Vehicle: 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 Convertible.
Engine: 390 c.i. V8 (FE-series). Bored .030" over, flat-topped forged pistions (raised compression ratio from 9.5:1 to 10.5:1), FPA Shorty Headers (full-length headers won't fit in the Convertible because of the extra torque-boxes on the frame, but these FPA Shorties fit PERFECTLY despite the fact that I have power-steering and factory A/C). Dual exhaust, 2.5" pipe, with FlowMaster 40-series mufflers. CompCams DEH275 camshaft (Intake: 275-deg Duration, 0.515" lift; Exhaust: 285-deg Duration, 0.541" lift), stock heads ported and polished -- totally re-machined with hardened valve seats, stainless-steel valves, and high-strength dual valve-springs. Red-line would be 7,000 RPM, if the bottom-end could handle that, but I re-used the stock crank-shaft and connecting rods, so she'll top out at about 6,000 RPM. But there's not much point in taking her too far past the 4,500 RPM mark, because the power drops precipitously at higher RPMs -- she's a low-end torque monster! According to the numbers, I should be getting 391 HP at 4,500 RPM, and 486 ft-lbs of torque at 2,500 RPM -- at the flywheel, of course. The C6 3-speed automatic tranny will certainly suck some of that down... But despite the power-robbing C6, I should still get about 330 to 335 HP at the rear wheels. And the low-end torque is so high, that it really doesn't matter!
All will be revealed after I get her on a dyno-chassis -- sometime in the not-too-distant future...Injection: MegaSquirt I v2.2, code version 3.00. B&G Relay Board mounted underhood. Throttle-body injected, using Auto-Nomics throttle body, which is designed to bolt to a standard Holley 4-bbl square-bore fllange -- it even looks pretty much like a 4-bbl carb, and with the air-cleaner on there you can hardly tell it's not stock. Venom 57-pound-per-hour injectors (low-impedance, but seem to be working fine with PWM set to 65%). Edelbrock Performer 390 aluminum intake, with no mods -- works just fine with the Auto-Nomics TBI unit. Electric fuel pump, mounted on driver's-side fender, sucks fuel from the tank using the stock 5/16" fuel-supply line. 40-PSI fuel-pressure regulator keeps everything in check. High-pressure (400-PSI rated) rubber lines feed everything from the outlet-side of the fuel-pump to the rest of the system. I don't have a conventional return line -- I run the fuel through a "fuel-cooler" (really an automatic tranny oil-cooler, but it works just fine for fuel) then back to a T-connector that feeds the "returned" fuel back into the supply line from the tank. Didn't want to run steel fuel-lines all the way back to the tank (to get through some of the parts of the frame-rails would've meant removing body panels!), and there was really no good way to hook into the tank anyway, so I chose this method. Initially, I didn't even have a fuel-cooler, but the fuel got too hot after about 30 minutes or so, and the whole thing would vapor-lock on me, so I had to install the fuel-cooler to prevent problems. It hasn't vapor-locked since I installed the fuel-cooler... O2 sensor is mounted on the passenger-side header-collector. And finally, fast-idle was achieved with a GM A/C idle-speed-increase solenoid -- it physically pushes the throttle open just a bit when the MS fast-idle is turned on.
Description: I bought this car in August of 2003 from a guy in Dayton, Ohio -- fllew up there and drove it home with only one minor problem (bad starter-solenoid -- what a surprise on an old Ford.) I began a full restoration in April of 2005. Completely rebuilt the 390 engine and C6 tranny. Got a new interior, new paint, everything. She's still a work in progress, but I hope to have her totally completed in another few months. Mainly I have the anodized aluminum trim to clean-up and reinstall now that the MegaSquirt stuff is finished. Most everything else, except some interior work, is already done.
Website: http://AtlantaGalaxies.home.comcast.net/ I will soon have pictures up at the Atlanta Galaxies website.
