how many miles from your FE427?

[sparks]

thinkin of by a spf w/a 427fe iron bock. has 6k miles on it. the owner seems to take care of his things...car is in great shape. How many miles have some of you gotten with yous and how has the reliability been....Car wont be raced,sunday driver, i will def. eat up some rear tires. thoughts would be app........I gotta do alittle homework T.

[undy]

Originally Posted by sparks

thinkin of by a spf w/a 427fe iron bock. has 6k miles on it. the owner seems to take care of his things...car is in great shape. How many miles have some of you gotten with yous and how has the reliability been....Car wont be raced,sunday driver, i will def. eat up some rear tires. thoughts would be app........I gotta do alittle homework T.

K/C Pond 482 S/O with 2K miles.. no problems at all.

[patrickt]

A properly built 427 or 428 FE, using quality components, by an engine builder that is experienced with FEs, and that is under 500 horsepower, will last the life of the car. If you can get the internal specs and components, along with the name of the builder (a "known FE builder", that is), you can generally ball park when the engine will need a freshen-up.

[sparks]

built by SA w/ quality parts....Under 550 hp. Freash head and valve cover gask.....

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by sparks

built by SA w/ quality parts....Under 550 hp. Freash head and valve cover gask.....

I have no personal experience with Southern Automotive; but from the threads on my local board (Capital Area Cobra Club) and here, a build from them is a roll of the dice -- sometimes you run the table, sometimes you, well.... Aside from that, a valve cover gasket is nothing, but why did it need a fresh head?

[convincor]

sounds like it was meant as "head gasket".
still the question. Why?

[Excaliber]

I built mine myself, have about 5,000 on it now, no problems. Well. other than ME 'tinkering' with it. Changing carbs, dist's, playing with the timing, typical stuff a gear head does. I've drag raced it as well as road raced it, a little over 500 horse I would estimate.

Like patrickt said, well built and driven decently, easily the life of the car.

[sparks]

dont know why the head gasket was replaced , i'm guessing a minor leak. I'm guessing that if a engine can make it to 5k miles, it would have broke by now. SA has had some bad press lately but a large % seem to be happy w/ there work. some of the parts that were used are
orig. 66 s.o. block
eagle h-beam BBC rods w/orig. nodular iron crank ground to 4.125 also uses BBC journals
kieth black pistons
comp/dove alu. comp. rocker arm ass. rooler rockers
reed cam
port. edl. hds.
edl. intake
Thats the major parts.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by sparks

... I'm guessing that if a engine can make it to 5k miles, it would have broke.

There's merit to that -- and you've got some nice parts in there. You're probably good to go for a long time.

[decooney]

Using say a 500hp FE as a baseline for this discussion, I've wondered the same question about what others have experienced, and believe there a few factors that determine longevity, such as,

and depending on...

- How the motor was built, balanced, and clearanced to begin with.
- What new or refurbished parts were used.
- How often the motor is checked, valve adjustments/solid.
- How frequently the oil/type and filter is checked and changed out.
- What cooling system is used, keeping it cool and within temp
- Not over-heating the motor, or running hot for extended periods of time
- Not over-revving the engine; being careful not to unnecessarily abuse it.

Tom at FE Specialties built my 428 CJ, over five years ago, and other than a Shelby rocker/arm failing in the 1st 200 miles (that I provided and replaced) I've had an excellent experience with no issues.

I've heard some guys say you need to go through them at 10,000 miles, others have said they got 50,000 miles with no problems througout the entire motor.

It would be interesting to hear what other engine owners/builders would have to say. Guessing, with a well built motor, seems to me you should be able to get at least 15k-20k out of them easy with spirited driving before having to pull them apart and check bearings, etc. But, then again, it does come back to many of the factors above, and more... starting with who built the motor...

[sparks]

it does seem that if a engine is going to have problems it usually happens early on! thanks!

[Jamo]

If it's built right, it doesn't matter...mine has over 8k on a big motor with big numbers used on the track and everywhere else: FE-based Shelby, 482ci, .650 lift, etc. built by Joe Boghosian.

Guiness is driving around with a dual carb 427FE built by George Anderson...had 11k when Turk sold it to him a few years ago, and Jeff has had many miles on it since then, including on the track, with no major problems.

In other words, an FE or FE-based motor is no different than any other.

[Bill Bess]

The FE motor was the all around workhorse for Ford for many years. Cars, truck, water pumps, hot rods and NASCAR ..why would they be any less dependable than any other motor and not last a good while.
If it's properly built with good parts, good maintenance and you don't "hammer" the thing everyday..expect 100'000 miles.
I had several Ford FE motors that went well over 100'000 miles in cars and trucks.

By the way my 428 FE from SA is past the 5000 mile mark and runniing great.

Best Regards, Bill

[427 S/O]

Pushing 13500 hard acceleration twisty turny miles, threw a clutch and broke a rocker arm with no other damage. The secret is getting the rears to stick!...IMO.