FT vs FE differences, post them as you know them

[fordman]

ok i must have missed that some how this evening. and it was my own posting.

[GreaseMonkey]

ok i must have missed that some how this evening. and it was my own posting.

LOL

[merclover]

i was about to buy an intake and 4bbl carb for my 390 and i was looking at one in some guys yard when all of the sudden some guy came out and just straight up said "wont work its a 391" saved my ass but yeah i was very confused to see 3 vacum lines to the distributor can anyone explain that?

[kaptnkaos]

I won't pretend to know anything about the FT's except that I do think that FT does stand for Ford Truck. The FT engine came in two series MD (medium duty) and HD (heavy duty) and were used in medium to heavy duty trucks. It was available in 330, 361, 391 displacements. The power band is much lower than any of the FE series engines. But, that is traded for mass low end torque. I have a 330 FT MD in my bus mated to a 5 speed trans with a 2 speed rear end... and I can tell you that top speed is about 55-60mph, but it will do that dragging a house.
On the exterior it looks nearly the same as the FE that is used in cars and light duty trucks (F-100 -F-350). Internally they are much differant. The water jackets as well as the oil channels are differant, so the FE parts dont line up correctly...
Believe me I had never heard of an FT engine until I got my bus "Olde Skool". Iceman gave me a crash course on them. By the way has anyone heard from him ? I have posted him a couple times and have gotten no responce... I hope everything is ok with him.
That's about all I know about them so far...

KaptnKAOS

[willowbilly3]

I suppose most of you have figured out by this misfortune that you should never crank an engine over without disconnecting power to the coil or grounding the coil wire (distributor end)
I have seen vehicles almost burn up because someone cranked it and the fuel line shot gas, ignition made spark and foom. Ask me how I know.

[AlleyCat]

i was about to buy an intake and 4bbl carb for my 390 and i was looking at one in some guys yard when all of the sudden some guy came out and just straight up said "wont work its a 391" saved my ass but yeah i was very confused to see 3 vacum lines to the distributor can anyone explain that?

I can explain that. 1 is for the vacuum advance the other 2 are for the governer.Ford used a couple different governer setups on FT's. Most 330's and 361's got a velocity governer that controlled the RPM limit with a combination of air flow and manifold vacuum.All of the 391's I've seen used a combination of velocity governer and timing to control RPM.

[kaptnkaos]

Theoretically speaking, what would happen if someone with a 330 FT in their bus should accidently disconnect the governer ? Would the bus be able to go faster... theoretically speaking of course...
I have no idea who would wanna do that to their bus

KaptnKA S

[wt4speed#2]

By the way has anyone heard from him ? I have posted him a couple times and have gotten no responce... I hope everything is ok with him.


KaptnKAOS

Hey Kap
Awhile back someone over on the other site posted that they had been to see Ice. At that time he was having computer problems. And from what I understand he was enjoying the sunshine time and worrying little about his puter for now .

ps I'm sitting here looking at this knob remembering I need to get it in the mail, it's comming.

Sorry this is not a just sharing a little of what i know.

[AlleyCat]

Theoretically speaking, what would happen if someone with a 330 FT in their bus should accidently disconnect the governer ? Would the bus be able to go faster... theoretically speaking of course...
I have no idea who would wanna do that to their bus

KaptnKA S

Well kaptn if someone should "accidently" disconnect the governer I would hope the "accident" happened after verifying the tach is fairly accurate.If your bus doesn't have a tach it might be good idea to install one just in case of "accidental" governer disconnection.In either case I'd make sure not to turn it over 4500 rpm or so lest it "accidently" hurl something thru the side of the block. The best "accident" prevention of course would be to make absolutly certain that someone does not install a 500 cfm Holley 2 barrel with a straight thru spacer plate as this would "accidently" leave the governer lying on someone's garage floor.Without the governer limiting rpm the engine could turn faster thereby allowing the bus to move faster.

[kaptnkaos]

Hey AlleyCat...

let's see if I got this right...

330 -G +(T+C(500cfm)+S)=F

And I said I'd never use algebra...

KaptnKA S

[AlleyCat]

Kaptn, your algebra is just fine. Now a couple other fine points to ponder in the advent of a governer "accident".First is FT's like FE's like timing advance.Most of them are set at about 8 to 10 degrees to help prevent nuclear meltdown of pistons when the engine is lugging.You can run 15 degrees or sometimes more if you pay attention not to lug it.You also have to listen for any sound of preignition or pinging.The best way I've found to set the timing after governer "accidents" is to find a hill for a test track and take a distributor wrench with you.Several tries may be necessary but the object of the exercise is to run as much advance as possible without it pinging.Second point,FT's like most FE's can't breath well due to restrictive factory exhaust.If your bus is in need of exhaust you might consider fabricating duals.They are well worth the extra work.

Now for my algebra. FT - G + C + T + D= ALFF ( A Lot Faster Ford)

[kaptnkaos]

Hey AC...

I like yer algebra... especially the answer... ALFF.

The exhaust seams to be fairly new or at least in really good shape.
It does have the standard exhaust manifold gasket leak on one side...
I wonder if that is mandatory for a bump truck to have an exhaust manifold leak before it passes the final factory inspection?
I have never known a bump with an FE that didn't have one.
It seems that FT and FE just might have that in common...

Take care,
KaptnKAOS

[GSequoia]

I wonder if that is mandatory for a bump truck to have an exhaust manifold leak before it passes the final factory inspection?

Yes, I believe it is.


Oops. Forgot I was looking at a *really* old thread!

[BigEd]

I realize that this is a very old thread that came back up for no reason but I think it should be corrected as it has too many errors in it so I have just a couple of things to add that are either wrong or missed. First, FT's do not all have steel cranks but many if not most do. The blocks are almost always drilled for side mounts, I have never seen one that wasn't but they may exist early on. They came in three flavors not two, MD, HD, and XD. The XD engines do not always have the things that make you think FT but they will have the FT heads, intake, and exhaust. Internally FT and FE blocks are identical and come from the same molds and have the same water and oil passages. The only differences are final machining and there are only two, the FT has a larger hole for the distributor shaft in the block and the FT has an oil return hole on the side of the block near the oil filter mount. You can use an FT block to build an FE (very popular as many FT blocks are heavy duty but not all of them so you have to check). To use an FT block for an FE build you must use a distributor hole bushing (Ford still stocks them for that purpose) and put a plug in the oil return hole. The FE heads, intake, exhaust, crank, timing cover, water pump and everything else will bolt right on. To use an FE block for an FT you have to drill a hole for an oil return and either drill the distributor shaft hole larger or use an FE distributor with shaft and oil pump or get a custom shaft with two different sized ends (and those are available too!). Also, it is not true that most heavy duty FT blocks are mirror image 105 style blocks. All that means is that it is a 72 and later block not that it is a heavy duty block. Prior to 72 all blocks were 352 style blocks and most are heavy duty as well. You have just a good a chance with an early 352 marked FT block being heavy duty as you do with later 105 blocks and there are actually many more of the early ones (they made them from 64-72) so they are more common. Finally the FT was made past 76 when the FE ceased production. The XD version was manufactured until at least 79 for production in some F350's and probably past that for service (few people realize this one, it is a great trivia point!). Ed

[fordman]

i pulled this distributor from a 330 md in a 79 uhaul. it has the same oil pump shaft as the fe's i have here and the dist is the same sized oil pump shaft hole on the bottom. it may have been changed you are right in thinking that. i will go out and remove the intake and get some pic to see if it was changed or not. pictures will tell. here are the pics of the one i pulled.