what makes 390 engines so expensive to use?

[Junior2561 10]

Everyone says an FE is expensive to rebuild. Why is that?

[R4K 10]

It's been a while since I've done a rebuild on one, but there's just a severely limited aftermarket for FEs.

 

That's in comparison to every other Ford engine, though.

 

I didn't think my 390s were that expensive, personally, but I sure could have done a lot more for cheaper on any other Ford engine, even a Cleveland, just looking through Summit/Jegs catalogs trying to find FE parts.

 

That being said, a bone stock bottom end FE is a wonderful piece of machinery. Nothing produces that grunt down low like an FE, they're just freakin' torque monsters!

[SM69Mach 68]

Basically Supply and Demand. Not as many of them out there as the 302/351 based windsor motors used in performance builds, so the aftermarket parts are just not as cheap. You can get everything similar, you are just going to pay a bit more for them since not as much competition or demand for the parts. It really comes into play in larger parts such at the rotating assembly, heads and intakes. Most everything else is on par.

 

And I agree, they certainly are torque monsters. There are a couple of good kits out there for strokers and good off the shelf parts to get some good strong numbers on a fairly mild build.

[jholmes217 65]

It depends on the FE also. There are more 352's and 390's out there than say 427's and 428's, so parts for those are not as expensive. 428 parts, especially Cobra Jet parts are pricey, and the most expensive are 427's.

[1969mustang 10]

We built a 427 center oiler to go in our cobra replica a few years back and I don't remember parts being extremly expensive. I have been asked by a few different people why are parts so much cheaper for a small block chevy? As SM69MACH says its all about supply and demand, most all of the parts are also interchangeable. There are tons or small block chevys out there (also a good bit of small block ford engines) and tons of aftermarket parts manufacturer's for them but really who would want to build a Chevy engine?!? haha. In my opinion there's not much of a need for aftermarket parts on an FE if you can find good factory parts. We used the stock crank with eagle h-beam rods, aftermarket pistons because we already had them, found a set of medium riser heads, and used an edelbrock intake because Dad messed around and sold the factory cobra jet 4 barrel intake. FE is a great engine design (far better than any BBC) And man do they make power! I'm talkin almost scary power especially in 3rd gear when your going 100+mph and it's still trying to rip up the pavement!

 

This is just my opinion i'm sure others think differently. I am doing a windsor based engine in my car to save weight and because of more room in the engine bay but I still love a good ole FE.

 

Drew

Edited May 6, 2012 by 1969mustang

[R4K 10]

Another thing that comes to mind, things that I want to do on my next pony to make it a more modern daily driver, like EFI and an overdrive transmission...are expensive solutions on an FE.

 

For instance:

 

There aren't really any out-of-the-box EFI solutions for an FE out there. The solution I found most likely to implement would be a Holley Commander TBI system, but even then, you really have to do some hunting-and-pecking for a distributor if you want to take advantage of the system to control ignition timing. It requires (and I'm a moron on this stuff, even moreso than other things) some kind of "Hall-effect" dizzy, of which there are far and few between on the FE (if you're interested, apparently Mallory makes one in the 95- or 65- series that fits this bill). The Commander is, what, around $1200(?) itself plus the new distributor.

 

Want OD? Ford stopped producing the FE in,what, 78 or 80? Before the AOD came out. There's an FE-to-AOD adapter, which runs around $800 itself...and then you need the AOD, which won't handle the FE torque, so you need to get it built up, like with 4R70W internals. $$-cha-ching! Or the Gear Vendors overdrive adapter to stick behind a C6. Not cheap either. Or one company that makes custom AODs for FEs, can't remember their name off top of my head...but regardless, any of the solutions are in the ballpark of $3-$4k! Manual, and you're looking at a TKO-600 solution, still a bit of change. (EDIT: That company is Lentech, IIRC).

 

I love me some FEs, but man...a guy could find a donor 5.0 HO and AOD, rebuild both and come in cheaper on both together than either of the solutions above.

 

But man...I sure would feel like a freakin' ROCK STAR with an EFI/OD FE in a mustang! :)

 

(and as Drew alluded to regarding room in the engine bay....*facepalm*....I swear it took me 2 hours to change the plugs in my 390 mustang...when I got my Galaxie, I giggled like a schoolgirl when I changed plugs...there was enough room to SIT in the engine bay while I did the plug change...not that I needed to, because the process only took 10 minutes, lol).

Edited May 6, 2012 by R4K

[SM69Mach 68]

R4K

 

I totally agree and would love to have a EFI/OD set up. Maybe one day...