427 side oiler

flathead4dr

flathead4dr

Senior Member
What is the preferred spark plug for this high performance engine ? The ones I'm using now are brand new, but I'm getting what sounds like some intermittent misfire. Thanks for any tips. Bill
 
From what I remember they used to run BF32 plugs. As far as the misfire concern, one thing to check is the spark plug wire routing. Ford recommended not running plug wires 7 & 8 next to each other. Seems that since they fired in sequence they had the potential to crossfire with each other. The result could be a "hand grenaded" engine in severe cases. In 40yrs of auto repair I only confirmed 1 that did that but heard of other guys that ran into many more. May not be your problem but its one thing to check along with the basics.
 
I used Autolites in mine and they performed much better than the Champions that were in it when I got it. I cannot remember the number but you can look that up in any motors book. I will try and find the number later when in the garage.
 
Going a little OT here, but I always had trouble removing the plugs if they were AC or Champion because carbon would build up at the bottom of the threads. Autolites don't have that problem, because the threads have a different form and don't extend into the combustion chamber.
 
Flathead4dr, I have heard about the 'side oiler' , but have never seen one up close, so I could see all the special detail. Is this the same as the 'cammer'?
 
Side oiler 427 came as wedge, SOHC and DOHC cylinder head engine. Y-Block is also a side oiler design. Old Autolite spark plug number which is now Motorcraft was BF-32. Or BTF, BTRF, BRF or BSF-32
 
So I am wrong and right? All cammers are sideoilers but all sideoilers are not cammers.
It's a good day, I learned something. Thanks Streetdreams.
 
Rock Hornbuckle said:
Flathead4dr, I have heard about the 'side oiler' , but have never seen one up close, so I could see all the special detail. Is this the same as the 'cammer'?
Click to expand...

The reason for "side oiler" blocks was for the oil to get to the main bearings first. The original FE oiled the top end first rather than the mains. Not really an FE guy, but I would imagine it took changes to the casting so the new oil galley could be machined.
Which FE had four cams?
 
390,406,410, 428 continued as non side-oiler engines, as were those previous to 427 side oilers, 332, 352, 361, including first 427 engines. That is why there are a lot of oiling system mods done on a proper FE build. The DOHC, double overhead cam 427 was 4 cam.
 
I asked because I didn't recall any DOHC FE engine, even as a still-born engineering project. Any pictures or references to an article on it?
 
I believe it was developed for LeMans in the '60s. There used to be one on display in the front lobby of the Ford Dynamometer Lab in the '70s and into the '80s, along with some other LeMans, NASCAR and Indy engines.
 
I wonder if you are thinking of the LeMans "Calliope" 427? That was neither an FE nor a DOHC, having it's own block architecture with two cams one over the other. Seems to me it was 2 intake and 1 exhaust valve per cylinder. The intake cam was down low, conventionally, with the exhaust cam up high with push rods horizontal rather than inclined. A unique beast, for sure not an FE, and I don't think it ever actually ran LeMans.
 
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The standard production FE side oiler block has a C6...casting number, later 427 only. 1963 thru 1965 427's were center oilers like the rest of the FE series. There were no 4 cam FE engines, only the 2 cam(sohc), these were hand built on side oiler blocks. The sohc were originally designed for nascar, but never installed in a standard production car, and quickly banned. Most were sold over the counter, at a loss, to the big name drag racers of the time The Lemans engines were wedge head 427's. Some of the later 391 truck blocks have the castings incorporated for the side oiler system, but are not drilled. Some are also cast and machined as if they were intended to have the cross bolted mains as well
 
From what Craig has said, I may be wrong. Maybe it was a "Calliope" 427. I remember it had 4 circles cast into the front cover, with '65 ford hood letters attached spelling F-O-R-D in each. Seem to remember the exhaust out the top also. Next time I talk to some other old Dyna Rats I'll ask and see if I can get any more info. I've got a block bored for 390, with " 66 427" on the rear surface of the block, under the flywheel area, that is cast for side oiling but not drilled. Has 2 bolt mains. Strange animal.
 
i wonder how thick your cylinder walls are.im not sure about fe blocks but on some fords you can knock out the freeze plugs and measure between the cylinders.if you had another 390 0r 352 you could compare.
 
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, dig it out of the pile and have the walls sonic checked for thickness. Got a 391 block I need to do the same thing on. Understand some are thick enough to go 4.130 or more on.
 
Streetdreams, I think you might be thinking of the Quad Cam Ford, that was later sold to AJ Foyt. They were called Coyotes after that. I believe they were based on the 260, and ruled Champ (Indy cars) for a while in the '60's and early '70's.
 

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