12 Best Ford Big Block Engine (2023 Updated)

Great book ! Tells me everyrhing I need to know before rebuilding my 460 BBF for better performance with stock factory parts plus some extras ! I highly recomend this book for anyone looking to make a good motor better with stock parts ! Thanks !.

Very thorough review of the Ford factory parts, especially for the MEL and FE series.

Full of useful information. Exactly what I was looking for.

Complete kit, Pan, Gasket, dipstick, pickup tube, stud to mount pickup, nut and clip. All were there, went together easily. Just needed to swap the proper oil pump for the year make and model pan. Only problem i had was with the oil pan gasket.

The pans corner bolts front and rear on the pan gasket, were too big for the gasket bolt holes. Drill them out for 5/16 and the bolts gasket and block worked out fine. I think it was specific to my truck, a 1977.

Mine was missing the clip to the dip stick when it arrived but I had extra clips in my shop. Other than that, it went right on and no leaks. I also bought the correct pump to go with this kit and it works better than my stock front sump.

Oil pressure is now at 75 psi cold compared to 60 psi cold from stock front sump. You will have to drill out the 4 corner gasket holes as those bolts holes need to be bigger than all the rest as the 4 corner stock bolts wont go through.

You will also have to buy the correct oil pump for this pan.

This kit was used to replace a leaky oil pan, in the vehicle, on a 1978 F250 4×4 460 CID. All the pieces in the kit are excellent quality and fit. The only part we did not find in the kit is the oil screen to oil pump gasket.

We did have to enlarge the two 5/16 bolt holes at the front and rear of the pan and the gasket on our application. We glued the end corner joints of the gasket to the engine block, used a small amount of super glue gel to hold the gasket to the pan rails and just held the gasket up with four pan bolts till the gel set.

Worked out great and looks good too.

Replaced the stock manifold on my 1985 f350 460ci. Had coolant and vacuum ports in all the right places and some extra. Rebuilt motor with rv cam. Throttle response is better but can’t tell what upgrades made the improvement.

Definitely looks better then the old cast iron smog manifold did. The carb sits a good 3-4″ higher now so make sure you have the room. The only negatives were that I had to trim stock valve covers to clear edge of manifold and it would’ve been nice if they included plugs for unused vac and coolant ports.

Nipple for water pump bypass hose was included.

Building a Ford f350 work horse. So a good low rpm range dual high rise was perfect. On the shelf, had it next day at my door. I do wanna say, that Speedway motors don’t mess around when it comes to shipping.

When I need something yesterday, they get it to me 2 days before.

every thing i have ordered is just as described and shipping has been great also. i would recomend speedway motors to anyone my 63 429 cid falcon is coming together great

I’ve read about 2/3 of the book in detail so far for my upcoming 390 build. I like that it includes a lot of practical advice and little hints and tricks you would never know otherwise. There’s a fair amount of detail and explanation of basically how to build a motor for the rookie like myself.

That said, it’s a little repetitive in places when talking about all the FE motor variants and why only the 352-360-390-427-428 are focused on in the book. And there are a couple of places where you really want a photo of the parts and there isn’t one.

But I would still highly recommend this book and I would be referencing it constantly.

This book is written very well with most every builder in mind. Professional tips are included. Considerations are made for current manufacturing processes of replacement products.

Good book, easy read, pictures, info and it’s all ford fe , highly recommend

Assembly is pretty easy and we’ll illustrated. Most parts either press together or put together with screws. No glue is required and the parts are molded in color, but can easily be painted if you want.

I was very happy with how it runs and it even has engine sounds and “spark plugs” that light up. Very nice kit. Excellent display piece. Requires 3 AA batteries to run.

This whole project is high end from start to finish. Well engineered, and nothing broke or was missing from the kit. If you want a true understanding of a V8, here it is. The instructions are well laid out and intelligent.

You will not be disappointed with this one!!.

This is not your average engine model kit. It is very well cast and very durable. When it is completed and you run it, it runs effortlessly and each part stays in place- not moving around and wobbling like some of the lesser quality kits do.

I got the intake in the box, open it up and it had dents in the aluminium. The water pump bypass fitting did NOT want to go into its proper hole in the intake manifold. Keep in mind that both parts came from Edelbrock directly.

I was disappointed the product wasnt as expected since I always held edelbrock in the highest esteem.

Overall, good product. However, the fit was a little off. The front of the manifold was about 1/4 inch too short in the area covered by the gasket end seals. This left less than 1/4 inch of overlap between the manifold and the block.

I hope the rtv seals it. The rear end seal area was perfect, as were the sides.

Edelbrock 2166 – I have 69 T_bird with 429, 7.0, the Intake manifold dimensions are equal in height compared to the original.

So – went back and forth over whether to have a BBC done local and ran into this cool 396 on summit. Was worried about parts backlogged for a local build – summit had this ready to ship/free shipping and cheaper than on Bprint website and vs other competitors.

I just pulled the trigger. Got here w/in 48 hours. Six weeks later – it is in and pretty well tuned in my 78/4speed Z28. Now, to be fair, I’ve got 3. 73 gears – but this screams. I did go kinda easy for a week or so (and still am) but runs really good.

