[rcodenewf]

Hey guys, lookin for any tips and suggestions in my motor selection for my 90 lx coupe. It will be a track car to learn and have fun with. I have a set of 69 429 heads and a crank. But i also have a std. bore 390 and a set of 427 Med.R heads...Which would be an easier swap?? I know they make headers for the 429 to fit in a fox but an FE? I like the FE as it is not as common, but will probably be more money to do. I just wanna make big power, fairly inexpensively. (No blower or w/e)

Any thoughts? Thanks guys!!

Chris

 

[ChicoB]

Inexpensive and FE are going to be hard to do. I would go with a 429-460. Just about everything I can think of will be cheaper with the 385 motor-plus you will have an enormous amount of power. I would sell the 390 block, then buy a jy 460, put your 429 heads on it and have fun.

 

[Beoweolf]

If big block ford, off the shelf parts, less custom fabrication and money are your major considerations...then 429. The FE is lighter, but getting cubic inches will cost more.

Cheapest alternative in the ~390 to ~430 ci. range is acutally a stroked (351) small block ford. Everyone has one and they are lighter, cheaper easy to work on.

 

[dacofa]

429/460. Piece of cake and lots of parts.

 

[ujt389]

I would go with a stroked 429/460. They will be more expensive than a 351 based stroker but you will be able to get 500+ cubic inches. I would not go with a FE unless you are looking for something different.

 

[My427stang]

I am an FE guy but, if you sell the MR heads, you can build all the 429/460 you can handle. I wouldnt mess with an FE in that car.

 

[dfree383]

I don't Believe the True MR 427 heads will fit the 390's bore? Valves to big? But anyway the 460 swap is much more common and the parts are off the shelf and pretty reasonably priced. A compariable 460 is going to be alot cheaper to build than a 390 and run circles around the 390.

 

[TorinoStyle2]

Again, I'd say go with the 429/460 familiy. They are easy to do, and cheaper.
You could sell the FE stuff and build a nice running 460 for the money you'd get for that FE stuff.
And yeah, a 460 will run circles around a 390....hell, it'll even run circles around a 427!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TorinoStyle2 on 3/17/06 10:09am ]</font>

 

[quickshift]

385 trumps FE..........cheap power....easy swap....parts are cheaper!

 

[tonys10sec306]

stroker 351. parts are very very cheap

 

[mustangboy]

I would agree the 385 series is probably easier to do depending on how much power you are talking about....However this topic came up a while back on another site and there is a guy over there running a 428 fairmont that runs in the mid 10s with very low fuss and didn't cost much to build(I think he had the 428 parts already kicking around though).I think a rear sump FE oil pan can be found on a late 70s 4X4 and mounts probably aren't that hard to build.I'm not sure if any headers are readily available or not.My point is that the Fe can be made to work if you really wanted to be different.