Here’s the 427 FE on the dyno at JGM Performance Engineering. What makes this 427 unique is its Side Oiler block and rare factory aluminum heads from the mid-1960s. This is a Le Mans–bowl Holley on top of a 427 High Riser manifold.
The 427’s vastly improved oiling system made this engine a world-beater against Ferrari at Le Mans. In fact, the Side Oiler became the gold standard for big-block power. The Side Oiler was teamed with Medium Riser heads and Carroll Shelby’s 427 Cobra in 1965. The 427 Side Oiler was a culmination of nice refinements learned from experience in racing. The FE dominated NASCAR in the 1960s, winning five manufacturers championships and five Daytona 500s.
By 1965–1967, the 427 was the best it had ever been and guaranteed to finish the race. The challenge today is finding an undamaged Side Oiler with standard bores you can build. An alternative is to purchase an aftermarket Robert Pond 427 block, which will hold even more power than the original.
The 427’s handicap is bore size limitations. Because bore size reaches the limits of this block at 4.230 inches you can only bore it .030-inch oversize unless you intend to re-sleeve, which averages more than $100 per bore. Unique to the 427 is a forged-steel crankshaft, although nodular cast-iron cranks were installed in some for non-performance applications.
Here is Ford’s 390 FE big-block swapped into a 1960 Thunderbird, replacing the 352. The 390 was introduced in 1961 in 2V, 4V, and High Performance configurations (4V and 6V). The 1961–1962 390 High Performance V-8 was factory fitted with an aggressive mechanical lifter camshaft and cast-iron headers.
The FE big-block enjoys great interchangeability. Although there are a lot of head casting numbers, there isn’t much difference across the board in terms of port and valve sizing. One exception to this rule is 427 heads. They can vary a lot across Low, Medium, and High Rise types. Heads and manifold must match.
This 1963 Galaxie Lightweight was spotted at a car show with a 427 topped with rare Mickey Thompson hemispherical combustion chamber “hemi” cylinder heads. It makes you wonder why Ford didn’t do a 427 with a hemi cylinder head. Note the use of a magneto. Also noteworthy is the special Mickey Thompson induction.
The 427 SOHC Cammer was conceived as a specialty off-road engine for NASCAR-sanctioned stock car racing. Ford built approximately 1,000 427 Cammer engines for stock car racers. When NASCAR said no to the SOHC, Ford was stuck with at least a thousand engines. Ford ended up selling these engines in the aftermarket just to unload them. It is unknown exactly how many 427 Cammers were built. However, their value remains extremely high on the rare occasion they come up for sale.
The defining feature of the 406 and 427 standalone FE engines was this bulletproof cross-bolted main cap design that made the skirted block indestructible. No other FE big-block had a cross-bolted main block except late-1962 406s and all 427s through the end of production in 1969.
The 427 SOHC block is unique to the SOHC heads. This means that you can run a Cammer block with wedge heads. However, Cammer heads will not work on a standard 427 block due to lubrication drainback differences, unless an external oil drainback line is used.
The 428
Because the 427 was an expensive engine to produce, Ford had to look at what it would take to get a cost-effective FE to the luxury car market. Ford introduced the FE Series 428 in 1966 as a low-revving alternative to the 427. Although the 428 was 1 ci larger than the 427, its architecture was different. It used a nodular-iron crank along with a 3.980-inch stroke and a 4.130-inch bore. So close in size (427/428), yet so different in how they made power. The 427 likes to rev high, making its greatest horsepower and torque at 6,000 rpm. The 428, with a smaller bore and longer stroke, likes to make torque at lower RPM ranges to smoothly motivate heavy cars around town and onto the freeway.
Ford probably didn’t understand at the time, but it was birthing a new era of hot Ford performance in its 428 that would make it a winner in NHRA Super Stock competition. One lone Ford dealer in Providence, Rhode Island, Bob Tasca, who was an avid drag racer, wondered about the potential of Ford’s long-stroke 428 in NHRA Super Stock competition. Ford’s 390 High Performance V-8 for 1967–1968 was decidedly lame; Tasca believed that it was an embarrassment to Ford’s legacy of high-performance race cars. Tasca saw the Mustang’s 390 Hi-Po as nothing more than a Galaxie 390 with a modest cylinder head upgrade, which impressed no one.
Of all the FE Series big-blocks produced, the 390 is most common. This is the 390 High Performance GT V-8 in a 1967 Mustang. Although Ford identified these as 390 High Performance V-8s, they were little more than Galaxie 390s with improved GT heads. They lacked the aggressiveness of the early 1961–1962 390 High Performance V-8. You can make a big difference in the 390 High Performance V-8 with a hot roller cam.
Tasca went to the Ford parts bin, grabbed a handful of 427 parts, and went to work building a high-performance 428 with 427 Low Riser heads and induction, hotter cam, and Holley carburetion. Then he went racing. The results were so impressive that Tasca decided to present the idea to Ford Corporate in Dearborn, Michigan. Tasca’s 1967 Mustang with a high-performance 428 so impressed Ford management that it decided to press this engine into production for midyear 1968. Ford began with 50 standard 1968 Mustang fastbacks built in December of 1967 with the new FE Series 428 Cobra Jet built specifically for NHRA Super Stock drag racing.
The 390 High Performance V-8 didn’t change much for 1968. This one is fitted with Ford’s Thermactor injection pump system (arrows), which infused fresh air into the exhaust ports to reduce emissions. Thermactor parts are very hard to come by these days. Many were removed and thrown away back in the day.
They rolled off the Dearborn, Michigan, assembly line bone stock and were delivered to veteran NHRA Super Stock drag racers who would turn them into stunning performers as a bold threat to drag racers everywhere. In January 1968 at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California, Ford unveiled these Wimbledon White 1968½ Cobra Jet Mustangs in NHRA Super Stock competition. No one was laughing in the chilly Southern California air. Avid Ford campaigners rolled out their Cobra Jet fastbacks and awed the crowd with lightning-quick pony cars. The key to performance was the 428’s long stroke and a complement of 427 components. Mustang got its respect back.
The production 428 Cobra Jet arrived on April 1, 1968, with a thicker, heavier block and beefy main webs for strength. On top were little more than 427 Medium Riser heads, even though Ford called them Cobra Jet heads. All 1968 Cobra Jet engines were basically the same in Fords, Mercurys, and Shelbys with Ram-Air.
For 1969–1970, there were two FE Series Cobra Jet engines available: Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet. The Super Cobra Jet was more an all-out drag racing package with C7AE-B Le Mans rods and a small counterweight to counterbalance additional rod weight. The Super Cobra Jet’s bottom end was electronically dynamically balanced for added measure to minimize destructive vibration. Super Cobra Jet units were also fitted with an external oil cooler and drag race gearing (3.91:1 or 4.30:1).
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