I thought it would be best to start a new post rather than add to the present "improve oiling for tappets" post where Koltulz asked for comments.  I'm attempting to remember information from 1967-68 and I'm sure many details will be left out.  This was no "sexy" build by any means but rather is about a 17-18 year old kid having a lot of fun with what ever I could get my hands on. My car was a beat up '62 Galaxie, worn out 292 with a 2 speed automatic purchased from my next door neighbor so I knew the car very well - I kept it running for them.  I was offered a 383 L-E-M low mileage engine from a wrecked '58 Mercury, something I just couldn't live without. Very long story cut short, I learned many engine parts were common with the FE engine. Working in the shop at a local auto parts store helped me source a few used parts: FE flywheel and bell housing with related clutch and linkage along with a 3 speed manual trans that was hardly a match for the awesome torque of this 383 engine. The rocker arms and lifters were interchangeable with the FE engine so I purchased solid lifters and adjustable rockers for a 427 at the local Ford store. My thought was in leu of an unobtainable cam I could experiment with valve lash. This engine swap also required fabricating a pair of motor mounts with some help of a welder my uncle knew. I did partially disassemble the engine to check the wear on the rod and main bearings and found none. I was, however, very surprised to see for the first time a wedge shaped combustion chamber due to the deck being machined at an angle (10*?) and the cylinder head surface was totally flat. Don't remember how long it took me to pull the original drive train and get all this installed and running but working day and night it wasn't long.       Sorry I can't remember the exact details of carb tuning, ignition timing and playing with valve lash and the final combination of parts, but this engine was an extreme torquer. I had to gradually build speed in 1st gear or destroy 1st gear on the cluster and wipe out the slider. All street racing had to be done at about a 30 to 40 roll. The rear end was something like 3:1 ratio making this a very awkward combination.  I guess the best race was my buddies 65 327 impala. What made this particular race so cool is my Galaxie used to be their family car. How much more HP and torque the solid lifters and adjustable rockers made, if any, I'll never know.  I sold that car to a buddy a couple days before I entered the Navy, then Vietnam a year after that. 

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

THANX! for sharing. Brings back memories as most cars I had were junkyard parts.

Want to hear a fool story?

In 1970 I think it was, a buddy and I decided to go roundy-round in LIMITED SPORTSMAN. He came across a perfect 57 CUSTOM and us not reading the rules thoroughly put a take-out 430 in it. His brother-in-law had just came back from 'Nam and was a helicopter mechanic. He wired a fancy wiring harness in the car you wouldn't believe. The detail was perfect.

Any-who, we found out (later) the engine size had to match the model year and then found a 60 STARLINER sitting on a 64 FORD frame and NASCAR CAGE and allowed an FE as everything else in the class was SBC.

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