Finished the 410 FE and T-85N-OD install in my '69 F250

[farmallmta]

Thought you guys might like to see it. I'm having another FE built for my '65 Galaxie with 3spd-OD, so I pulled this 410 I had built several years ago and put into my '69 F250. Those are Mercury Lightning Bolt valve covers on top of the '62 406 heads. I like the red and black and silver color scheme.

410 F250.jpg

This engine has a 390 block, a '66 428 crankshaft, stock rods and 0.030 over 390 truck pistons, yielding 416 cubic inches of displacement with the longer 3.98 stroke. The '62 406 heads with adjustable rockers has the 64cc combustion chambers, so I'm getting about 10.2:1 compression, miraculously running fine on 86 octane pump pure gasoline, no ethanol. The intake is an Edelbrock Performer 390 with a stock coolant flow plate underneath the '64 292 Y-block carb that has both manual choke and hand throttle that I control from the dash. The smaller Y-block carb throats yield more torque but less top end horsepower, which is perfect for how I use the truck. When it starts, it starts instantly hot or cold. There is no heat soak of the carb thanks to the carb plate.

I took the opportunity to swap out the original Borg Warner T-85N-OD, column shifted, with a rebuilt one I've had in storage for years. The F250 was not ordinarily available with overdrive, but this one was equipped with one by the dealer for the original owner from the original owner's previous '65 F-100.

This is the second 410 I've swapped into a bumpside in as many weeks. Getting pretty fast at it now

[sargentrs]

That is awesomely cool!

[Beardlife]

That's rad. Any idea what sort of power you have here? I think I'd like to build a 410 at some indeterminate time in the future.

[Beardlife]

That's rad. Any idea what sort of power it makes? I think i'd like to build a 410 at some indeterminate time in the future.

[farmallmta]

I do not have actual numbers from a dyno run to back this up, but from the way it pulls a load, accelerating all the while, I'm guessing torque is well north of 450 at 3000 rpm, noticeably better than a stock truck 390 or 360. It has an RV cam which is 204/214 degrees duration. The compression being higher and the stroke being longer is where the torque is being made. It pulls so well that I feel confident that I'll be just fine going from a Dana 60 3.73:1 ratio to a 3.54 ratio and still have plenty of power to pull. I should add that most of my driving is in flat west Texas and farther north, rarely south at lower elevations. That means I can get away with higher compression even though loads are being pulled. In hills and near lower elevations, I might not be able to.

Here is a comparison of stock Mercury 410 and Ford 390 torque and HP curves. Both were in manual transmission large cars.
Mercury 410
http://www.automobile-catalog.com/car/1 ... speed.html

410 mercury.jpg

Ford 390
http://www.automobile-catalog.com/curve ... 0_v-8.html

390 ford.jpg

[Beardlife]

Thanks, farmallmta. The Difference in the area under curve on the 410 looks impressive. Builds as much torque as the 390's max (or more) from 2500-4500 RPM. And the 390 block makes it a sleeper. You're definitely influencing me!

[farmallmta]

Follow up report on the truck after 1500+ mile round trip:

Executive Summary: Hell, yeah!

Discussion:

Mileage, average of city and freeway: 16.6 MPG pulling a small popup camping trailer and plenty of stuff in the bed. I wasn't dogging it to much, kept it at about 70MPH most of the way on the highways, mostly because of crosswinds and road construction and heavy traffic. I did use 91 octane gas because of the high compression and pulling a load, so that has to be factored in as extra expense.

Troubles and issues: NOT! A! Single! One! Ran like a champ the whole way. Easy, fast starting. Smooth idle after high speed driving, great start ups on cool rainy mornings. This engine is set just right. Very nice manners in all respects. I never once put the footfeed to the floor in search of power no matter what was being demanded for speed or pulling.

Transmission: God, I love the T85N-OD! I have it set up with a switch on the column shifter. All 6 gears are available, but I usually only use 1st, 3rd, 3-OD, and occasionally 2nd for city corner turning, and 2nd then 2-OD then 3 and eventually 3-OD when powering onto a heavily trafficked freeway. The 410 (actually a 416 with the 0.030 overbore) with an RV cam and Y-block 2bbl carb (slightly smaller throats) has gobs of torque, so I can eliminate shifting from 1st to 2nd in the city, mostly going 1st to 3rd. Which is pretty nice on the left knee.

Road noise: rattles and squeaks and wind noise, galore. Heck, I don't even notice them anymore

Fun quotient: Very high! Lots of thumbs up and smiles from other drivers, and very easy to make friends where ever I go with an old truck in straight shape. My pit stops tended to stretch out way longer than intended because of extended conversations with fun people as a result.