Bulletproof Ford Engines

[Pablo]

How bad was the 390?

 

[Zee09]

How bad was the 390?

AMC had a 390

 

[Pablo]

AMC had a 390

So did Ford.

 

[Zee09]

So did Ford.

Yes, my brother had a 390 in a Javelin AMX
Very durable

 

[walterjay]

Good friend had the Javelin 390. Never gave him problems. Ford blew him off the road though.

 

[ripcord]

How bad was the 390?

The 390 was a pretty good engine except they all had poor gas mileage. Like most all FE engines as they get on in the tooth, they can wear down the cam bearings and suffer from low oil pressure. The cast iron intake manifolds on those things could herniate a gorilla, too.

 

[Pablo]

Good friend had the Javelin 390. Never gave him problems. Ford blew him off the road though.

Were they the same engine ?

Never heard of anyone modifying the Ford 390

 

[walterjay]

Were they the same engine ?

Never heard of anyone modifying the Ford 390

I don't think they were the same engine.

 

[Zee09]

Were they the same engine ?

Never heard of anyone modifying the Ford 390

One run of AMC 390 was on a 401 block. I had a few AMCs and always a mixed bag of world parts .
Don't know

 

[demarpaint]

Is the 300 I6 the same as the 4.9 I6? My friend sold a van with that engine to another friend and a month or two later the guy stopped by and the motor was making noise...my friend checked the oil and there was nothing on the dipstick....he added a few quarts of oil and it quieted right down and ran for many years after that. That was a great engine.and strong engine.

Yes, the 300 I6 is also known as the 4.9L. In 1987 they converted the engine to EFI which IIRC added about 30HP and eliminated the 1 bbl carburetor.

 

[grasscutter]

I had a 1982 Ford Granada Gia 4-door. It had a 250ci straight six. Real good engine but lousy carburetor.

It was a 1-barrel Holly. It had a power valve for adding more fuel when the conditions required it.

The power valve consisted of a cylinder bore with a piston and a spring.

The piston was made out of brass with a section drilled out of it for the spring to go into.

The brass piston would bend from the force it was subjected to and subsequently seize up in the little cylinder bore.

All the carburetor needed was a power valve piston made out of something substantially stronger than brass.

With the carburetor improved by having a stronger power valve piston, the engine would be bulletproof.

 

[demarpaint]

I had a 1982 Ford Granada Gia 4-door. It had a 250ci straight six. Real good engine but lousy carburetor.

It was a 1-barrel Holly. It had a power valve for adding more fuel when the conditions required it.

The power valve consisted of a cylinder bore with a piston and a spring.

The piston was made out of brass with a section drilled out of it for the spring to go into.

The brass piston would bend from the force it was subjected to and subsequently seize up in the little cylinder bore.

All the carburetor needed was a power valve piston made out of something substantially stronger than brass.

With the carburetor improved by having a stronger power valve piston, the engine would be bulletproof.

They used Carter YF1 carburetors as well on a lot of their I6 engines too, IIRC the 300 I6 and 200 I6. Those carburetors sucked.

 

[Zee09]

 

[thastinger]

Best Ford 4-cylinders are Mazdas...

Love the 2.5 Duratec (4 cyl, not V6). I'm impressed with the Lima 2.3 in my Ranger. Don't like the Vulcan. Just my personal experiences.

The 2.3 in my Daughter's 2009 Mazda5 has Ford stamps all over it...and it has been bulletproof at 130K now.

 

[DweezilAZ]

Were they the same engine ?

Never heard of anyone modifying the Ford 390

No. Based on AMC's 290 V8 introduced in 1966. Their 327 was not a Chevrolet engine either, but their own design like the 290.

 

[thastinger]

Guess I bought Fords during the right times, have the below and have never had any mechanical issues.
-98 5.4 2V (no chucked plugs) 176K
-03 5.4 2V (no chucked plugs) 200K
-03 3.0 Duratec 165K
-09 2.3 in a Mazda 110K
-13 5.8 Trinity 25K - don't drive this one much but haven't had any issues with it

It is sad to me that I have had such good service from Fords but wouldn't buy a new one that had DI/wet oil pump belt/cam phasers/variable displacement or turbo chargers...and that doesn't leave me much to choose from.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

So did Ford.

The 390cui Fords I had the pleasure to drive as a teen were FAST! They took a while to get rolling but they had a scary top end. I had a few get over 100mph more than once until the Old Man caught me. The END. Took the keys.

 

[thastinger]

Never heard of anyone modifying the Ford 390

The FE engines are very popular in the racing world, companies like Dart even make aftermarket blocks and everybody makes aftermarket heads for them now.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

The FE engines are very popular in the racing world, companies like Dart even make aftermarket blocks and everybody makes aftermarket heads for them now.

What is great for the young wrench pulling speed freaks these days is that just about any engine they can imagine or desire, they can get their hands on it. Buy it or build it as long as they have a fat wallet.

 

[Kurtatron]

The 2.3 in my Daughter's 2009 Mazda5 has Ford stamps all over it...and it has been bulletproof at 130K now.

My 2005 Focus with a 2.0 Duratec has been great at 153k so far. I’m not sure how much Mazda it is, but I like Mazda vehicles anyways, so win-win for me.