Ford 406

[landman]

Am I correct in assuming that by combining the  1934 Ford Truck "390" with 406 decals you'd have a plausible 406?

[Erik Smith]

‘34 Ford?

Best option is the AMT ‘60 Starliner engine with the valve covers from the silhouette...I think I have some of the parts if interested (I built a 406 for my Cannonball Run 1962 theme a few years ago - it never got finished but I have some of the components).

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, landman said:

Am I correct in assuming that by combining the  1934 Ford Truck "390" with 406 decals you'd have a plausible 406?

The 390 and 406 engines are both FE engines, and as such, are virtually identical visually (other than specific manifolds and valve covers). Some 406 engines had cross-bolted mains, if I remember correctly, but the 390 did not. Of course, that would hardly be noticeable in 1/25 scale.

One question is how good is the 390 in the kit you refer to? I have one here, but I don't have time to look.

Another source for a "406" is the old Revell parts pack 427 engine kit. The same tooling was used for the twin 406 engines in the Revell Mysterion.

[Erik Smith]

Here was my effort. 

Bill has confused my memory - the valve covers may be from the Mysterion - I had a few to compare, and these were the most accurate (note how long the “Thunderbird” lettering is on all variants). I think the rest is from the AMT Starliner? Might be some from Tbird kit too. The gold I used is too coarse - large flakes...

I never worked out the “406” for the valve cover either.

Also, early 406s didn’t have crossbolted mains but, from what I read, they toasted themselves and were crossbolted later on - replicated by adding a couple bolts across the lower part of block. No grease hands experience for me - I just did quite a bit of research for the model. 

Edited January 5, 2018 by Erik Smith

[Greg Myers]

Interesting how many automotive engines from the sixties era were basically the same on the outside with varying cubic inch displacements on the inside. Of course there were other identifying factors , I.E. dip stick placement on the 409 vs 348.

Small block Chevy 265-400

Buick Nailhead       -401

Big Block Chevy  396 - 454

Pontiac  326 - 455 

Ok . I don't have all the cubic inch displacements down, but you can see what I'm getting at.

[Force]

Late 406 blocks had cross bolted mains like the later 427 and the number of cross bolts are three on each side for the middle three main caps, the first and last don't have any.
The AMT 60 Starliner 2 'n 1 and Custom kits has a very nice FE and the correct chrome plated Thunderbird and "baldie" valve covers as well as the 3X2 bbl intake system and short cast iron headers the 390 HP and 406 had, the long cast iron headers and 2X4 bbl intake system are also in these kits but they arrived with the 427, the 406 was the Ford race engine 1962 and early 63 and was replaced with the 427 well into the 1963 model year (at the same time as the fastback roof for Galaxie wich are called 1963½).
Some additional information, the 406 has the same 4.13 inch cylinder bore as the 428 but the same 3.78 inch crank stroke as the 390 wich only has 4.05 bore, the 427 had a larger 4.23 bore wich were the largest on any FE but still with 3.78 stroke, the 428 wich came in 1966 was cheaper to build than the 427 had as I said 4.13 bore but 3.98 stroke...and if you put a 428 crank in a 390 you get a 410.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Force

[landman]

Here's the kit's "390"

And some  real 390s

And the 406

[Force]

19 minutes ago, landman said:

And the 406

 

Of course you can use that engine if you want to but there are much better versions available.
The engine on the picture above is custom with many modern aftermarket parts, the other engines you show are more close to stock but the 390's looks like HP versions, the more regular 390's have different simpler exhaust manifolds.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Force

[mr moto]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Another source for a "406" is the old Revell parts pack 427 engine kit. The same tooling was used for the twin 406 engines in the Revell Mysterion.

Here's an interesting aside about the 390-406-427 look alikes. In his book "Hot Rods by Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth", BDR says that although he was told by Ford that those were 406's when he checked the serial numbers they turned out to be 390's!

[fairlane1320]

Here's my "406" '62 Fairlane. The engine came from an AMT '62 T-bird.

[Erik Smith]

I guess it just depends on how close you want. The kit you have looks ok, but as has been mentioned, there are better options. The valve cover from the ‘34 doesn’t have the correct shape (flat spot on end) although the “Thunderbird” script is closer. The Fairlane above - the “Thunderbird” letters cover too much of the valve cover leaving no room for the “406” sticker.

