Joined
·
2,187 Posts
Tell me what you know about an engine
Story here:
Back in the late 1960's I had lived in the Dallas area. Used to do my laundry at a place backside of a Texaco station. They had a 1967 GT out back behind a low fence to which I could see week after week. I hopped the fence one afternoon and took a look at it closer. It looked nice, complete, but why sitting out back? I asked the service station owner about it then. It was sort of special, belonged to his son, who had more traffic citations than could be fit into the glove box. Yes, it was for sale, for dad never wanted to see it again. Bring $600 in cash on Saturday morning, it would be running OK then, I could test it, and if OK they would transfer title right then.
The son was there that Saturday morning, warned it had a bad clutch, and it was not the everyday 390 powered Fairlane. Seems he found that Detroit was going to make up a few 390's with four speed, but rated at 345 H.P. not the advertised 335 (or 315 H.P.) for it was to compete on the showroom floors with the new Chevelle SS. It was bought only about one-two months before the 428 powered Fairlanes were made public. These 390 powered cars were to have most everything the 427 powered cars had in a mechanical sence. While father was attending to drive ups, the son told me Iff'n the traffic on the Dallas-Forth Worth loop was low, he could outrun the local Corvettes, but if it was busy, they could get in, out and around traffic better than the Fairlane could. The kid mentioned he had a 427 in the garage which had at one time been under the hood. Iff'n I was to buy the car that morning, he would hoist the 427 into the trunk and I could have it all for one price. Only thing was that I had to place the $$$ into HIS hands, not the father's. Well, that was easy, father was UPSET upon seeing this, but it was drove home an hour later.
I drove it to California about two months later, and then the clutch really pooped out. Friend of mine was parts manager in the local Ford dealership. Using the door codes, he flat could not find reference in the books to the engine or the clutch. However, everything flat resembled what a 427 would use, so I bought that, and was running the streets two hours later. The engine code position in the V.I.N and plate was blank.
The dual inlet Holley Carb began to leak bad several months later, and even though the original tag was still on it, that did little good. Could not be found in parts house books, nor at the dealership. The speed shop, who sold Holly, did not have a cross-over, however did manage to create a kit for me from feeling and seeing the used parts. Oddly buying parts one at a time cost less than in a full kit.
Other problems crept up years later. Oil pooped out the rear of the manifold, so got a gasket set to that. Only the holes for the ports in the gasket were marginally small, so had to use some 427 gasket. The radiator never did keep the engine cool around Palm Springs, but once the 427 engine was installed, it surprizingly ran cooler. Had trouble using the proceedure for adjusting the valves for a 390, but when friendly parts manager mentioned that certain 390 cars came with 428 camshafts, by using that knowledge the engine stopped jumping around and ran nice afterwards. There later was an oil pan leak, and upon dropping it one night found that the block had a High Volume pump in place, not the standard one. The engine pooped the water pump also, and standard replacement did not look correct for some reason, however a Shelby numbered unit looked exactly the same.
I had been a Hot Rod, Car Craft, etc. magazine reader for a long time. I then went back to read if anything had been printed on it in some back issue. They had articles mostly on the automatic transmission cars. One mentioned the standard GT with four-speed, and then a quick sentence about that a special, even more powerfull 390 was going to be made available in limited numbers, but by time the edition hit news stands the 428 would be out and available. Seems neither was produced in any great quantity. No doubt it would confuse a Barret-Jackson auctioneer for they would keep referring to it as a semi-standard G.T. much as they did years ago when a 427 engine car came up.
It has been twenty years now since I had the car and am doing this from memory, but does anyone have a handle on the special H.P. 390's which went into the 67 Fairlanes?
Oh, months later, we installed that 427 back under the hood, and was it fast. The car had 3.91 rear gears and at 7000 RPM steady, it did 90 MPH on the freeway in second gear. It was removed about one year later after oil pressure was at a high of about 20 PSI and reset the 390 back into place.
