Thanks again Trularin! I'm an FE owner now!

[blykins]

Well just got back to Louisville....spent all day yesterday driving from NE Kentucky to Michigan to pick up my engine that I got on Ebay.

Thanks to Tru, I bought a complete 361 FT on Ebay for $5.50. Yep. $5.50. Complete from carb to pan....from water pump to Clark 4-speed tranny with PTO.

Tru was gracious enough to drive an hour and a half to pick it up for me and store it in his garage for close to a month.

We got back last night...this morning I tore it completely down.

No cast numbers, but it's a service block with crow's feet main webbing. I drove the freeze plugs out and couldn't fit a 15/64 bit between the cylinders....I could only get a 13/64 in a little ways...so I think that's good news.

Right now I'm trying to decide whether it's worth having the machine work done to the forged steel crank....or just grab a cast iron one somewhere.

But I'm an FE owner now......


The block's going to the machine shop the beginning of next week to be hot tanked. I'm gonna have a buddy come over next weekend to mag it and ultrasonic test it for me. Then I can get my game plan going.

[jdog]

Welcome the FE Club Brother!

This Madness can be Deafening!

You've already passed the first 'test' in the initiation process: 'Initial Sticker Shock'!


jdog
P.S. Check my picture gallery for pic's of a 600hp 427fe!

[chrispy]

blykins ,

Congrats on the good buy. Wel worth it. The 361 was a rare FE truck block was it not?

Are you going to keep the PTO, and put it in the Cobra? Gotta do something different right?

Have you seen those chainsaw powered blenders? Put a blender on the trans tunnel and run it off the PTO. Cops would love that.

Chris

[FFR428]

Very nice deal! And yes that 13/64" bit fit is a very good sign and hope it turms out to be a nice build for you! G.

[blykins]

Update:

I got the block back from the machine shop yesterday. I just had it cleaned up so I could inspect it a little further.

After all the paint and dirt was off of it, I could see it has a high nickel content. Good.

I also had an inspector buddy of mine come over last night and wet mag/ultrasonic test the block.

We went over the WHOLE block....I mean everywhere. No cracks. Good.

We also got excellent results from the ultrasonic test also. I'm very pleased with my $5.50 block. I mapped all the cylinders. The average thickness was .290". The thinnest part was on #8 cylinder....it was .220".

My plan is to go with a 4.130" bore. Looks like I can do that with meat to spare.

I'm psyched! My first FE build!