RTM wrote:

The value can vary greatly depending on if it's a service block or not. The 69 parts bring more money than the 70's parts. If it has all the small stuff like the carb and so on then the price really goes up.

Most any block can be made serviceable; its just a question of what you have to do to get it there.  If there isn't enough bore left you can sleeve the cylinders.  If its cracked it can be repaired through welding or pinning.  With a block that rare, and potentially valuable, guys are willing to do all kinds of stuff they'd never even consider for a typical small block. 

Definitely though the money is in the accessories.  A lot of that stuff got tossed when the car came home, so its rare and guys need it for a correct restoration. 
 

For the way these cars are used I don't see the benefit, and as Nos681 said: it would just add complexity. 

If the price is right, the price is right.  If the price is wrong, the price is wrong.  I've always tried to live by the idea that the wrong part for the right price is still the wrong part, and vice versa.  Its definitely an interesting piece of nostalgia.  I just find it odd that if he wasn't going to use the engine why did he just let it sit for all these years?  I would have turned around and sold it immediately to help fund the Jag project.  Not trying to poo poo the deal, I just know how these things go sometimes.  We get so caught up in the quest that sometimes we need a voice of reason to get our brain reengaged when our heart has taken  over.  I'm definitely curious what you find out regardless of whether or not you decide to try and buy it or not.  It shows that at the very least cool stuff is still out there waiting to be found. 

RTM wrote:

TKOPerformance wrote:

I think there are probably far cheaper options than either of those engines that make just as much power and are easier to install.  If cost were no object I'd build the 390 I have into a 445 stroker with aluminum heads an 8 stack EFI.  I just can't justify it though when a stroker 5.0 will make just about the same power for less than half the cost. 

 
I agree but like it was mentioned before, there's that cool factor. I've never been an FE fan but it recent years I've grown to appreciate them and even follow a facebook fe group. I've only ever put one fe together and it was a cross bolt block. That's all I remember about it. I was very young and didn't know a lot about the older ford performance stuff. The guy I worked for then had 19 Shelby mustangs. I traveled to a lot of swap meets with him too. I learned a lot at his shop.

That's a really cool life experience you got to have.  Barry Rabotnick, who a lot of folks regard as THE FE guru who's still alive made a good point about the FE in one of his books.  He said that the reason they fell out of favor was that Ford never really made street performance versions of them in any real numbers, and that because the really good ones were designed for racing Ford was the one making all the hop up parts.  This led to an aftermarket never really developing for them.  By the time Ford stopped using the FE in the mid '70s all the good performance stuff was mostly used up, or expensive, so guys moved on to 385 series engines, or just stuck with hopping up traditional small blocks.  This led the FE to fade into a semi-obscurity, where everyone knew what the storied FEs had done, but no one really considered them for much beyond a restoration in a car which already had one.  Even then those cars were typically worth considerably more than a small block equipped car, so modifying them was seen as heresy.  Today you can build an FE any way you want and any part you'd nee

Given the wider LSA of the cam you already have I don't know that you would get a smoother idle with an E cam.  Stock HO maybe.  It seems like the cam you have was ground to try and have a smooth idle.  I think I'd go back through the tuning and make sure everything is set optimally.  I'd also make sure there are no vacuum leaks.

I have no use for one at the moment, but I wouldn't pass one up for the right price.  Those blocks are only ever going to be worth more money than they are now.  A block doesn't take up much space either (I've still got a 390 block and heads under my one workbench that in truth I kind of forgot about until thinking about where I could store a roller 351 block).  I think $400 would be my max investment though.  Now, if he's only willing to sell the whole deal you can probably sell the rest of the parts off and recoup a lot of your outlay.  It just may take some time.  '97 would have an E4OD trans I think.  That's probably worth a couple hundred if its a good working low mileage trans. 

My understanding is they are all the same, so long as the engine was an HO.  In '85 I believe the HO was only available with a 5 speed and it was a 4 barrel engine.  Truthfully, by '85 they knew the writing was on the wall and they were going to EFI the next year (California may have actually gotten EFI in '85).  Even the Cobras still used the same cam; they just put 1.72:1 roller rockers on them to make the cam act a little bigger. 

I've used the 3M stuff over the years and its good quality. 

Glad you got it done.  Being in pain stinks.  The sacrifices we make, eh?  I finally got he ARB bumper on the front of our FJ this past weekend, and did something to my right shoulder I'm still paying for today.  Fortunately I only have to hang a bunch of drywall today...

Yeah, sounds like par for the course.  But it'll be that much better when all that other stuff is also fixed!

Looking really good!

This may sound a little odd, but did you bleed the front brakes first?  The reason I ask is that I had an issue years ago where I did that on a completely new system (no fluid in the lines to speak of), and it did exactly what you are describing.  It was as if the front system was preventing a decent stroke to move fluid through the rear bowl.  IIRC I fixed it by putting clear vinyl tube on all the bleeders and putting the ends into jars with a little brake fluid in the bottom (to prevent sucking air back through).  I then pumped the pedal like 10 times with all the bleeders open, refilled the fluid, and repeated that another 2 or 3 times.  Then I was able to close all but the farthest bleeder (right rear), and follow a proper bleeding rotation (right rear, left rear, right front, left front) after which everything worked just fine. 

Nice, well executed car.  I couldn't see that price for a coupe though.  Maybe $30k.  Its tasteful, but that's also a loaded die, because its to the builder's taste.  For me, there's too much shiny stuff in the engine bay.  I'm not a fan of the black wheels; I'd  prefer an as cast aluminum finish.  Windows are tinted too dark as well.