I gave some of the valve covers away I had cost, but if I can find them, and you’re interested, I can send them up north!

 

[landman]

33 minutes ago, Erik Smith said:

I guess it just depends on how close you want. The kit you have looks ok, but as has been mentioned, there are better options. The valve cover from the ‘34 doesn’t have the correct shape (flat spot on end) although the “Thunderbird” script is closer. The Fairlane above - the “Thunderbird” letters cover too much of the valve cover leaving no room for the “406” sticker.

I gave some of the valve covers away I had cost, but if I can find them, and you’re interested, I can send them up north!

 

Thanks Erik. I had noticed the lack of a flat spot. That can be made with a file. I think I'll do that. However it is interesting to see that the instructions appear to show the flat spot. Other than that, it looks like it'll do fine. Thanks for the offer, but I think the Shipping would "kill" the deal.

[Force]

3 hours ago, mr moto said:

Here's an interesting aside about the 390-406-427 look alikes. In his book "Hot Rods by Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth", BDR says that although he was told by Ford that those were 406's when he checked the serial numbers they turned out to be 390's!

You generally cannot tell what CID and version a FE engine is simply by looking at casting numbers without checking bore and stroke and some other things, the block castings is a mishmash of numbers and marks that can be missleading as the same casting numbers can be used for several engine versions.
But most of the 406 engines has C2AE-J, C2AE-K, C2AE-V, C2AE-BD, C3AE-D and C3AE-V and they were only around about a year and a half.
The 390's with casting numbers starting with C2AE were all some kind of high performance engines, the regular 390's before 1963 had C1AE casting numbers.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Force

[unclescott58]

Wasn't the 352 also FE motor. And looked the same as the 390, 406, and 427? And how different is the 428? I thought they were also part of the FE family, and looked the part? 

Edited January 5, 2018 by unclescott58

[kentak]

The 352 and the 428 were also FE motors and were essentially the same externally.

Ken

[Rodent]

All FEs are "essentially" the same. Much like small block Chevys, they differed in valve cover design, oil fill location, and PCV system. 390 GTs and 428 CJs had a different exhaust manifold bolt pattern. A 60 352 looks a lot different externally than a 70 428 CJ.

[Force]

The FE came 1958 and was made up to 1976 in several different versions and in trucks it was often called FT.
The most common displacements for Ford and Mercury cars were 332, 352, 360, 361 (1958 Edsel only), 390, 406, 410 (Mercury 1966-67 and not the MEL 410), 427 and 428.
For the truck FT wich was a little beefier than the regular FE were 330, 360, 361 (not the same as the Edsel 361), 389, and 391.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Force

[ChrisBcritter]

On 1/5/2018 at 10:05 AM, Erik Smith said:

I never worked out the “406” for the valve cover either.

Shrink it and print it:

[landman]

On 1/5/2018 at 10:45 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

The 390 and 406 engines are both FE engines, and as such, are virtually identical visually (other than specific manifolds and valve covers). Some 406 engines had cross-bolted mains, if I remember correctly, but the 390 did not. Of course, that would hardly be noticeable in 1/25 scale.

One question is how good is the 390 in the kit you refer to? I have one here, but I don't have time to look.

Another source for a "406" is the old Revell parts pack 427 engine kit. The same tooling was used for the twin 406 engines in the Revell Mysterion.

It is very basic, 10 parts. But with shaved valve covers and a few things from the parts bin it should be OK. Please forgive the poor photo quality.

[johnwitzke]

Here is mine Super Stock 406 that will go into Dick Brannan's # 717 1962 Galaxie.  I had my 406 decals along with the Rotunda oil filter decals custom made.   This engine still needs details added.  The engine in the 1960 Starliner makes into nice looking engines that represent the 352, 406 and 427 very well. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by johnwitzke

[landman]

Nice engines.

 

[landman]

Well...here's what I managed to wring out of that Lindberg 390.

[espo]

The engine looks very convincing to me.

[Brutalform]

On 1/6/2018 at 4:20 PM, ChrisBcritter said:

Shrink it and print it:

You wouldn’t happen to have a 390 would ya???

[ChrisBcritter]

You wouldn’t happen to have a 390 would ya???

From the Mac's Auto Parts catalog:

Edited May 21, 2018 by ChrisBcritter