jhovis, a few thoughts on your rebuild:
I'm kind of getting the idea from your posts that you want a strong engine that will perform well when you mash on the accelerator, but will also be useful and a pleasure to drive in typical city/highway driving. If you're building a drag car, please disregard ALL the following thoughts.
The bottom end of the FE motor is very strong. Few builders, outside of out and out 7K rpm racing, need a cross bolted block, a steel crank, LeMans rods and other expensive exotica.
A budget smart rebuild can utilize the factory mains, rods, and crank, but do consider ARP bolts properly torqued, checked and triple checked for proper torque.
Get the block blueprinted so the rotating assembly suffers no offset bindings from sloppy factory work. Carefully balance the rotating assembly. This makes other work you do a better investment, helps the engine run smoothly, and reduces fuel consumption. It's well worth the modest expense when done properly.
The major investment in the rotating assembly should be hyperuetectic or forged pistons with Perfect Circle moly rings... this is because the FE comes alive with COMPRESSION!!!
A minimum of 9.5 up to 10.9 compression will work on pump gas, depending on your geographic elevation and local gas octane. You can go up to 12 if you have access to Aviation gasoline or can spike your gas with toluene, xylene, or racing fuel. Just be sure not to leave home without it!
Heads: C4AE-6090-G heads work well for compression up to about 10 to 10.5, but if you seek compression above that number, consider some Edelbrock heads, 390 HiPo, 406, 427 lowriser, or 352 HiPo heads. I prefer factory cast iron heads mentioned above with proper porting if needed. These heads give good flow and have small combustion chambers to help elevate compression.
The heads can be fitted with stainless steel CJ valves and dual springs to accomodate increased flow from the properly ported heads. Use factory adjustable rockers for slightly greater lift and better valvetrain adaptability. Pocket the bores of the 352 block to unshroud or provide extra space for the larger valves if needed. Some machinists may recommend the 406 valves. They're pretty good too.
Now camshaft. Boy, everybody has a favorite, but here's mine:
For anything other than serious racing, big numbers are a waste of fuel, develop poor torque at street RPM's and fail to perform at any RPM under 60-70 MPH. If you're going to street this car at ALL, avoid the ego grinds and go for one that will actually work well for driving conditions usually encountered.
I find that a lift of .385 and a dual grind duration of 214/224 is really nice. This is a modernized spec fairly similar to the 390 Police/HiPo grind, and is a good compromise between high RPM HP and low-mid RPM torque needs for the large Galaxie. My preference is for a solid flat tappet cam, which does require periodic lash adjustment and minor modification to the block to reduce the oil your block is set up to provide to the factory hydraulic lifters.
However, if you prefer a hydraulic lifter because that's what your ballet instructor insists upon
then a .400 lift and 224/234 dual duration grind is pretty keen IF you use Rhoads adjustable lifters. Now some folks don't care for Rhoads lifters, but a freshly done engine properly vatted and cleaned, regular oil changes and a good quality oil filter keeps the Rhoads lifters in fine condition (
www.rhoadslifters.com ). You'll appreciate the increased low-mid RPM torque with the larger cam.
Now for intake. If this car is going to be street driven, avoid the ego intake manifolds. An Edelbrock Performer 390 will work fine and is very cheap, since most folks are under the impression that low- to mid-range RPM torque is of no value in stop light driving around town (wrong). The Edelbrock RPM and Blue Thunder manifolds are great for higher rpm's, but are also great for making the engine run less well under 3000 rpm. Again, don't confuse good performance in typical range of driving with the needs of quarter mile drag racing
The Holley 600-700 vacuum secondary carburator is a nice mate to the Performer 390 intake, and will perform well in the under 4000 rpm range. You will get almost NO benefit from a larger carburator if you intend to street drive the car. These are cheap and easy-to-work-on carbs, too.
Headers. I totally hate headers for the street. The long headers are a complete pain in the posterior in the Galaxies because they loosen up frequently, they drag the ground and get beat up bad, and they often sound tinny. The steel shorties are just an ineffective gimmick to make dudes feel like header he-men, but with little flow benefit. If you MUST have headers, find a pair of factory cast iron '65 FE long headers.
Otherwise, use a pair of the larger pickup truck log manifolds with exits nearly like those of the car manifold. The pickup manifolds take a 2.25" pipe while the car manifolds accept a 2.00" pipe. Go from a 2.25" inch pipe at the pickup manifold with a conical adaptor to 2.50" mandrel bend dual exhaust pipes with H-pipe crossover. Exit in front of the back wheels using Spintech mufflers. You'll LOVE the sound, the flow, and be glad you avoided the horrendous hassle of headers. This system will flow very nearly as well as headers and 2.5" pipes up to 4750 rpm.
Spark. Pertronix in stock distributor, good plug wires, good coil, end of story.
And also, do yourself a favor and sh*tcan the automatic tranny. The FMX and C6 transmissions are the best way to eliminate 15-20% of your new engine's power to the pavement. Not to clever, doing an engine up right then pissing 20% of it away through a boring slushbox, eh?
My last build along these lines came to just under $3,250 last year.
Note: I'm not saying other approaches don't work. I'm just saying this approach makes the compromise between hot performance and good economy and pleasurable driving in a steet car. Don't be confusing these suggestions with "How to Build The Fastest Quarter Mile Dragster in California."
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: farmallmta on 5/24/06 2:28am ]</font>
