Thread: fe in mustang

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i'm a first time poster and resent subscriber. i have a few questions that i hope you can answer for me. i have a 68 mustang and i want a big block. was thinking about an fe but by no means am i an expert. my questions are:
1. i have c4ae-g heads(big intake) are these good for performance. i will port.
2. i have access to a yard that has some 66 or 67 vintage t-birds that coded as a Q car. is there any outside means of telling if its a 428? these cars have been there a long time sitting on the ground. also someone is selling a 428 block on ebay and say it has 428 cast behind a freeze plug. is this true and which one?
3. any good performance books on the fe? i have: rebuilding big blocks and ford performance. webs sites also.

i want a performance motor. i want something different and have always liked the looks of and fe. i also would really like to have a 428 but may go 460. who knows. thanks

i found the 428 cast in the water jacket. thank ffr428 for one of your postings

The C4-G heads are just standard 352/390 heads but with some port work and bigger valves can be made to run well. As far as trying to ID a 428 in the bone yard you can measure the stroke through one of the spark plug holes. You will need to be able to turn the engine over though so bring a breaker bar. Remove the spark plug and turn the engine to TDC. Insert a length of wood dowel and mark it using a common guide. Then bring it down to BDC and mark again using the same guide. Measure the distance between. The 428 will have a 3.98 (4") stroke and a 390 a 3.78. Other than ripping the head and oil pan off this will give you a basic idea what your dealing with. Standard 428 blocks like the ones found in the tbirds will have a sandscratch "A" on the back of the block. The CJ and SCJ a "C". If the block on ebay has one of these it's a production 428 block. These are a few good sites. www.428cobrajet.org which is the CJ registry. Lots of good ID info with pics. Another good forum is www.fordfe.com Some really sharp guys hang there. I would check those tbirds before buying the block on ebay. You will spend much less and have a complete engine. Buying piece by piece is much more expensive and things are not always as advertised sometimes. Ebay is famous for this so please be carefull. There are lots of guys to help and guide you along the way. Be certain you know what your buying BEFORE money changes hands. If you want an auto tranny check out the C6's in those birds also. I'm not familer with those but if it's there in the car it can probably be had cheap hopefully. Casting numbers will be generic for some blocks also. Read the Steve Christ book and see how many different blocks listed are for a C6ME-A. Quite a few.....G.

thanks for the post. i had visited the 428cj site you listed. that was good for some info. i would never buy a block off ebay, just thought it interesting with the 428 cast in the water jacket(i didn't know it was there). thanks again. i'll keep reading.