Another entirely forgotten series of Ford engines

[CobraEd]

The big MEL series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_MEL_engine


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[wtm442]

Why not go back to a flathead or a model T engine?

MEL engines are like 348 Chevy's. There are a lot of Ford engines that are much cheaper and more plentyful as compared to the MEL engines.

[CobraEd]

Yeah, But these only weigh 750lbs!

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[wtm442]

Nothing like a 352 boat anchor.

[sidewaysinthird]

I re-built a 462 as a project for automechanics back in HS. The odd thing was the head only had like 10cc combustion chambers and otherwise the head was flat with valves sticking out away from the surface. The "combustion chamber" if you can call it that was around the sparkplug. I installed it back in the '66 Lincoln it came from and while the thing had huge amounts of torque other than pulling the barge it was built for it was pretty useless in the performance catagory. Other than the 534 truck engine it has to be the most odd Ford I've every worked on.

Mike

[Woodz428]

Actually they are pretty neat engines and were run in Nascar at one point. They share some parts with the FE series engine which cam out the same year. I think they would perform with most FEs when equippped whith stock heads instead of some new aftermarket ones. They came in 383,410,430 and finally 462 inches just prior to the 460s introduction. I keep looking for one to drop into one of my '70 Mach I's, with a shaker on it most people would think it was an FE engine. Just for a little humor, until I latched on to this '67 GT 500 engine I was going to fit a 462 in the Cobra. Mild build with a CJ grind, I think it would have been a hoot.

[Jerry Clayton]

I have had both kinds and about the only thing you could use would be the carb--blocks, heads and manifolds all different

Jerry

[Jac Mac]

Actually they share a lot more than that, Bore centers are same as 385 series-429/460, with a bit of work crank from 429/460 fit's, Big block chev valves are useable, cannot remember how I got round the timing chain problem offhand but I did. Ports are generous, and I used 429 pistons with an aftermart rod after machineing a small part of the piston crown to create a squish area.
Also have an old 279 in the shop which is a bit like a 272/292/312 on steroids!

Jac Mac

[Woodz428]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

I have had both kinds and about the only thing you could use would be the carb--blocks, heads and manifolds all different

Jerry

I've built several MEL engines and some internals such as rockers,lifters and items like that are what I was referring to. JacMac is correct about the bore spacing as well. They aren't a hard build at all. The biggest problem is the deck angle used to create the combustion chamber in the block. We had special boring bar adapters that let it bore the cylinder (when we used a bar that was set off the deck), The newer style bars that set up off the mains should be easier. They did have a Tri-power version called the Super Marauder in some early 60s Mercs. Beautiful engine with all the typical Ford cast aluminum pieces. They appear on E-bay occasionally and draw pretty good $$$.

[Jerry Clayton]

OK they both can use Chev valves--385 cranks and bore centers aren't from the FE engines--aftermarket rods- Pistons are swapped between all engibes depending on bore and compression ht. What fits between the engine groups besides the carb and maybe the oil pan bolts? These engines aren't any thing alike and the 385 series engines are more like Chev engines than any previous Ford.

[Jerry Clayton]

Actually the solid lifters for the FE engines were used in the Falcon engines
I have a Kwik Way boring bar and fixture table that we use to bore all engines--the MEL and the 348/409 require this or special adapters-
I had a E475 Edsel with 4 speed in a 1959 2 door business coupe( old state of Illinois Dept of Agriculture car) The car was never beaten in a drag race . One day just cruising down home for the weekend a valve head fell off at about 70mph------Totally killed the engine---put a Holman-Moody Nascar 406 with dual quads in it and had the car till 1965 when I traded it to a moon shiner in Georgia for a Comet Cyclone

Oh and those blocks liked to split thru the cam tunnel and main webs

Jerry

[Jac Mac]

Its all coming back to me now, faced the same hassle when I wanted to bore it, thats when I discovered the 429/460 was also the same head bolt pattern, so it was out with a large hole saw, cut out the combustion chamber area of a cracked 429/460 head effectively making it into a torque plate, off to the machine shop to have the rocker rail area that remained on the head machined square to the cyl bore axis & hey presto I had a combined torque plate/boring bar platform-worked a treat. The Wikipedia article is a bit out, they have more in common with 385 series.
With that in mind a set of MEL heads grafted onto a 429/460 with the valves set back into the head,slight chamber machined into the head and some real deep dish pistons would keep the punters guessing. Set of injectors on a 3 piece manifold with valley plate to top it off.

Jac Mac

[Jerry Clayton]

I probably had more fun with that engine than any other---if I was going to race someone, you'd always look over the other car--guys would look under the hood and go "yep, its a Ford engine" It had so much torque that with a 486 gear the car would out accelerate anything else around at the time.The 409 Chevs and big Pontiacs were treats and the Mopars were completely dismayed that a lowly Ford could even run away from them

Jerry