Oooooooohhh boy, that's a good question to ask if you want to get people all fired up. LOL There are so many stories about what FE means. Some say (F)ord (E)dsel, some say (F)ord (E)ngine....all kinds of other stuff. The name FE wasn't even givin to the engine until the late 70's I beleive after they quit the production of them. Now if you REALLY want some fun with that question go here and ask what FE means.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182
That's a great forum to visit if you're interested in learning about your FE engine. By the way, what kind of car do you have?
As for the benefits of the FE... Well you've got yourself a relatively lightweight big block engine with TONS of torque and plenty of horsepower to move even the biggest boat around. One reason it's so awesome is because of it's design; the intake manifold is also part of the cylinder head. You've also got many choices of performance parts (new and old) out there to choose from whether it be different types of induction setups, to exhaust manifolds(headers)down to oil pans.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 63Ford on 11/2/02 5:16pm ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 63Ford on 11/2/02 5:17pm ]</font>
There are a lot of self proclaimed experts out there....they are probably the ones who call the 400 Ford engine a "400M".
No such thing as a 400M.
As for the FE, I've seen factory nomenclature in print that states it stood for "Ford Engine", to differentiate it from the "MEL" or Mercury, Edsel, Lincoln engine.
But since it was first installed in the Edsel, it could just as easily stand for Ford Edsel as well.
Yeah, what you call an engine doesn't determine how bada$$ it is and the FE's are some baaad engines. Greg is right, they have some really good racing history to them. Which is a shame when so many people consider the FE's an outdated engine design. BAH! What do they know anyways??
Say a blip some where promoting FE over small blocks. The switch the stock 75 pound manifold with an alum. one and it's about the same weight as a small block but strong and more inches. Inche per Pound 427 was lighter than 429.
Lots of people debate it, but the other engine available at that time in Lincolns was the MEL (Mercury, Edsel, Lincoln), so generally I consider it to be Ford, Edsel, because that made sense too. However, nobody really knows
As far as importance, the FE led to the 427 of all variants and the 428 CJ, as well as a unique version called the SOHC or Cammer. Quite a history and that's why a following. Very strong, sorta quirky, but a good engine, and not incredibly heavy for the cubic inches
Adding to what My427stang said, the FE, specifically the 427, was literally responsible for Ford's racing heritage in the 1960s. On top of the GT40 Lemans fame, nobody won more at track racing than Ford. At the heart of that was the FE (427).
By the way, the front suspension design introduced in the '65 Galaxie platform also set the stock car racing (NASCAR) benchmark for decades to come. Variants of the same design are still used today.
Just thought it was a sign of the times, FE= Ford Edsel. MEL= Mercury Edsel Lincoln, we also had a Y and and I during same time period. JMO I believe at one point in time you could have all of them in an Edsel depending on range.
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