jholmes217

Definitely should do better than that. What do your spark plugs look like?

Dave, I think you are the only person I've heard of who put a Thumpr cam in a 428. How do you like it? Does it work OK with power brakes? I was looking at the Mutha Thumpr, but went with a custom grind from Oregon Cams similar to a Comp Magnum 280H.

An overdrive or 5 speed will be more forgiving if you have a high gear ratio. I used to have a 66 Mustang with a close ratio top loader 4 speed and a 4:11 rear end. The tachometer would say more than 4000 rpm when doing 60 mph, and you don't want that for a daily driver. If you stay with the FMX, I would go 3:25 or 3:50 gear ratio. An overdrive or 5 speed will be more forgiving if you have a high gear ratio.

Hey Brian, post or PM me how you like those tires if you get them. My tires are close to 10 years old, so about time to replace them. They are Cooper Cobra tires, and do OK on dry pavement, but I got caught in the rain once and they really sucked on wet pavement.

If your fan is hitting the shroud at one location, you could trim the shroud where it hits. The flex fan probably doesn't help either. My car overheated in a parade last year, and I was using a new aluminum radiator, factory reproduction shroud, and a flex fan. Thermostat was a new Robert Shaw 195 degree. I put a reproduction clutch fan on it, and ran it in my garage for about 20 minutes after it warmed up as a test, and it stayed in the 200 degree area. That was idling with the front end of the car in the enclosed end of the garage getting no wind, so I'd say the new fan fixed my problem. It did hit the shroud at the bottom, so I trimmed the shroud until it didn't rub anymore. Does it rob power? Probably. But a overheated car with the hood up and steam rolling out makes zero power.

For those looking for tires for the 1969 stock 14 inch rims, I just found these on the Les Schwab web page: https://www.lesschwab.com/tires/products/grand-prix-gt?size=215-70-14&li=96&sr=t&pn=133396

Put an FE big block in it and don't look back. If you can reach all 8 spark plugs with your hands, your engine isn't big enough lol!

I have the Cooper Cobra tires on my car also. As others have said, they suck on wet pavement, but will last a long time as long as you don't roast them all the time (I have a hard time keeping my foot out of the carbs!). Your tire choices are somewhat limited if you use original size style steel wheels if you want raised white letter radials.

There is a car show at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, WA. this Saturday at 9 AM. Anybody else going?

Definitely a cool video, and my 428 CJ engine definitely did not go in that fast!

I put mine in the same as MAC390, except still had the master cylinder and brake booster attached. Looking back, it would have been easier with them out, and this may have contributed to my brake booster/master cylinder leak. Not good to have a brake booster filled with brake fluid. Mine was 428, toploader, and Hooker Super Comp Headers. Put it in all at once with a total of three people myself included.

Like Barnett468 said, what engine do you have? If you have a car with staggered rear shocks like my 428 CJ Mach 1, there is only one performance kit option for staggered shocks that I know of. If you have a mild 302 and don't have plans to add more power, you might not need a 21/2 inch pipe. 21/4 might work better.

Probably this? http://www.cjponyparts.com/decal-pcv-ring-428cj-scj-1968-1969/p/DEC983/

This is what you want Dave. You may need to trim or shave some rubber to get it to fit good. http://www.cjponyparts.com/valve-cover-grommet-pcv-1965-1985/p/PCVG2/

After getting one in 2010, I thought FE stood for Friggin Expensive!

There are these pillar gauge pods. Not sure how well they fit though. http://www.cjponyparts.com/scott-drake-a-pillar-gauge-pod-dual-2-1-16-with-matching-passenger-side-molding-fastback-1969-1970/p/APGP/?gclid=COjy66fX09ICFUdlfgod50sIhA

Use it. The common thing is to add one more quart than what was original specified. Next time you do an oil and filter change, run it for a short time, then let sit overnight on level ground. Note where the oil level is on the dipstick, and use an engraver to make a mark there. That mark then becomes your new "full" mark.

He doesn't have a stable yet since he doesn't have a Mustang lol! Seriously though, welcome to the forum and best of luck in your search. What geographic area are you looking?

I had a similar problem with my tach car. Turned out that passenger side headlight harness had a bad plug that was preventing a good connection. That is the same plug that your alternator harness plugs into. Check all your connections on the headlight harness, including where it plugs into the firewall.

I've solved similar hood warp problems by putting a towel on the hood to prevent scratches, then adding weight, such as cinder blocks or barbell weights in the area that needed to go down. You may need to use some wood to prop the hood up if the hood bottoms out before it can be bent.

Is your car a street car, street/strip, or full race? For a street car I'd say 750 cfm with vacuum secondary, but I'd go bigger for a street/strip or full race.

So are you talking about a stroker kit?

For a $900 budget, I would go with headers, carb, and intake manifold. While you have the heads off, grind off the hump in the exhaust ports. Also have your distributor recurved. If you can find some of these parts used on Craigslist, eBay, or swap meets, it will definitely help keep cost down. Holley carbs are easy to rebuild. I'd also call Ken at Oregon Camshaft for a cam. He is a Ford guy, and has excellent service and quality. http://www.oregoncamshaft.com/

One more thing about FE intake manifolds. There were many different manifolds, both factory and aftermarket, made for FE engines. There are also many different intake manifold bolt kits made for the FE intake manifolds. I highly recommend you put the bolts you have in the manifold with the manifold still off, and measure how much bolt sticks out the bottom. Then take a nail and stick in in the hole that bolt is supposed to go in and 1) make sure the bolt will be long enough to catch at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch of threads (including the width of the gasket,) and 2) make sure the bolt won't bottom out. If the bolt bottoms out, you may keep torquing waiting for the torque wrench to say you have the proper reading reading, but the threads will strip before that reading is reached. If this happens, you will need to pull the manifold back off and helicoil repair that hole in the block. If it one of the holes back by the firewall, this can be a real chore. By the way, the back bolts will bottom out in the hole on a Blue Thunder intake manifold if you use the ARP intake manifold bolt set. Don't ask me how I know. Let's just say I've learned the above lesson, and I'm in the process of taking the manifold back off!

I use a product called "The Right Stuff" when installing intake manifolds. You can use it for the front and back seals, or if you use the cork gaskets, use it on the corners. It also works around the water ports. If you do use the cork gaskets, I'd recommend using gasket cinch or the right stuff on the bottom of the gasket, install just the gasket, and let it dry. You are basically gluing the cork gaskets in place. The main problem with the cork gaskets is they tend to move out of position otherwise when you start torquing the intake down if you use just RTV or The Right Stuff when it is still wet. Also, make sure you bend the head gasket tabs down (after you install the lifter valley pan if you use it.) These tabs can cause the intake manifold to not seat all the way down on the head and cause leaks. If you are going to seriously get into FE engines, there are some books I recommend adding to your library; 1. The Great FE Intake Comparo by Jay Brown 2. How To Build Max-Performance Ford FE Engines by Barry Rabotnick 3. How To Rebuild Big-Block Ford Engines by Steve Christ 4. How To Rebuild Big-Block Ford Engines by Charles Morris (if you get the above book, you could probably pass on this, but has better pictures than the other book) 5. High Performance Ford Engine Parts Interchange by George Reid (great book to take to swap meets, or to confirm what sellers are selling is actually what they say it is)