Thread: FE Head Identification

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Hey gang - just picked up a 55 Ford 2dr post that reportedly has a 1960 352 HP Engine in it. I cleaned up the engine bay and was able to locate the cylinder head ID - C1AE-6090-A. Haven't found the block ID yet. Anyone help me figuring out just what heads I have and where to find (and eventually decode) the block casting?

Thanks,
Chris

Those are 61-63 352/390 heads with 71.2-74.2 cc chambers. Sorry they are not the 352HP heads. Those would be COAE-6090-D and have tiny 59.7-62.1 cc chambers.
G.

Well I searched high and low and I couldn't find a casting # on the block nor the intake. I scraped and felt with my fingers all around the oil filter and again came up empty handed. It'll have to wait until I pull the engine/trans I guess.

Till then...

Chris

If the block has the early style 2 bolt motor mounts the casting number will be on the right side of the block behind the generator. There are some later blocks that have no casting number. In mid 68 there were a bunch and also the service replacement blocks from the 70's. The service blocks have vertical ribs on both sides. All blocks have a date code. The early blocks till 64 have them above the oil filter mounting pad and the later below the oil filter adapter pad. Once the engine is removed it will be easier to see. G.

Can you share any pictures of what the date code locations and date codes themselves look like? I'm still searching the engine (still in the vehicle) trying to locate it, but it's covered in black oily smudge and low light isn't helping.

Chris

Chris send me a pm or email with your email addy and I'll forward what I can. Layers of paint and grime hide a lot. My block is a 63 block so the date code is above the oil filter. As I mentioned above later blocks had them below the oil filter. This site will have a pic of the later date code location www.428cobrajet.org click on component id then blocks. The date codes locations are the same for any displacement FE engine. Pics of the casting number locations there also.


G.

Chris, pics on the way...................................................
G.

Nope your email bounced back to me. I'll try again. G.

Should be good this time. Nothing came back. G.

Yep, got them last night. Took a good look at them - but couldn't tell where the casting # is on the intake manifold. I saw the casting and date codes for the heads, have an idea where the casting # is for the block (the code I found on the block I believe is the date code as it's stamped or punched into a machined flat surface just above the oil filter), but couldn't pinpoint a location for the intake.

Thanks for sending those pics btw, it's helping!
Chris

Some early aluminum intakes just don't have a casting number. That tripower intake in the pics I sent does not have one either. Just the firing order and the fomoco logo. Some have the date code by the thermostat outlet but mine did not. Iron intakes seem to be well marked for some reason. Well glad the pics helped out. Let me know if you need any better ones. These were some I had already but can take a purpose specific area if needed. G.

Some of the early FE heads had machined combustion chambers. Those need to have the sparkplug threads ground off below the sparkplug. bust out the center of an old plug , screw it in and grind and blend in a flame travel path, also around the exhaust valve area needs a little grinding to smooth it out. the early heads had smaller valves but with proper rework they still had a pretty good compression ratio. compare valve sizes to a sbc the FE can be made to work, match ports, polish the bores. polish the valves , venturi, and booster in the carb, good headers. Isky had 1.5 to 1 rockers in a kit that required his cam, pushrods springs etc that made a lot of horse power and RPM. You probably need to rework your heads for unleaded gas, hardened seats and guides, mabe valves. nothing sounds better than a ported and polished FE. Carrol Miller used to use a strobe lite (variable flash) to watch his valve gear.he ran the cam and valve train in a dummy block using a variable speed electric motor with oil feed to the heads. watched for flutter, harmonic vibrations, balanced all the valve train, He used to make fords go fast at bonneville.

Tim can you tell me more about the cam in that Isky kit? Would you happen to know the specs? The Crane rockers I have run about the same ratio. I'm embarrased to say I ran these for years not knowing they were in the 1.52+ zone compared to the oem 1.76. With this now in mind was wondering what Isky did to compensate for the rocker ratio difference? Thanks for your input on this......G.

The story goes that Isky bought a used cam grinder and coppied the profile at the valve from an old indy engine to do the same for a ford flat head. I went to a milder engine in my T bucket, am now running a hyd Mustang gt cam. It works for pump gas but just doesn't sound right. The old isky sounded like a fuel dragster , 3 carter wcd carbs, same flow as 7 stromberg 97's , . a 2 inch tube lake style headers.. I think the cam was about 315 and a 520 lift. Isky's theory was that a 1.5 rocker has less rotational mass and the cam has more bump to compensate for it but it can accelerate the valve opening speed so they get open sooner, more area below the curve so it will breathe better and have more low end torque yet be able to rev higher. the same theory for the factory roller cams today. the previous engine in the t bucket was a 300 horse 390 with the 3 2's, isky and headers. It would always heat up. it only had about 30 k miles on it I traded off the long block and the guy tore it down and said one head gasket was on backwards so the water only was pumped in the front clyinders, he put it back together with a 4 barrel and into a 64 mercury and said it would rev forever. then the car was in a tow yard and i should have bought the engine out of it. I bought a ford van out of the company motor pool the repair history only showed oil changes but it never ran right(460) At 90 k miles i pulled the motor and found parts of a rod bearing in the pan. So much for the company( ford) employee discount car buying plan. It was the only one I kept that long nornally I usuallybought one from the motor pool at 6 month to a year old, drove it for a year then sold them at my original cost.

Tim excellent info and thank you very much!! This also explains alot to me. I've had good results with the 1.5 rockers in the past. I was pooped on a few times by guys telling me you lose lift which I fully understand. But also said lack of performance which I've found not to be true. If anything more as you described. The engine had never run better. Thank you for the fresh perspective on this! You have taught me quite a bit! G.