[BIGNICK]

I have a 68 cougar, I am just wondering what is the biggest engine I am able to drop into it without doing anything to the frame. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

thanx,

nick

[Biggarmike]

An FE block will fit, they were available in that rascal as an option. FE block Fords (352,390,406,428) can make herds of HP, but parts arent cheap. A pre 66, 4 bbl motor from a full size car will likely be your best match. I think they were rated around 335 HP. If you are lucky one can be found in a junkyard, or in a long forgotten car, behind the neighbor's barn, etc.

[BIGNICK]

thanx for the quick reply....
I was also thinking of dumping a 4 bbl carb, with new intake, and then do 3 1/2" straight pipe..
is that possible at all?

thanx,

nick

[mustang66maniac]

Yeah that would be possible, edelbrock has some nice intakes for FE motors. Im pretty sure you could also fit a 429 or 460 in there too, they use the same tranny and there's more parts available for them becuase they were used until the mid 90's.

[Biggarmike]

429 or 460 will also work, and as a secondary benefit is 75 -100 lb lighter. I'm not sure about all of the acessory brackets, motormounts, exhaust, etc. The FE is a direct bolt in.
The 4bbl manifold will help a little, but the bigger difference in the 2 bbl and 4 bbl FE engines was the compression ratio and cam. If you are using stock exhaust manifolds, the flat sided ones, big bore exhaust won't help. You will need either headers or the old style cast headers, they were a part of the performance options on various models through the 60's. There is a book floating around, I haven't seen one in a while but they must be available in reprint. "Holman-Moody Ford Factory Performance Parts Book" or something like that. It lists all of the casting numbers for the Ford engines of the 60's even the hard to find special order stuff. It is an invaluable aid for FE junkies at swapmeets and junkyards.