Off idle, cruise, WOT. It’ll tear through 1st/2nd gear with 28 cooper cobra’s. Am running 1 3/4 doug’s (i’m a pontiac guy by trade – we dont’ run 1 5/8’s) and just 2. 5 pipes/xpipe. Only minor issue is I don’t know chevy’s and correct flywheel/clutch/H balancer and bolt – were not fully clear – but I figured out okay with a few tech calls.

Am happy w/ power, quality and happy with purchase. Nice motor!.

I looked all over for an engine and am glad I went with this blueprint engine. I have had installed and running about a week now and it runs and sounds awesome. My dyno sheet was above the advertised numbers.

Mine came in at 504 HP and 511 ft pounds of torque. I had several questions and every time I called BluePrint I got through pretty fast and they were helpful. I was a little worried that the HEI distributor that came with wouldn’t fit in my 69 Camaro but it did.

Didn’t have beat the firewall like I have heard some people have had to do. They only changed I made is I didn’t use the 850 Holley that came with it. I am using a 750. Way better response with it. I would definitely recommend this engine and company to anyone.

This engine was put in my 1965 Impala SS convertible. Car had frame off restoration 6 years ago. Had to replace the 396 big block in it. This small block 396 is amazing! Way more power and performance.

Looks and sounds great too! Summit techs were great in answering questions. Been a great experience.

The Stage 4 is EPIC! When placing the order I had a rough time deciding if I would rather have the 80cc stage 4 kit with all the high performance bells and whistles, or sacrificed it all for the 100cc (which I’m sure is still also very nice).

But needless to say I feel I made the best choice as this engine is honestly one of the smoothest riding engines out there. And the high compression head makes it to where you get the most out of your power stroke.

I recommend this engine to anyone. I also would recommend any new comers to the hobby to start off on a cheapo kit and get the feel for it. I made a lot of mistakes that would have been very costly and sad, had I starting right into this kit.

After reading all the horror stories about broken fasteners, I got some good threaded rod for studding and some chromed fasteners. If you put a nut on a stud you are not constantly screwing into aluminum, if nut or stud strips, pull stud & cut another to replace.

THIS IS A PRETTY GOOD KIT, MOST HARDWARE IS GOOD 8. 8! I had been studying china girls for a few years prior, as it turned out the issue I had was some. 001-. 002 pits in cylinder, WHICH BIKE BERRY MADE GOOD & SENT ME A REPLACEMENT! THANK YOU 4 STANDING BEHIND YOUR’RE PRODUCT! I have this motor completely apart, for inspection, case matching, polishing, fine tuning, crank balancing.

HOW CAN U NOT LUV THESE LITTLE MOTORS? I have seen them go thru a lot (youtube), & most do fine! THE CLUTCH TOOL, AND DOUBLE PLUG SOCKET WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN SEPARATING THE CASES! Could not have done it without these tools! I love the side ports improvement.

I would buy this kit again!.

Only giving 4 stars because i see on many other bike forums and review sites that bikeberry is hit and miss. Sometimes it will take them weeks to ship and won’t refund your order, customers receive their kit with parts broken or missing, or the engine comes damaged and support is very unhelpful if they even get a live person at all.

However this was not my experience. My engine kit came in about 5 days with all parts included and also the correct engine kit and the color I ordered. My only complaint is that phone support kept letting my calls go to voicemail and that the muffler came as silver and not black and the welds on the muffler at the exhaust port connection part we’re rough and seemed bent.

Luckily I already have many spare parts, including a black muffler from my previous engine, so that was no big deal.

These bolts work great with the Canton windage tray. If you don’t have the ARP main studs bolts, it might be cheaper buy the ARP bolts kit with comes with these bolts.

Set of 4 cap screws identical to the oil pump pick up tube mounting cap screw, this kit only works with OEM style main caps not aftermarket splay bolt caps or aftermarket blocks with 4 bolt caps.

These are very high quality studs. They worked on my Dart Big M block very well. The serrated flange nuts may not be the best idea as they create fine metal shavings when tightened down!

Engine arrived at my house within 2 days from the time I ordered it. This was with the standard free shipping mind you. The engine was also packaged up very well. The dyno sheet came in at 430. 7hp and 470.

6ft/lb which was more than advertised. My engine did not come with the valve covers or intake manifold shown in the picture. The valve covers were actually much nicer than the picture and had the blueprint logo stamped on them.

The intake manifold my engine came with had bolts that went straight down into the heads instead of the standard ones that bolt in at an angle. (See Image) This is not an issue for me but it could make factory accessory brackets difficult to mount.

Summit needs to update the pictures on to reflect this. Distributor was very nice however it was black instead of red. It also had the firing order painted on it. Worth mentioning, the distributor had the #1 plug marked where the #2 would normally be.

This does not mater though as the firing order was still correctly marked they just decided to rotate the plugs one space over from the standard configuration. Not sure why they do this but I plugged the wires in where Blueprint had marked them and the timing was perfect.

