- 69
- 7
The very first FE engines were introduced in the '58 Ford products. The first one released for production was a 332 cid and possibly the most underpowered FE ever built, the 352 was highly touted early in the year but not released until January of '58. It was more powerful than the 332 but a good running 283 Chev would out perform it every way you could try to match them up. The 348 Chev "W" motor was vastly superior to the 352 in any form of tune available. after struggling with poor sales due to a poor performance image Ford came out with the 360 hp 352 cid in 1960 and finally there was a Ford that kicked ass again. Back then I had a 1959 Pontiac Catalina with the 345hp Tri-Power, 389 cid engine with a 4 speed trans and a 352/360hp Ford handed me my ass in a street race for a $100.00 bill. Then in 1961 Ford came out with the 390 cid with 385 hp (?) and a 401 hp with Tri-Power. Mainly for NASCAr and drag racing. After that came the 406cid, 410 cid, 427 cid and the 428 cid engines. There were also the 360 cid Edsel, 361cid HD truck variation and a 391cid HD truck variation. The 361 and 391 truck engines came with forged steel cranks and the 427 engines came with nodular iron cranks excepting the 7000 RPM kit engines of 1963 to 1965, supposedly the side oilers all came with steel cranks except for the 1968 390 hp engines that had nodular iron cranks and hydraulic lifters, this last engine was usually found in the Dan Gurney Cougars, very rare. There was one last variation of the FE engine that was only used in NASCAR and Ski boats, that was the 396 cid engine that used a modified 361 truck crank, 427 side oiler block plus the latest and greatest parts Ford could provide. The 396 would rev past 8500 rpm with no problem. There's another combination that a few 427 fanatics built and I ran one on the street in my '68 Shelby GT 500KR and that was a 427 block and a 428 SCJ crank making 448 cid. A really bad assed engine, I often took it past 8500 rpm running a C 6 trans. It was a great combination that I had a lot of fun with. I wish I had it still.
Last edited: