only 16.

3. what are the most ineffecient parts on my engine.

4. will headers from a galaxy fit on a 66 thunderbird

5. is it street legal to run an exaust cut-out on an engine that does not need to pass emitions

6. is it legal to run a electric fuel pump bolted in the rear wheel well where it has no chance of hitting anything

7. how hard is it to tub out a car

8. can you buy drag radials with white walls

9. how hard is it to put a stall torque converter between a 390 and a C6

10. are the stock exaust manifolds as restrictive as they really look and how hard are they to change for headers

11. how expensive is it to get my heads ported by someone who knows what they are doing and do you have to pull the engine to take the heads off

12. Does the 390 have a mechanical lift camshaft or a hydrolic

13. does the 390 have a dry sump oil pump or a wet sump

14. is a high volume oil pump better than a high pressure pump

15. how easy is it to change the oil pump because i do not feel comfortable with a 30 year old stock oil pump

16. how do i make my holley "blue" electric fuel pump quieter

1. Intake and exhaust manifolds.
2. Find a factory 4 barrel intake and carb. Hot tank the manifold, put a kit in the carb. Nothing is free.
3. See #1, add camshaft
4. Nope
5. Legal unless you get caught with the dumps open
6. Might be legal, but get it out of the wheel well so rocks and stuff don't hit it. Mount it on the frame rail as close to the tank as possible and keep it away from the exhaust.
7. Hard, you don't need tubs on a bird, they're heavy enough to hook up on a tire that will fit the wheel well.
8. Dunno, check with Coker Tire
9. Not too tough, unbolt the converter, remove the tranny, install new front and rear seals, install the new converter, reinstall the trans.
10. Yup, dunno who makes headers for a bird, though. Check with Hooker Headers.
11. Probably $2,000.00 to get the heads ported and flowed, valves ground, etc.
12. Hydraulic
13. Wet Sump
14. Depends on what is done to the motor, what the car is being used for.
15. On the bird, you will have to remove the motor, or at least raise it way up in the air to get the pan off. If it has good oil pressure now, leave it alone til you freshen the motor.
16. You don't.


Ok, who's next????

guess i should tell ya what i have done to the engine....(don't critasize the carb. i didn't want to buy a little one then when i'm done w/ the engine have to buy a biger one)

I have a holley 4500 850cfm mechanical secondary no choke with a 2inch riser (to clear the vacume fitting on the intake manifold), i have a petrotonix ignitor ignition with petrotonix 7mm high proformance wires, petrotonix 40,000 volt ignition coil, holley "blue" electric fuel pump w/ mr.gasket filter and holley fuel pressure regulator when i changed the carb. i took off all of the emitions that where on the old carb. the carb it tuned for a 600+hp camaro

ps if you only have to take the oil pan off i can do that because i changed the tranny oil and the filter with no problem i learned how to lift the car 3ft in the air with a hydrolic jack and jack stands. i was amazed while racing a wrx sti (import) (my car isn't regestered or tagged and has no insurance so that was really stupid but anyway) i had my buddies mickey tompson et's and his rims on the back i got the front end of my car off the ground about 6 inches which really surprised me, my buddy, and the guy in the sti (the sti won because he had 4wd but i woulda had him if the road was a little longer cause i had him the rest of the race) (then my buddy in his camaro just raped him :-) )

thx 4 Ur help any more help would be great

Dave did a good job, but I think it's your turn Tech

dropping the oil pan is a lot tougher than doin the tranny pan... the oil pan you're going to have to clear the sway bar and engine crossmember... now, if you have nimble hands and dont mind getting messy.... you can unbolt the motor mounts, lift the engine with a hoist(or build an A frame if U dont have a hoist) just far enough that you're not ripping any lines and you're not pulling the tranny so hard U drop the drive shaft... then unbolt the oil pan(post draining of course) and begin removal of the oil pump... you wont have much space to work with, you're gonna get really greasy, and you're prolly gonna nick the hell out of your hands... i suggest really pulling the engine completely to change the pump out.... and most likely i'd say go with high volume not high pressure... high pressure tends to have problems with blowing thru the valve cover gaskets, and getting sucked into the carb thru the pcv

16. Run your mounting bolts through 1/4" rubber after the pump and before the fender well / frame (my favorite) or whatever body part you use.

1. A flaw commonly found on the 390FE blocks was the oiling channels in the heads, they're made a little thin, so if you overheat your egine... over time those channels will slowly crack... machinists run into this problem all the time and charge a pretty penny to fix it.... so lesson is, buy a good radiator if you're gonna be racing it... should get a puller fan as well

Originally posted by Dave Severson
Nothing is free.

i dunno about that, just yesterday ed hansens exhaust shop gave me a free set of dougs headers($615) and free exhaust with flowmaster mufflers. all cause he thought my 66 mustang fastback was cool

If you choose the high volume oil pump you might want to at least get a better oilpan if hard launches will be the norm. The stock pan will starve the bottom end with a high volume pump. At best install a windage tray and run a 6th qt of oil if the stock pan must be retained. You can also restrict the oil flow to the topend by installing holley carb jets in the oil passages of the heads to avoid overoiling the top end. You want to keep most of the oil in the pan where it belongs. If you plan on some hard runnng I'd really look into this. G.

yeah i would love to have a new oil pan mine is dented but they are like 80-300 $$ and i just don't have the money and i figure for now mine works so don't replace it yet

also will headers from a falcon fit on the t-bird

If your handy weld a slosh baffle in there at least. I don't think the falcon headers will work either. 428CJ exaust manifolds will fit but they are $$$$$ unless you can score a cheap set from someone. $500 the norm on Ebay. FPA makes a set of Tbird headers but again $$$$. If the budget is tight you can always make your own. The Tbird really needs these as the OEM's are really poor flowing. It seems the OEM factory headers are well sought after now by all the resto guys doing "correct" cars. I sold a set of 406 shortys for $600 myself. G.

yeah i can get a discount i'm workin at a speed shop over the summer and is there anyone you know with a 66 t-bird that drags or have you known of anyone ever to do it