Another thing to note is that the spark plug holes where not in the exact same location on the Blueprint heads as the were on my GM heads. I was unable to fit standard length sparkplugs without them hitting the headers at Cylinders #5 and #6 so I had to buy shorter plugs designed for headers.

This will obviously be dependent on what headers you are using. 2 of the bolt holes on the front of the drivers side cylinder head are about 1/4″ lower than the standard GM location on my 350 from 1982.

The brackets still bolted up fine they just sat lower on the head. Because of this, I was unable to mount my factory A/C compressor. This is not important to me though so I just removed the A/C all together.

I know that most aftermarket accessory drives will bolt up to these heads no problem but the factory accessories will likely be difficult to re-use without modification. The only other thing worth noting is the Mini-starter I have required about 1/4″ of shims to engage properly with the flex plate.

This is no big deal just note that a standard mini-starter will likely require some fiddling to get right.

I installed this engine in my 69 Camaro. I wanted to stay with the original size 350. Engine came as pictured except it had painted valve covers. Engine started on the first crank, good oil pressure, no leaks, temp runs at 180F.

Installed a 2500 converter. All it needed was idle, float level and choke adjustment. Ran the 500 mi break in, no problems. The engine is very smooth and runs strong. The cam does not have a lot of lope at idle.

After the break in I replaced the stamped rockers with 1. 6 roller rockers and that gave it a nice lope at idle, plus a little more power. The engine sounds great and runs even better. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another.

Very good choice for the weekend cruiser.

This engine is still in the crate and not yet installed in my car that is undergoing a complete restoration. Based on the recommendations of the shop doing the restoration I am expecting a HUGE upgrade over the bone stock 190hp 350 that is being replaced.

With everything I have researched and learned about these Blueprint 383 stroker engines 5 stars might not be enough! Surprised engine was not painted already needed to be done by shop installing it.

Replacement for the 210HP 350 in my 1976 Corvette. Mounted to the re-built Borg Warner T10. Summit was super helpful with flywheel, clutch, and starter options. Edelbrock 2701 intake and 1905 AVS2 Carb will fit under the stock hood.

But you have to use a smaller air cleaner and remove the insulation from the hood. Flowtech 31106FLT headers fit perfectly with almost no clearance issues. The engine runs beautifully. Revs strong and pulls hard.

Idle is nice and smooth, not too lumpy. Vacuum runs all of my accessories (headlights etc) just fine. Could not be more pleased with this purchase!.

The packaging was perfect. Shipping was quick. Blueprint and summit have been nothing but impressive to work with on ordering any additional parts I needed. 63 miles in on my break-in and no issues at all.

The engine itself definitely looks nicer than expected. Looking forward to see how many miles I can put on it. Installed in 1972 C10.

Installed engine in a 1972 Nova real SS at a Chevy dealership in Oregon. Also installed eldelbrock multiport fuelinjection and turned out Awsome! Runs very strong and revs fast and has perfect amount a lope at idle.

Also put a 3,000 stall covertor at same time. It’s a real tire fryer! Customer is super happy and has no leaks anywhere so far! Great engine. Valve covers it comes with we’re not used.

Stock 350 out 383 Blueprint in. Basic sbc install. Selected Summit 9001-9 Headers, tight fit but cleared but expect scratches. Paired with Chevrolet Performance Serpentine drive kit and 3 core radiator with dual electric fan shroud.

In tank fuel pump with fuel regulator with bypass as I might LS swap eventually but gave up on it for now after realizing I didn’t have time for all the fab work it required at every step. I wanted my Chevelle up and running.

This engine is really good quality and eye candy. Very impressed with it all around. My only change would be to have an electric choke pre-installed on Holley Carb. Other than that, I used solid motor mounts and had to shim them away from block to fit the pin in.

The Blueprint engine instantly started once the fuel system pressurized up, and I loved not standing there tweeking a distributor with a timing light. My only adjustment was a a slight idle increase and fuel pressure lock in and that was truly it.

Hand over carb choke and she ran strangely perfect out of the box. Topped off tranny and fluids and off for break in test drive. Two weeks later, No leaks, driven 300 miles, fires fast, shuts down with no run on (fuel pump helps), dyno report is higher than advertised 462.

6 Hp and 476. 7 Torque. Here are the negatives, I have a one tire fire rear end so traction isn’t so easy.

I just got this engine and un boxed it and noticed right off it has a stock cast iron water pump. Isn’t this engine supposed to have a high volume aluminum water pump ? The water pump looks nothing like the one in the picture of the engine.

That stock cast iron pump looks terrible for the money i paid for this engine. Also noticed that in the description it says it’s supposed to have brass freeze plugs. Well this engine does not they are all steel.

Makes me think what else did they cut corners on. What should i do ?.

Very pleased with how well this engine runs. Had a small issue with the Holley carb leaking into the intake after shutdown. One call to Blueprint and they sent out another carb immediately. Great customer service! Put this in a 79 C10, TH350 and an FTI ESR3082 converter.

Truck is very quick even with 3. 08 gears. Thanks Blueprint and Summit!.