I need 3 FE push rods

[Thomas C Potter]

anyone have some extra ?? 5/16 std length. Thnx

TP

[Dragcity]

I'll be re-building my '65 390 this spring. Note that the original parts have nearly 1/2 million miles on them....

I am keeping only the block, crank, heads, carb and intake. I'm gutting everything else and replacing with new. Plan on having the heads worked over, block bored .03-.04 over and going with free-floating connecting rods on forged pistons. I'll have the original carb re-worked to factory original.

[Thomas C Potter]

Thnx Joe, but maybe a few to many miles/wear. Is that 484K with no rebuilds??

[JACook]

I am keeping only the block, crank, heads, carb and intake. I'm gutting everything else and replacing with new. Plan on having the heads worked over, block bored .03-.04 over and going with free-floating connecting rods on forged pistons. I'll have the original carb re-worked to factory original.
Careful with that overbore. The 390 is a thinwall casting, and some examples won't safely go .040" over.

Also, the factory rods and pistons already have floating pins. The factory 390 rod really only needs a set
of ARP bolts unless you're planning on building a race-only engine that's gonna see upwards of 7K RPM.
Ford put good rods in these engines.

I've got a set of the current SpeedPro (formerly TRW) L2291F forged pistons on the shelf right now for a
'63 390 I'm putting together. Nice pieces. They're a newer design that runs tighter bore clearance than the
old TRWs, plus they have coated skirts.

Beware of the various compression height of different manufacturers 390 replacement pistons. This is one
area where you really need to do your homework, or you'll be left wondering why the engine doesn't run like
it should. If you're running the standard FelPro head gaskets, I'd aim for the piston crowns at zero deck.
With the original style steel shim gaskets, you want to be a bit lower. How much lower depends on whether
the gaskets are the standard 390 style or the folded-lip 427 style. I personally prefer the 427 steel shim
head gaskets, unless I'm using aluminum heads.

Good call on keeping the original Autolite "shoebox" carb. For street use, they're really hard to beat.
Another area where Ford was way ahead of the curve.

I might suggest ditching the factory intake, though. Save yourself a bunch of weight if you go with an
Edelbrock Performer or Performer RPM. You can always paint it.

Whichever intake you use, though, DO NOT use the soft Fel-Pro "Print-O-Seal" intake gaskets on an FE.
The blue Teflon-coated ones are OK, but even better are the composition sandwich type like Victor Reinz.

[Dragcity]

Thanks for the input Jeff. The T-Bird is a Sunday driver. It was my Brother's car and I promised to keep it stock. I want to beef up the internals a bit and would love to do the aluminum intake, but rules are rules. I need the original FORD Stampings for that Factory original look and appeal. I will probably play with those pistons to get better compression ratio. Thanks for the concern on the fitment. Years ago I built a Ford 400 and packed 351 SCJ domed pistons in it. Made a lot of HP and ran great.

I intend to clay things up when I get to that point and see what works best. It's my first time on an FE engine, but "parts is parts" Another of my Brothers has a 427 in his '69 Mach 1. I'm sure he will keep me on track.

And yes, that this 390 has had no internal work done. Intake manifold gasket was replaced several times througout the years, couple water pumps and only one timing chain replacement. The poor old oil pump is still limping along, but not supplying the oil needed to anything more than the crank and barely the cam. Needs a transplant badly.

[JACook]

Sounds like a cool car. Always liked the '65 Birds, especially the convertibles.

My current 390 project is out of a '63 Monterey Breezeway Coupe (http://family.deepbondi.net/iPhoto/63_monterey/index.html), and this is it's first time apart as well. There
are still some originals out there. This one would still be running if the previous owner had used a better mechanic.
They had replaced the rocker shafts with some rebuilts, and the rebuilder used the wrong depth cup plugs in the
ends. One of 'em fell out. Hurt the crankshaft pretty bad. One of the pistons was actually hitting the head.

When I was researching what I wanted to put into this build, I spent most of my time on the pistons. What I found
is that most piston manufacturers have substituted FT (truck) pistons for many of their old FE part numbers. I was
not able to find a piston with the same compression height and dish dimensions as the originals in either a cast or
hypereutectic. The SpeedPro forged were the closest, but not exactly the same. And they're flat-tops. The FT
pistons generally have shorter compression heights, for a lower compression ratio. Putting these into a 390, especially
one with a bit of cam, can instantly turn it into a complete dog.

And along those same lines is the replacement FelPro head gaskets I mentioned before. The original steel shim
gaskets compress to around .015". The FelPros are ~.049" or so. This can cause a significant drop in compression
ratio, which again, if you're going to use a non-stock camshaft, could turn the engine into a dog. And, perversely,
the engine might be more prone to detonation at the same time, because the piston-to-head clearance ends up
in the critical zone, where it's not tight enough for good quench, and not loose enough to keep from generating
localized pressure spikes in what would have been the quench zones.

A very good parts resource for FEs is DSC Motorsport (http://www.dscmotorsport.com/About/index.asp). Dennis is an FE guy from way back, and carries some of
the harder to find bits like steel shim head gaskets, and oil restrictor kits.

[Dragcity]

Thanks for sharing your experience Jeff. When I was a kid we had a 63,4 or 5 Parklane with the Breezeway. I loved that car. Have been looking for one lately. That or a Galaxie 500 XL Convertible.

I remember the frame being an issue on our old Merc. broke over the rear axle. Dad had to weld on an iron patch.

My Brother rebuilt a '59 Skyliner that turned out beautiful. Sold about a month after he finished it.

I have lots to do on the Bird. A/C is not working, heater core is bypassed and the electrical inside is shot. The underpinnings are perfect, as that is what my Brother focused on. He had the exterior chrome done, but the interior chrome is fairly pitted. He also painted it it's original Merlot metalic.

The car lived in Tenneessee its whole life, until coming to Buffalo, NY after my Bro. died several years ago. A little at a time, I'll just keep puttering around, and some day it will be just right.