Thread: new to FE and have questions

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let me start out by saying that this will be my second car {first was a 73 porsche 914 with a 283 chevy, long story} ok well im riding by a local auto shop in town when i see a whit '65 galaxie sitting there with no chrome but it looked to be in good shape. i got my dad to pull over and i went inside to inquire about the car it has a 352 FE the guy said he wanted $2500 for it bc of the heads {he spent a great deal of time on them} i told him i would give him $1000 for the car with no heads. he said he would take it the car is in good shape and it has a new tranny. i think im getting a good deal. i just wanted some info about the FE series and was also wondering if any of you have heads that you would like to sell. if not i can find some no problem. aslo the motor was just rebuilt too. tel me what you guys think also just curious what does FE stand for?
thanks Tyler

thanks denny what do u guys think of the 352 is it worth building or should i build a 390 or something

352 is fine. Denny was right about FE. Noone know's which one it is. 352 are good motors though. I am still learning about them as well but a 360 and 390 are the same thing.

so are all the parts interchangable on FE motor like they are on SBC's? might be a dumb question but like i said im only learning about Ford

the answer is yes. a lot of the parts are interchangeable. for instance a fe block with a 4.05 bore can either a 360 (using a 352 stroke), a 390 (using a 3.78 stroke), or a 410 (using a 428-3.98 stroke). it's all pretty much what you want to do. i am personally building a 410. speaking of which, denny, do you know any good websites about these engines. also there are some pretty good books out there about fe's and the interchangibility. i believe ebay has some right now.

Here's a link to 7,866 threads on CHR that have "FE" in them. Knock yourself out
http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/sea...der=descending

thanks guys so mustang is saying that i could turn my 352 into a 410 or a 390 or whatever just by changing the stroke?

Your 352 had a standard bore of 4.00 and a stroke of 3.50. A 390 has a bore of 4.05 and uses a 3.78 stroke crank. A 410 has a 4.05 cyl bore and a 3.98 stroke. Your 352 can be easily bored to 4.05 and then use the crank stroke you prefer. 390 cranks are pretty inexpensive. $50 is about average. 428 cranks run $300-500 depending on condition. You will need the shorter rods also for a 3.78-3.98 crank. So for a 390 or 410 you will need to bore the cyl's to 4.05. G.

ok thanks guys like i said im new to FE's so thanks for putting up with my ignorance and helping me out

yah thanks im sure ill have tons more qustions for you i think im gonna be rebuilding the motor but the car is in great shape and im getting it for like $700 i cant wait

I have to wonder what heads are on the car now? Knocking off $1500 is a pretty good chunk of cash for a pair of heads. Did he say what kind of heads they were? The 65 Gal is a sweet ride. Sounds like you found a really good deal. Keep us posted how things turn out. G.

Originally posted by FFR428
I have to wonder what heads are on the car now? Knocking off $1500 is a pretty good chunk of cash for a pair of heads. Did he say what kind of heads they were? The 65 Gal is a sweet ride. Sounds like you found a really good deal. Keep us posted how things turn out. G.

Edelbrock or Shelby aluminum?

ok i have an update well my i went and talked to the guy and he was trying to tell me how much money he had in the heads he said he spent weeks working them i asked him if he put hardened valve seats in and he said he couldnt remember if he did or not sounds kinda fishy to me. i made it very clear to him that just cause im 16 doesnt mean im a moron when it comes to building motors [i just dont know fords] i have built a 283 and a 327 so i understand how things work. well i went back and talked to him again and i asked if i could run a compression gauge on the motor. he agreed. if he put as much time as he said he did into the heads they should hold a decent pressure and if the motor has no pressure then it must be the rings [also when i talked to him again the motor went from being rebuilt to just having the rings replaced with stock size one not oversized and he didnt even hone out the cylinders. he also replaced all the bearings with stock sized. so i wont be surprised if it smokes like crazy but hey it takes more off the price. the car is in really good shape really straight and no rust so its worth at least $1000 well anyway i now have him talked down to $750 i think this guy is full of BS but its a nice car and i like it so thats all that counts

yah exactly i only trust 2 mechanics myself and my dad. it doesnt matter who it is im gonna be skeptical of their work before it goes into my car and falls apart causing me more problems. the more the guys tells me the more the price goes down haha rebuilt around here means they took the heads off and scrubbed the carbon off the pistons and sprayed some carb. cleaner down the carb. one of my friedns had a bad crank bearing so he pulled the motor and replaced only the one bearing i told him you just did all that work for nothing if one bearing is bad they most likely all are while you have the motor out relapce all the bearings with oversized ones and have the crank and cam polished it saves more time and money in the long run. why would you want to be cheap with something that you have to count on to get you places i mean lets face it you cant do much without a car these days so please take care of them!