Project 66

Gal 66, Aint she a purdy !

1966 Ford Galaxie 500, 390, C6, 9 rear, all there...lets go...View attachment 88120View attachment 88121View attachment 88122View attachment 88123View attachment 88124
I had an ugly blue 67 four door galaxie. It’s one redeeming feature was the 390 2bbl. May not have been a 4bbl and associated HP….. but for this 16 year old kid that was probably life saving it didn’t. I was not the smartest 16 year old to climb behind a steering wheel.
 
Got her idling decent. radiator has tiny hole in front. Will replace with new aluminum one. Main thing is straiten the vacuum out on this, each trace & fix leads to instant results. They are all off, But these FE engines are beasts. lol

No heater. lines not run to core..no concern there, wont hook it up, probably strip most of the weight out anyways. back seat, ect.
Got tranny up to correct level. Amazingly the oil & trans was ok looking. changed oil & new filter. tweaked carb a bit.

I guess the thing to do is play with another day, analyze & then yank the motor & trans . rebuild them both, saves much aggravation in long run. i think could get by on this but wanted to see the firewall & suspension & fix all that.

yeah, lets take it all apart, why not. need to know the oil pump, fuel pump, water pump, thermo, timing chain is all new for peace of mind. Manual valve body in C6 , drive it like a clutch cause we all know how lovely these things brake. Fun stuff ,found a way to beat winter since not playing music & pretty much packed that in. Its not like it used to be, it was fun, fom band - go studio-play out ,break up..singer goes to jail same ol same ol
 
Woke up thinking..hummm...valve seats...guess we have to figure out if they are hardened for unleaded..

Was really doing an honest comparison to the 98 GT 4.6..yes the modern stuff is great..will admit..20 mpg..nice idle-fast, but that amount of wiring & sensors almost kills the joy for me. Had i been brought up in that age..no problem. But give me a distributor to turn, vacuum to seal, tranny modulator to set shift firmness..thats my fun zone. Also the places to put a jack are safe...what a heavy Gal the 66 is
 
Woke up thinking..hummm...valve seats...guess we have to figure out if they are hardened for unleaded..

Was really doing an honest comparison to the 98 GT 4.6..yes the modern stuff is great..will admit..20 mpg..nice idle-fast, but that amount of wiring & sensors almost kills the joy for me. Had i been brought up in that age..no problem. But give me a distributor to turn, vacuum to seal, tranny modulator to set shift firmness..thats my fun zone. Also the places to put a jack are safe...what a heavy Gal the 66 is
I concur. If I had all the right tools, I could probably do a complete tear down and reassemble on my 77 Vette. My 07 Civic. Change oil. Brakes. Some exhaust. Spark plugs and coils. Beyond that someones getting paid to do it.

Oddly. On the civic. Changing plugs is ridicules. Easiest car I ever owned to do that. If I take my time, it might take ten minutes. Five if I hurry.
 
I've never been concerned about valve seat hardness. Using stainless steel valves and .090" width seats on the e haust and .060" on the intakes, gave me plenty of longevity on 335, 385 and FE Series.
Its pretty fun playing detective on a motor you have no clue about. Seen someFE with that one suspect valve, forget which cylinder is prone but any long term detonation burns the valve edge down & the seat gets cooked. Probably from dropping crap gas 87 & running so much advance like it actually was 1966.
 
Its pretty fun playing detective on a motor you have no clue about. Seen someFE with that one suspect valve, forget which cylinder is prone but any long term detonation burns the valve edge down & the seat gets cooked. Probably from dropping crap gas 87 & running so much advance like it actually was 1966.

IMHO, from building a lot of them, it's correct valve seat width and valve spring pressure that are the critical - and often overlooked - longevity factors.

Exhaust seats a nickel's width, intake's a penny's width, then a gradual 60 degree x 15 degree cuts on both sides to improve flow. and you cannot go wrong.

Stay under 300 lbs. open spring pressure with about 110-120 on the seat....
 
@BFT Gibson - Most 'standard' 390/428 FE intakes, like the C6AE 9425 G, use a vacuum fitting in the #5 cylinder intake port. This is driver's side front. The fitting gets loose and leaks vacuum, causing a lean condition in cylinder #5 and burning the valve....

The 427 Medium Riser intakes, like the C7ZX-9425-A, use a drilled 1/4" NPT fitting at the base of the front carb, just behind the water outlet. On these intakes, a lean condition doesn't affect only one cylinder.
 
Its pretty fun playing detective on a motor you have no clue about. Seen someFE with that one suspect valve, forget which cylinder is prone but any long term detonation burns the valve edge down & the seat gets cooked. Probably from dropping crap gas 87 & running so much advance like it actually was 1966.

I only ever used one timing setting on 427's & 429's and I built the distributors on our own Sun test machine.

Starting with a stock FoMoCo FE Distributor, I added the C9AZ-12151-A dual point breaker plate. I also used a Mr. Gasket #925D spring kit.

The breaker cam is marked with available advance in camshaft (not crankshaft) degrees. The most common is marked '15L' and '10L' on the other side. When the '10L' slot is engaged with the stop on the shaft head, this will give you 20 crankshaft degrees of advance. This combination - when 16 degrees initial advance is employed - will yield 36 degrees total timing all-in by 2,800 rpm.
 
Ordered aluminum radiator & separate trans cooler. Has pin hole leak..ya ever check out aftermarket on factory style radiator..yikes..can rebuild my motor for that. Will be shaving weight here & there.
Today had a blast just cleaning that all trim & tracing things, sorta takes me back to teenage days. Sure didnt have an internet & instant parts. it was off to junkyard & learning to port them heads for power gains. So on the cuff with motor pull..when radiator gets here will run it a bit, straiten brakes out. Run the car, decide on stance & if it will put me around till next late fall will drive it..
 
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