The Power House
The engines that make up the big-block family of Ford V-8's fall into one of two series: the FE series, with 4.63 inch bore centers, and the 385 series, with 4.90 inch bore centers. The FE series is by far the largest, including the 332, 352, 360, 361, 390, 391, 406, 410, 427, and 428ci V-8's. The 385 series is made up of the 429, 429 Boss, and the 460 V-8's.

The FE (Ford/Edsel) series began with the 332 and 352 V-8's introduced in 1958. These engines used the Y-block's immensely strong "deep-skirt" design, and were designed to allow future engine displacement increases. This long range planning permitted the design and production of such high-performance engines as the 390GT, 406, 427, SOHC 427, 428, 428 Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet.

One odd aspect of the FE engine's design was the extra wide intake manifold through which all the pushrods passed. Due to this design, the valve covers spanned the cylinder head and lapped onto the intake manifold.

The first "hot" FE engine was the 390 high performance version which came out in 1961 and was rated at 390 HP. In 1962 the 406 was introduced, and the Thunderbird high performance 390, which was rated at 401 HP with 11.1:1 compression and solid lifter cam, sort of quietly disappeared.

The 427 FE engine was introduced in 1963 to handle the demands of NASCAR, NHRA, and AHRA, as well as street racing enthusiasts. The 427 block was cast from high nickle content iron with a thickened deck to handle the increased higher compression pressures. The design included mechanical tappets for higher revs, and was stress relieved using a slowed cooling process that minimized internal stresses. It used a cast iron crankshaft, and had grooved main bearing journals for improved lubrication. There were forged connecting rods borrowed from the now-discontinued high performance 390. The 427 was the only Ford big-block to use forged pistons.

The intake manifold and cylinder heads were designed and flow-tested to work together with either a high riser, a medium riser, or a low riser induction system. It was available with either a single 4 barrel carb or, for maximum output, a dual 4 barrel configuration with an aluminum manifold. Ford did not publicize the measured dyno Hp of these engines, but it was more than 500 hp for either engine. Camshafts were revised so many times on these engines that the entire alphabet of single characters was exhausted and double letters were used as the last two digits of the part number. On the tracks, the high-riser 427 was so successful that NASCAR eventually banned it. Ford rated the low riser 4 barrel 427 at 410hp at 4500rpm and 476lb-ft of torque at 3400rpm. The dual 4 barrel version was rated at 425hp at 6000rpm and 480lb-ft of torque at 3700rpm.

In 1965, Ford went with a forged steel crankshaft, and revised the the oil delivery system with the introduction of the so-called "side oiler" version. Both main bearing journals and rod journals were cross-drilled for better lubrication, and connecting rods were upgraded. These and other specific changes were part of the 427 MkII project destined for the GT40 LeMans racing car.

The mechanical lifter cams were offered through 1967, but in 1968 Ford brought out a hydraulic lifter version for street use. The Tunnelport version was a further improvement developed to combat the formidble threat posed by Chrysler with their 426 Hemi engines on the NASCAR circuit. This unique head design had tubes placed inside the intake runners for the pushrods to pass, so as to maximize intake flow by not having to "bend" the runners to clear the pushrods. Incidentally, Tunnelport heads were also available for small block engines through Shelby American Racing parts, and required special intake manifolds to match the different port configuration. Unfortunately, the small block Tunnelport heads did not perform as well as the original big block version, and were dropped in favor of the canted valved Cleveland heads for the Ford Trans Am program. (This gem of an engine was dubbed Boss 302.)

The SOHC 427 represents the ultimate development of the FE engine. By eliminating the rpm barrier of pushrods and lifters, the engine could run easily at 8100rpm and hit 9000rpm for short periods. The hp curve was practically a straight line up to 7000rpm, and in an 8V version reached 700hp. A dual overhead cam version was planned, but never developed, as NASCAR once again squelched this ultra high performance gem from Ford.

In 1966, Ford introduced the 428ci V-8, created by increasing the 390's bore and stroke to 4.13in and 3.98in. Originally offered as a hydraulic cammed mild tuned powerplant for full-sized cars, it wasn't long before the potential for a high performance version was tapped at less cost than the mechanical cammed 427's. The 428 Cobra Jet Mustang was the result in late 1968. The cam came from the 390GT, and the heads were from the original 427 medium-riser. The cylinder block was the special 428 Police Interceptor unit produced in 1966. In 1969, Ford added the Super Cobra Jet option to its high performance line up. There was also a Drag Pack option which included forged 427 connecting rods, and modified crankshaft and a specific flywheel and torsional damper.

In 1968, Ford introduced the 429 V-8 as part of the small group of 385 series engines. By then, the FE design was over ten years old, and some updated features were needed to improve overall design. Thin wall casting techniques were used to keep weight down, and the bore spacing was increased from 4.63in to 4.90in. The crankshaft had larger main bearing and connecting rod journals, with rugged two bolt caps, and forged steel connecting rods. Pistons were cast aluminum. The major difference between the 428 and the 429 was that the 429 was a more robust design. It had a cast iron intake manifold with a Rochester Quadra-jet 760cfm carburetor. Although somewhat stronger, the 429 was viewed by many drag racers as an engine that didn't accelerate as well as the 428's. This was due to the heavier weight of the reciprocating parts and their tendency to absorb power when trying to accelerate. The 1971 model year marked the end of these high performance big block V-8's

Perhaps the most exotic Ford big block after the SOHC 427's is the Boss 429. The Boss 429 was conceived as a NASCAR engine to compete with the Chrysler Hemi's, but it was "factored" out of competition once again by NASCAR. The central component of the Boss 429 was its unique cylinder heads. Boss 429 engines were built in Ford's Lima Ohio engine plant, and a somewhat detuned street version was installed into a very limited number of BOSS 429 Mustangs in 1969 and 1970 to meet NASCAR requirements. The 1969 version featured a hydraulic lifter cam while the 1970 edition was fitted with a mechanical lifter camshaft.