I just purchased a 1965 Thunderbird Hardtop. I know it has a 390 FE motor I have always dreamed about fixing up or hot rodding an older car. I think I bought the heaviest of the lot. Any way, I know next to nothing about motors, and was wondering if any one has any advice, guides, words of wisdom about the 390 in a 4400lb car. It is supposed to have 300hp, but is it possible to get it up into the 4 or 500hp range with out doing and modifications to the engine block,(boring, and so forth). Has any one ever supercharged one? Is it possible. I was told to come to this forum from the vintage thunderbird forum. I am try to get all I can out of the thunderbird, and understand I am hindered by the weight.
Wrong car to turn into a hot rod but a nice cruiser. You're horsepower will be limited by the log manifolds so you will need a set of headers for the car. You could probably replace the intake with a Edelbrock Performer rpm and gain a little horsepower but to get any substantial gains you will need to get a decent set of heads and a good cam. You should be getting a lot of advice shortly.
I caught my own spelling error. Why the difference in manifold sizes between different Ford models. Or am I wrong in this assumption? I have a lot to learn!
Manifolds were designed to fit the car body. Most full size cars like Galaxie and Tbirds got log manifolds while unibody cars like Cougars and Musgangs required special designs to shoehorn the motors between the shock towers. Then there were the 406 and 427 cars that got cast iron headers in the early years. The log manifolds cleaned up the engine compartment by being compact but are pigs when it comes to performance.
Yeah I think your better off just dressing up that motor with finned everything, after all they make really nice cruisers. If you are going to hotrod that motor getting it to breath beter is your first priority. Heads, intake, headers, and a better carb with a good flowing air cleaner. Your rotating assembly is stout in a 390 but a good cam will do wonders for waking her up. Good Luck.
Intake, headers, 2.5'exhauast, mufflers of your choice. dist. rebuilt and curved. That will wake that 390 up. Don't know about the 400hp, but it would be a sweet daily driver! john
1970 Land Cruiser, 351w, NP435
(locked up front and rear)
1965 Galaxie, 428, C6, 3.89 gear,
Detroit locker
1979 Spectra Day Cruiser
stock 350ci Brand X, Mercruiser..53mph on GPS
I have a '60 TBird that my son and I fixed up. It's a great cruiser. I pump the motor up a bit with headers and exhaust, Holley, Edelbroc Performer and cam etc.... It gets out of it's own way and pulls like a train, but, at 3875lbs, not a racer. Gets a lot of looks, though.
After all is said and done, I doubt that I get much out of all the mods I did to my 65. Spent a lot, learned a little but I don't think it amounted to a huge performance difference overall. It is a better car due to the many improvements but not more reliable. It is probably faster but it is still not fast. It is "cooler" and more fun to talk about and work on however. And, if you are looking to be different you will be on the right track.
