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Author
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Topic: Question for Rory Mcneil
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mustangboy
Gearhead Posts: 1147
From: Ont, Canada
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 10-04-2002 11:57 PM
  
Rory was wondering if you could tell me what kind of oiling mods(or other tricks) you've done to your 428 to keep it alive.I have always loved FEs my brother had a 69Mach1 with a 428 dragpack.Unfortunately he turned a bearing and blew it up.I've had a few old beater 390s and spun bearings in them as well.I have collected enough parts over a lot of years to build a 428 with some spares left over.Here's the delimma.Its very expensive to get one of these things built(as I'm sure you know)and every where I turn I seem to see one blowing up.Its always been a dream of mine to put one of these in my 68 which I have painted as a 681/2 CJ but I'm afraid to put out the money.If I sold all this stuff I could build a healthy windsor stroker motor that would probably be nearly as fast.What should I do.I'm on a tight budget and can't afford to sink a lot of money into an Fe only to have it blow up.The car would be a street/strip car with some cruisin miles as well.------------------
1968 mustang j-code sprint.13.69@101 1963Falcon waiting for a rebirth.
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Rory McNeil
Gearhead Posts: 1687
From: Surrey, B.C. Canada
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 10-07-2002 02:41 AM
Although I have done several oiling modifications to my 428`s block(enlarging the oil pump hole to gasket size,enlarging several oil gallery`s, radiusing the oil filter adapter ports, blocking oil to the lifter gallery`s, correcting the factory mis-alignment on the main bearing saddles,& restricting oil getting to the rocker shafts), most of this is not needed for a street engine. The main things I would suggest is opening the oil pump hole in the block, & restricting the oil to the rocker shafts. The oil pump hole is tiny compared to the oil pump or gasket, & a high volume oil pump in conjuntion with a shallow stock oil pan normally gets you valve covers full of oil, & virtually none in the oil pan.A deeper pan is usually a good idea too. Maybe I`m just lucky, but the 428 in my Fairmont has only been apart for freshing twice since I built it in 1994, & while I have replaced several bearings due to scratches, or minor pitting, but none were ever wiped out. In fact, I`ve been racing FE`s since the mid 70`s, and in all honesty, I can say I`ve never had a bearing spin, except 1 time when a piece of snap ring got into the oil pump & snapped the oil pump drive rod during a run. I have lost a couple of engines to con. rod failure, and one major explosion while playing with nitrous on a 390 back in the 80`s, but otherwise they have been very good to me.  Of course, the fact that I keep the RPM`s down certainly helps. I launch & shift my 428 at 6000-6200 rpm, with it hitting 6600 thru the traps. If I didn`t have a decent "stockpile" of 428 stuff around, I likely would go the 351 or 460 route, but the way things are going, my wife will still be able to have a nice FE "garage sale" when I finally croak. Good luck.------------------
78 Fairmont 428 4 speed 10.20@130mph
80 Fairmont 302 5 speed 12.8@105mph
85 Mustang NHRA Stocker under construction, 302 5 speed
59 Meteor (Canadian Ford) 2 dr sedan 332, auto
74 F350 ramp truck 390 4spd
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Glens67
Gearhead Posts: 495
From: Middleton, ID
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 10-07-2002 02:48 AM
Rory McNeil is right on with his recomendations. another good site for FE info is
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/74182
Glen------------------
Glen
67 GT 390
65 Galaxie 500 XL 4 Speed
It was not a Red Light they gave me a Slow Tree
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mustangboy
Gearhead Posts: 1147
From: Ont, Canada
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 10-07-2002 04:29 PM
Thanks guys.I'm familiar with most of the oiling mods,I've already enlarged the oil pump to oil filter adapter hole and aligned the holes in the main bearing saddles with the old bearings.I guess I'm really looking for some guys who are running these things and making them live.I went on the Dove Performance site and read the "Insights into the Ford FE engine" by Jim Dove.Very interesting reading,sounds like a ton of prep work on the block.I guess thats why there so expensive to build.I saw a stock eliminator (69 Mach1) blow up just a few weeks ago and a buildup on the Fordmuscle.com site went very bad as well.A high dollar 390 just blew up in some magazine so all this stuff along with my own bad experiences had me thinking I should just sell this stuff and move on.------------------
1968 mustang j-code sprint.13.69@101 1963Falcon waiting for a rebirth.
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