Engine is here and coming together!
 

Good afternoon!

Got the engine back from the machine shop a few weeks ago and I've got most of it together now.

Ran into a small issue with the stupid balancer spacer. Lost the original piece and had to order one from Summit. They only had two, and one was sized for a specific balancer so I order the other one, which was actually the shorter of the two.

Spacer arrives and it is exactly 0.500" too long. Of course, I find that out after pressing it onto the snout and trying to install the balancer. :hmmm: Not gonna work. Yank it all back off and have the machine shop knock the 1/2" off the nose and now we're good.

Still need to get pulleys sorted along with the alternator bracket. Since this truck doesn't have power steering or A/C, this is going to be easy. Single groove pulley FTW! :2thumbs:

I'm hoping to have the engine dyno together soon so that I can break the engine in and get a power curve before installing into the F600. We'll see how long that takes. :whistle1:

I've included pics. Enjoy!

That is better than sex!

Pretty....


:2thumbs:

I'd argue that point, but as I think about it... It certainly lasts longer. :hehe:

Thanks!

The FE has always been my favorite. My first pickup (purchased in 1993 for $400) had a worn-out 352 and it was indestructible and pretty impressive power-wise. I re-ringed and re-bearinged it in 1995 along with a new piston (you're supposed to make sure they don't hit the floor when popping them out, right?) and left it that way through mid-year 1998 when I rebuilt a 390 for it while on military leave.

I've rebuilt a few since then, mostly turning 360s and 2v 390s into 4v 390s. I've yet to do anything considered "exotic" with one like you have here....and those exhaust manifolds are the balls!


I have another 352 here that needs a home. It's downright eye-opening that the only difference between one of those and a legitimate boat anchor 360 is 0.050" worth of bore and a lot of deck clearance.

Amazing what squish will do.



Oh, I see you called yesterday too. Sorry I wasn't around the phone and I got so busy today that I forgot to try you back.

Yeah, this engine is quite the beast.

There was a guy in CA who was in the FE engine group on Facebook. He made his own casting for those manifolds. They cost about $700, but I really liked the look of them. They were originally cast iron grey, but I had them ceramic coated black. Bolted right on without issue and look fantastic.

Still working on some odds and ends as I have time, but slowly coming together. I figure once the engine dyno is ready, I'll have the engine ready to go.

FE's have always been a favorite as well. Ever since my first 352, I've loved these engines. I probably like these better than the 385 Series engines, although a solidly built 429 is pretty hard to beat.

I really can't wait to get this F600 on the road so I can start working on the 78 Bronco. :D

More to come!

Any progress on the engine or dyno? It's not like the weather sucks there.....:cheesy smile:

As a matter of fact... :cheesy smile:

The biggest problem had been waiting on the company to assemble the dyno cell. Of course, when they start assembling it, we found out that we were missing a panel so construction halted while we waited for the missing panel to be shipped.

Now we are resuming work on the dyno cell. Once that's complete, I can start installing the dyno unit, running the plumbing and electrical, and then get Superflow out here to audit everything.

As for the FE, that's pretty much ready to go. Just waiting on the dyno now. :woot:

I'm hoping to have everything running by the end of the month. We'll see, though. Always something going on. :hmmm:

Bill, it appears to me you've come a long way since we first met! Good on you! I'm happy for your success!

- Jack

Jack,

I can say unequivocally that it's been an interesting 15 years since we first met online. We have had our share of really hard knocks to be sure, and there were some days that seemed so dark that we could barely function. But we've always managed to work through it.

I can't even begin to enumerate the number of blessings we've received over the years. The friends we've made... Our wonderful home... The incredible success of our business... The many joyful experiences we've shared in our family. We are grateful for these and so many others.

Thank you for your friendship over the last 15 years. I know we don't stay in touch all that much, but I do think about you often. You and Cody have been around since the beginning of the Forum and almost since the beginning of PHP itself, and it brings a smile to my face whenever we chat.

I wish you well, my friend and hope to catch up with you again very soon. :2thumbs:

Saw a teaser dyno video......

F'n SWEET bud!