Wm.
Story here:
Back in the late 1960's I had lived in the Dallas area. Used to do my laundry at a place backside of a Texaco station. They had a 1967 GT out back behind a low fence to which I could see week after week. I hopped the fence one afternoon and took a look at it closer. It looked nice, complete, but why sitting out back? I asked the service station owner about it then. It was sort of special, belonged to his son, who had more traffic citations than could be fit into the glove box. Yes, it was for sale, for dad never wanted to see it again. Bring $600 in cash on Saturday morning, it would be running OK then, I could test it, and if OK they would transfer title right then.
The son was there that Saturday morning, warned it had a bad clutch, and it was not the everyday 390 powered Fairlane. Seems he found that Detroit was going to make up a few 390's with four speed, but rated at 345 H.P. not the advertised 335 (or 315 H.P.) for it was to compete on the showroom floors with the new Chevelle SS. It was bought only about one-two months before the 428 powered Fairlanes were made public. These 390 powered cars were to have most everything the 427 powered cars had in a mechanical sence. While father was attending to drive ups, the son told me Iff'n the traffic on the Dallas-Forth Worth loop was low, he could outrun the local Corvettes, but if it was busy, they could get in, out and around traffic better than the Fairlane could. The kid mentioned he had a 427 in the garage which had at one time been under the hood. Iff'n I was to buy the car that morning, he would hoist the 427 into the trunk and I could have it all for one price. Only thing was that I had to place the $$$ into HIS hands, not the father's. Well, that was easy, father was UPSET upon seeing this, but it was drove home an hour later.
I drove it to California about two months later, and then the clutch really pooped out. Friend of mine was parts manager in the local Ford dealership. Using the door codes, he flat could not find reference in the books to the engine or the clutch. However, everything flat resembled what a 427 would use, so I bought that, and was running the streets two hours later. The engine code position in the V.I.N and plate was blank.
The dual inlet Holley Carb began to leak bad several months later, and even though the original tag was still on it, that did little good. Could not be found in parts house books, nor at the dealership. The speed shop, who sold Holly, did not have a cross-over, however did manage to create a kit for me from feeling and seeing the used parts. Oddly buying parts one at a time cost less than in a full kit.
Other problems crept up years later. Oil pooped out the rear of the manifold, so got a gasket set to that. Only the holes for the ports in the gasket were marginally small, so had to use some 427 gasket. The radiator never did keep the engine cool around Palm Springs, but once the 427 engine was installed, it surprizingly ran cooler. Had trouble using the proceedure for adjusting the valves for a 390, but when friendly parts manager mentioned that certain 390 cars came with 428 camshafts, by using that knowledge the engine stopped jumping around and ran nice afterwards. There later was an oil pan leak, and upon dropping it one night found that the block had a High Volume pump in place, not the standard one. The engine pooped the water pump also, and standard replacement did not look correct for some reason, however a Shelby numbered unit looked exactly the same.
I had been a Hot Rod, Car Craft, etc. magazine reader for a long time. I then went back to read if anything had been printed on it in some back issue. They had articles mostly on the automatic transmission cars. One mentioned the standard GT with four-speed, and then a quick sentence about that a special, even more powerfull 390 was going to be made available in limited numbers, but by time the edition hit news stands the 428 would be out and available. Seems neither was produced in any great quantity. No doubt it would confuse a Barret-Jackson auctioneer for they would keep referring to it as a semi-standard G.T. much as they did years ago when a 427 engine car came up.
It has been twenty years now since I had the car and am doing this from memory, but does anyone have a handle on the special H.P. 390's which went into the 67 Fairlanes?
Oh, months later, we installed that 427 back under the hood, and was it fast. The car had 3.91 rear gears and at 7000 RPM steady, it did 90 MPH on the freeway in second gear. It was removed about one year later after oil pressure was at a high of about 20 PSI and reset the 390 back into place.
Wm.
