Most won't care.....

[StrayCat]

But after tearing the top end of the T-Bird down, and buying the gasket set and so on, I noticed some odd things that were not matching up. So I went to a shit ton of Ford sites and was advised to check the stroke and bore of the motor while I had the heads off, and to also measure the ports and get the casting numbers off of the heads.


Well, I thought this was a 390. Which is an admirable motor with plenty of power. Come to find out it isn't a 390..................







It's a 428 CJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CJ = COBRA- FUCKING-JET.........

Funny thing is the only way to know the difference it to measure the valves and the intake ports in the heads. and the intake manifold port size, the intake head port size, is what makes a cobra jet a cobra jet. And the 390 and 428 blocks are exactly the same. Only difference is bore and stroke. And the only way to tell the difference is to pull the heads and measure these two things. There is so much debate on how to tell the difference, but the common conclusion that is definitive is this proceedure. So fucking cool.

I should have posted this in the " score" post huh. oh well, i'll do that too. I'm ecstatic at the moment.

[Psychoholic]

That is pretty damned righteous right there.

Where you been?

[StrayCat]

Eh, dealing with life as it is. Some things have happened, fairly major things but I wont go into that here. But things are ok. My life is at a point now where I can get out and do a whole hell of alot more.

[Tulsa Guy]

Oh fuck!......that is a great discovery!

[StrayCat]

Yeah it's a nice suprise considering the way the last couple months have been. When shit gets rough, I throw myself into my passions, being guitars, bikes or cars, and this time I had a pleasant suprise.


I guess it's my car's early birthday present to me. In exactly a week I'll be 30, and she knows I'm bummed about it.lol. She's going to be a good car. regardless of all the shit she has already put me through, and the trade offers and cash offers I have been offered for her, I can't and won't let her go.

And to think......a WEEK before I got her I was posting on here about how badly I fucking hated fords and would never own one. Aren't I just the happiest little hippocrite? bwahahaha.....

[Tulsa Guy]

Bought three 348's years ago from a buddy.....started running the numbers to see if I got a '58 block. One didn't kosher up to any of my lists, until I checked the 409 column.....a '65 409!! Last year they made 'em and very rare. Sold it to a guy that knew his 409 shit finally last year. Gettin' that 428CJ outta' a 390 kicks some major ass!

[tonytheskin]

you're right, don't care. actually, pretty fucking dope man, congrats.

[pyro]

I got screwed on the other end of the deal. Bought a 350 chevy motor. Tore it down, checked the numbers agains the stripped block. Frikin 305. Ass wouldnt take the motor back.

[dead ed]

428CJ = That T-Bird gonna Fly. Try not to blow up any more exhaust manifolds. Put headers on that bird.

[StrayCat]

i ordered the headers a week ago. and they shipped today. only 1 company makes them and they are made to order. no prefab. expensive motherfuckers

[Highbars]

It's a 428 CJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CJ = COBRA- FUCKING-JET.........

Wouldn't that be CFJ = COBRA FUCKING-JET...?
Congrats on the find.. Damn, I'da started jackin'-off the second I found out.
I'm no Ford man by far but wasn't the Cobra Jet engine a bit rare?
Also don't let it influence your thinking.....Fords still suck, Cobra or not but this is definitely near the top of any Score List..... Chicks screaming and the smell of burnt rubber... two of my favorite things... Carry on..

[StrayCat]

yeah they are pretty rare. i believe 66 was the first year they were available in the thunderbird. Only bigger score i could have gotten would be if someone had done a motor swap at some point and it was a 429 SCFJ.....super-cobra-fucking-jet. but this is original. this is the motor the car came with, so it's really worth more this way.

[Psychoholic]

What does the vin decode out with?

[Morella]

Anyone who has purchased a Cadillac 500 and tore it down, only to find out that he has a 472, can feel the pain or the delight. The only way to tell the difference is to measure the stroke, or tear it down and check the numbers on the crank. No matter how original the car may look, there is always a chance that someone has replaced the engine with something else.

-denise

[STODD]

i ordered the headers a week ago. and they shipped today. only 1 company makes them and they are made to order. no prefab. expensive motherfuckers

If they are Sanderson Headers, be prepared to do some "tweaking."'' They are rarely right on oddball(to them) vehicles. Also, if they are Sanderson, use header gaskets And Ultracopper! Ultracopper is the gold colored silicone. I also use only the copper lined header gaskets. I'm pretty sure Mr. Gasket makes them.

Please take my word on this. I "fixed" probably two sets of Sanderson headers a week, for thirteen years, when I lived in San Francisco(Sanderson is located in South SF). Almost all of their headers are advertised as "gasketless" - DO NOT BELIEVE IT! Again, I know first hand that rarely they build a "gasketless" set of headers.

And since we are on the subject of exhaust...

...my '64 still in desperate need of a pass side exhaust manifold.