Prepping to Tune a 390 Ford

Prepping to Tune a 390 Ford

Preparing to Tune an Engine That has not Run

Episode 161 Manic Mechanic

In our Attempt to Restore function to the Ford 390 FE in our 1963 Galaxie, we go the slow route in restoration to get the engine fully up and running. I’d rather take my time and get it right than blaze through the process of tuning and break the engine. We show how to check all the visible stuff and what we had to change to get it ready to start.

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[anthonysantiago]

You know the episode is good when it just flies by. Once again great education.. Cant wait for the next one..

[lilorbielilorbie]

If taking some time now will save major headaches later . I say take the time. It can make life so much easier later.

[fenatic]

Not me either! I am with you on that. FEs come back to life amazingly well!

[theovallas]

Jeff, I agree with your approach. Too many YouTube shows (for entertainment) just want to see how fast they can get an engine started and then do burnouts...NOT GOOD for the engine and can lead to, as you said, catastrophic failure and will be more expensive to repair in the long run. Thanks for taking time to go over the proper way to inspect things! It's much more cost effective in the long run to check everything out in advance. Looking forward to more episodes on the ole 390 Fairlane!

[fenatic]

This great series, and it will be more educational than anything that you can do! These old cars and engines are still able to run and run good. On the exhaust, I have had a collapsed baffle in the muffler do this add some rodent poo and nest materials and that will do it. You can put it on the trailer and have a $100 dual 2.25s and 16 “ glass packs towards the front that can be used for resonators and put good muffler and tailpiece later. Flush the system out and do the radiator, you’ll be glad you did.

[johnc]

I have sat here and watched three or four different videos on vacuum advance canisters you explained it better all these other videos. I am glad that I ran across yours thank you

[gunjiweber]

Totally understand your careful approach on the 390!

[blakeneysanders]

Thanks for the video, good information.

[jimcabezola]

Please take as long as you like on this 390! I really enjoy FE videos! Mahalo!

[fastbackgt]

Great Video and Info … thx for taking us on this journey 😎💪🏼 - love my 390 !! 😎😍🤘🏼

[Paulie]

Jeff Thanks for taking me on the journey

[mredmister]

At 16:50 you broke my heart lol. I have two bent rods I pulled out of #3 on this 68 F250390. This thing ran a couple years ago before I just got it and I now know the previous owner did not know this. Still going to drain everything and also see about taking the top end off to see if it needs machining. The endoscope on your home for $20 was brilliant. Great video. Keep it up.

[Scott.Newmaster]

Norm Abrams would be proud of your woodworking

[fenatic]

And unhook the heater core and block it off. That is a good radiator. My 65 looked like that and it came out great!

[TheJoefussGarage]

We’ll Jeff, as usual, there’s always at least one naysayer or two out there… I’m good ☺️ with the cautious approach, though I am skipping ahead to the “Start me up” video, enough delayed satisfaction for one month !!! Keep ‘em coming..

[kennethstaszak]

There are plenty of youtube channels that would have done as you suggest and just start the engine without doing all the checks you are. But they are hacks that i wouldn't emulate.

[x]

For general information, engines that oil through the rocker shaft like this one can have congealed/hardened oil in the shaft itself, restricting flow to the rockers. This a maybe if you are cranking the engine and little or no oil appears up top.

[donmelvin]

Thank you for doing a compression test before a tune-up. A sick engine can't be tuned.

[Jon-Bar]

my FE had the same condition radiator. Lots of gunk, crunchy lower hose. I ended up replacing the radiator since it was significantly cheaper than having it rebuilt. Had trouble with the lower hose though, the ones from the parts stores were either not close enough in size to fit, or split. I eventually just used a universal.

[johnduprey]

Great video learning a lot thanks keep up the great work