Thread: 396 Chevy- 390 Ford

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Slincoln---------Altho a dyed in the wool ford guy -I would have to disagree with you on not only your comments, but also your line of thoughts----------the 396 chev block as a piece of cast iron , has most of the attributes on all the late dart and similar aftermarket blocks----it is probably the most copied design out there and for many excellent reasons ( I'm not talking about the segment of 350/350 and/or crate engine folks)---the bore spacing, deck height, pan rail spacing, main bore to cam bore, cylinder wall thickness (will easily take .160 overbore) number and location of main/head bolts, etc-------
This doesn't even start to go near the canted valves, port sizes, port heights, water flow and not even a blink toward the side oil groove( remember all the Ford side oiler talk) feeding upper end oil thru the push rods, lots of drain back , oil pump /dist at rear of cam shaft/block/pan--------

I agree what an awesome piece of mechanical wizardry.. I guess I've just. been lucky. Thanks

I think that if Ford had continued down a high performance road with the 429/460--instead of rolling over and playing dead in the mid 70s---we would of seen many, many improvements -------altho the boss 9er was neat, both it and the 427 cammer were basicly just coffee table foundations at that point in time-------

[QUOTE=jerry clayton;533246]I think that if Ford had continued down a high performance road with the 429/460--instead of rolling over and playing dead in the mid 70s---we would of seen many, many improvements -------altho the boss 9er was neat, both it and the 427 cammer were basicly just coffee table foundations at that point in time-------[/QUOTE

I agree 100% but they had other interests.

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

I think that if Ford had continued down a high performance road with the 429/460--instead of rolling over and playing dead in the mid 70s---we would of seen many, many improvements -------altho the boss 9er was neat, both it and the 427 cammer were basicly just coffee table foundations at that point in time-------

Seriously? So 1st, 2nd & 3rd at LeMans sending Enzo crying back to Italy was just a fluke? Hardly a coffee table foundation in my book, but we all have our opinions.....

Good point I had forgotten about their racing team. I retract my earlier agree and stand firm with the mighty 390 and its brothers 352,406,410,427,428 and iits cousins 429/460.
Bottom line is this no 396 ever beat me and they won't. Don't worry Ford guys I got your back...

Bob Tasca got so angry that the Ford brass couldn't ( & wouldn't) come up with anything better than the lowly 390, and his race team was getting spanked week after week, they raided a car in the lot (reportedly a T-Bird) for the short block, a 428, they kept the 390 gt heads and cam, and the next weekend at Epping New Hampshire, they walked over all comers!

Shortly thereafter, Ford rolled out the 68 1/2 Cobra Jets.....

I grew up 30 minutes from Tasca Ford, it was THE place to be if you were a Ford guy in the late 60's.. everyone was welcome to drop in and talk with the crews... The Cobra Jet teams all gathered there during the eastern swing.. it was Nirvana for a car crazy teenager!

For the Ford folks-Phil Bonner just passed away---IIRC he had one of the 68 cj at winternationals that was painted one color on one side and another color on the other side-------pit people and spectators only saw 2 different colors.
There was a hydraulic lifter 427 fe that ford was bring out in 68 but had problems meeting emissions so they moved the heads to the 428 and called it Cobra Jet----
Still have my original invoice around here somewhere and it was less than $4000 with all the registration and licensing think 34 0r 35 hun! Dark green with gold stripes Torino---it ran so good that I didn't even change the engine out to the Holman Moody 427----------

I got to meet Phil Bonner some years back at the first All Ford Carlisle National meet in Carlisle PA. We chatted for a few minutes during a rain storm and he sighed a shirt for me!

I've never worn it! Maybe now???? RIP Phil..

I saw him about a year ago at show in Muscle Car Show here in November--this year its nov 22-23 in Rosemont,Il---got to go to all shows nearby to visit with all the old guys as they are leaving this planet at an alarming rate-RIP Phil and others


IIRC, my cj had a camshaft #c8az 6250 d plus a timing gizmo that had about 10degrees variable timing---------

34/40 Watch it with the lowly 390 comments lol. The 69 might catch wind of it and you don't want that....lol...

Ford v Chevy was the battle for 2nd place about this time in Super Stock..... The Hemi began it's dominance in A/S, A/SS and the wedges took over everything in B/SS. Had the distinct privilege of being the "hired gun" in a Div 5 B/SS for 3 seasons, we could run on or below index most anytime out (except Denver). Ford was factored so badly they didn't even have a fair chance to be competitive in the SS classes but did hold their own in Stock classes. The 427 Chevelles and Camaros did ok, but none of them could run with the Hemi Mopar's.....Though some will argue that NHRA factored and rated all of the top 3 or 4 SS classes in favor of Mopar's, the Hemi cars owned Super Stock, Stock Eliminator through the 70's.....

Yep--those late 60 into 70s era of factoring, weight breaks, indexing ruined organized on track racing and drove the real racers back to the roads------
Remember the 4 door falcon??? wasn't it Gapp & Rosch that did it??
small block vegas? Pintos? and then Gliden went to Mopar and won most all the races that year? pretty much proved the favorism shown to Chrysler-----

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Yep--those late 60 into 70s era of factoring, weight breaks, indexing ruined organized on track racing and drove the real racers back to the roads------
Remember the 4 door falcon??? wasn't it Gapp & Rosch that did it??
small block vegas? Pintos? and then Gliden went to Mopar and won most all the races that year? pretty much proved the favorism shown to Chrysler-----

gapp rosch they ran a four door maverick that i think had motor wheel flys on it for rims with a pie cut boss head that was welded to work on a inline ford 6 i think dick maskins may have work the boss head over . i know he did have a hand on the iron heavily reworked AMC heads with wally booth

any snow over there Pat???

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

any snow over there Pat???

nothing sticking.. how are you.. i am going to miss out on the PRI show this year. they need to have them carts that we could drive to see the show . my hips and knees were killing me i was triping on that thick carpet they had in them booths . burnt out my guts eatting oxycodone just to see it all so i stay in town have many engines to build one guy is getting set for some dyno time then go for the hill climb