460 Ford Forum banner

Trying to identify engine family!

6K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  Pro98Mustang 
#1 ·
Late 60 to late 70's truck only engine, I think that the cubic inch size was listed as 534. Can enyone tell me if this engine is based off of the "FE" family or the "385" engine family, maybe it is neither one. I am looking for parts that may be interchangable between this engine and other family members. distributor, heads etc.
 
#2 ·
Neither FE or anything else. A true truck engine that was both 477" and 534" Very heavy and set up for low speed torque to move large trucks on gasoline. Was also used in marine applications like Chris-Crafts, etc. Heard rumors that the basic design was sold to Caterpiller for use as a small diesel V8 such as the 3208, dunno if thats true or not.
 
#5 ·
I want to update a 534

My local Fire department has a fire truck with the 534. It has the old style points type distributor. I would like to change it over to the newer style electronic breakerless type distributor if it can be done. This engine seems to be really down on power. It runs great but has no power and don't sound "right" to me. I am thinking flat cam lobes, vavles which are set incorrect, timing off, etc. My problem is i can't find out any information about this engine. Any help would be appreciated.
 
#6 ·
Found this:

I checked and you can get the rebuilt duraspark for the 534 from napa. The part number from napa 4822890. It's special order but it's only $68.00 plus $33.00 core charge. It comes from a 78' 534 I believe.

I just completed a mod though on my 1963 534 dizzy. The bushing was shot and the shaft was badly worn. So,believe it or not, I machined out the distributor for top and bottom sealed ball bearings and intsalled a couple. This effectively eliminated the slop that would affect the timing/dwell. I then installed a ford TFI module and TFI coil. The points are used to trigger the module as they put out a digital type signal that the TFI module accepts. The points, when used like this, dont carry higher voltages and thus do not arc or wear so you dont have to adjust them except maybe once every couple years. The points are hooked into pin 2 of the module; pins 1 and 4 go to the positive of the coil and 5 goes to negative on the coil. Pin 6 is ground to the body. Then the juice from the ignition switch goes to the positive of the coil as well for aq totalof three wires to the positive of the coil.



I started it up last night and it runs great once I nailed the timing. idles like a purring kitten at 490 RPM.
 
#7 ·
534 ford

I have had several encounters with this engine and for the most point out here in the panhandle it is used for Irrigation power plant it is a tough engine with bunches of out right torgue at low RPM. the engine block is made kinda like the 409 family where the combustion chamber is made into the block the heads are flat on the seating serfice and this engine was very heavy duty and was used by the governmet in a few tanks


Randy
 
#8 ·
Many thanks!!

I will check with NAPA and see if I can order the Distritutor, since this is a fire truck it needs to be very dependable and powerful when needed. I plan to try and identify what the loss of power is attributed to as soon as I can and repair it. I know this engine is all about torque but this one is very sick right now.
 
#9 ·
Somebody makes an electronic conversion kit for industrial motors - I can't remember the name. I've got one in my 440 pumping unit, and I put one in my brothers 392 International pumping unit. Everthing is contained inside the distributor - there's no outside module. They're about 150 bucks up here in Alberta, and worth every penny. Since the 534 was used for irrigation, I'll bet one's available.
 
#12 ·
What engine is this?

cadunkle-- is this the 534 engine or is something else? I have never seen one of these engines out of a truck so I am not familiar with the thing. I see no distributor mounted so does it mount on the front somewhere like most Ford engines or is it located somewhere else. What is the year model of this engine if known, Thanks for the picture.
 
G
#13 ·
RBBF

one thing to watch for is the fireing order. Been a long time sencei worked on them. order is NOT the same as FEs or385 nor the 351s cant off hand what is , was a common mistake to reg bbf order Petronix has dist. for most engines
 
#14 ·
Firing order

Can anyone tell me what the firing order should be, this could well be the problem why the engine is down on power. Would be a good place to start looking, thanks for the info. I can't find any information on these engines even on the web.
 
#16 ·
Bobby,

As was mentioned, they are closer to the MEL engine than anything else, although not much interchanges. They have been around since the late Fifties & are dinosaurs, basically; over 1000 pounds, gas hogs, and slow-revving.

The FTE forum cited earlier has some information on them. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php


The two big problems with them seem to be 1) distributor-related, which was covered above; 2) many of them with Holleys have the secondaries limited in opening, or actually disabled. I've seen a couple that had a std. Holley 600 vac. sec. installed & had a astounding increase in power.

They are pretty good engines, but old-style; eventually they were crippled so much with half-*** Seventies emissions stuff & attempts to "crutch" them, that Ford opted to drop them for the 429 truck engine. By that time even the 534 wasn't really much more powerful than the 429.

BTW, all the ones I've seen have the firing order cast into the intake. Dunno if all do, though.

So far as I can tell, the 3208 Cat has no relation to them, but maybe another Cat engine does. The 3208's the only "little" Cat I'm sort of familiar with. :wink:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top