Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am pretty much a die hard Ford guy but the 390 was definitely a dog. Back in the 60's 70's small block Chevys would kill a 390 with ease.
That's not to say some really smart guys could not get a 390 to run but in stock form they were just dogs.
I remember a guy running a 390 Ford in a 55 Chevy at E-town and he was kicking butt but he was an exception and not the norm.
All in all the 396 Chevy was and still is in it's present form in Pro Stock racing of 500 CI the dominant engine in drag and modified stock car racing.
The 390 and it's big brother the 427 FE SO were long ago abandoned by Ford because they had reached their highest level of performance and fell far short of the Big Block Chevy.
The FE is still worshiped by many die hard Ford guys who are still living in the past as far as performance is concerned and continue to use these engines in Cobra replicas and restored muscle Fords from the day. It is the correct engine for many restorations but as many have already pointed out not up to par with the 396.
Interesting some of you refer to the 390 by Ford as a slug...mind you I wasn't sure what they were capable of. What comes to my mind is the chase in Bullit. The highland green 68 Mustang was a 390/4 speed car. Doing some research I find the 390 powered 68 Mustang were running 15.3's at 93 mph to 15.6's at 94 mph. This guy claims his did 14.5's stock: Ford Mustang Forums - View Single Post - Thoughts on 390 engine performance? 1968 Mustang GT
Yet the charger was a 440/4 speed....should have gotten away.
Interesting some of you refer to the 390 by Ford as a slug...mind you I wasn't sure what they were capable of. What comes to my mind is the chase in Bullit. The highland green 68 Mustang was a 390/4 speed car. Doing some research I find the 390 powered 68 Mustang were running 15.3's at 93 mph to 15.6's at 94 mph. This guy claims his did 14.5's stock: Ford Mustang Forums - View Single Post - Thoughts on 390 engine performance? 1968 Mustang GT
Yet the charger was a 440/4 speed....should have gotten away.
You forgot who was driving the Mustang, the star of the movie always wins no matter what they are driving.
You forgot who was driving the Mustang, the star of the movie always wins no matter what they are driving.
I grew up with a friend who actually had a highland 66 GT390 Mustang notchback 4 speed with an open 3.50 rear and on G60's it ran 14.2 at Atco in 78. It was a fast car in its time..
It was in the script. The 390 Mustang had only one good virtue, it was fairly quick in a straight line. Handling was near crap as the front end would plow EXTREMELY bad due to far too much weight on the front axles. It was pretty common to see one with either front fender torn up.
I have a 74 F100 Explorer with a modded 390. It's a ground shaker but it's by no means the baddest thing on the road. Sounds fabulous and will pull anything you can get a hold of, but fast it ain't. The FEs are a truck engine.......as in truck tractor pulling 42' floats. It makes tons of torque but is limited on quick. The biggest advantage of the engine in cars was it got fairly respectful gas mileage versus the GM or Mopar offerings. I think I've had them all over the years- a 66 Impala 396 SS, a 69 Dodge Charger RT 440. The Impala was the most and cheapest fun you can have on wheels with yer clothes on. The Charger, oh jeez, the Charger. It was fast as long as the parts lasted. Starters were about every 2 months, water pumps about as often. Mine came with a dual point system that required it to be tuned every month. The 727b transmission couldn't stand up to the engine and second gear was rare. But the car would turn in the low 11's. Mine was a rare M code car with the 1100 CFM 4 barrel. The factory paperwork said it was rated at 425 HP. About the only thing I wish I had back about that car was the sound of the exhaust- beautiful!
It was in the script. The 390 Mustang had only one good virtue, it was fairly quick in a straight line. Handling was near crap as the front end would plow EXTREMELY bad due to far too much weight on the front axles. It was pretty common to see one with either front fender torn up.
I have a 74 F100 Explorer with a modded 390. It's a ground shaker but it's by no means the baddest thing on the road. Sounds fabulous and will pull anything you can get a hold of, but fast it ain't. The FEs are a truck engine.......as in truck tractor pulling 42' floats. It makes tons of torque but is limited on quick. The biggest advantage of the engine in cars was it got fairly respectful gas mileage versus the GM or Mopar offerings. I think I've had them all over the years- a 66 Impala 396 SS, a 69 Dodge Charger RT 440. The Impala was the most and cheapest fun you can have on wheels with yer clothes on. The Charger, oh jeez, the Charger. It was fast as long as the parts lasted. Starters were about every 2 months, water pumps about as often. Mine came with a dual point system that required it to be tuned every month. The 727b transmission couldn't stand up to the engine and second gear was rare. But the car would turn in the low 11's. Mine was a rare M code car with the 1100 CFM 4 barrel. The factory paperwork said it was rated at 425 HP. About the only thing I wish I had back about that car was the sound of the exhaust- beautiful!
If you are going to tell a story you should get your facts right.
First off the 69 Charger 440 never came with the 440-6 pack eng (that was the M-code eng in Roadrunners & Super Bes) as it was not in the Charger until 1970 and it was factory rated at 390 hp. The 440 four barrel was avalible but it was 375 hp and had a Carter carb about 725 cfm. The Mopar 727 was the best auto muscle car trans out there in the 60's and 70's by far.
Had to tune it every month ??? Someone has no idea what they are doing if it had to be tuned every month as I worked on them back then and they never had that kind of problem. Most tune-ups back then were about 12,000 miles apart even on the muscle cars. And waterpumps every 2 months ! I have driven and raced Mopars since the mid 70's and in all my years of owning bigblock Mopars I may have replace 3 waterpumps. Also they never made an M-Code Charger. Come on dude at least get your facts close to being true. Ron
Last edited by 383man; 02-26-2012 at 01:10 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
