Short arms

[Paul Blore]

The place to measure is probably to the engine mounts rather than the nose of the crank because the 427 is obviously a physically bigger/longer engine.

Paul

[Roger King]

Not sure that would work, I don't know the dimensions of the FE block, nor the position of the engine mount castings. They may not be in the same position relative to the block casting as on the Windsor block. The 289 Cobra uses early hipo engine mount rubbers, very different from the Hawk 289 which uses stock Mustang engine mount rubbers (I don't know what the FE uses). This means the engine mount brackets on the chassis of an AC are different from those of a Hawk: the transmission mounts are of even less use as the AC (and mine) transmission mounting bracket is the early Fairlane type whereas the Hawk and Kirkham use the later Mustang style, which sits further back and 1" lower.

Just found out that 'FE' stands for 'Ford Edsel'.... I promise not to remind you of that! Well, not often, anyway...

[Paul Blore]

I actually meant the centre of the mount on the block, which will be roughly the lateral centreline of the engine.
It doesn't really matter, I was just suggesting that they're probably very similar when it comes to relative engine positions.

"Ford Edsel" is only one of a number of possible meanings for FE. The definitive meaning seems to have been lost in the mists of time somewhere along the way. Another possible meaning is that it simple means "Ford Engine".

"..according to the book, "Ford 1903-1984" by David L. Lewis, Mike McCarville, and Lorin Sorensen, on page 172 "The FE was devised principally by Robert Stevenson, who was named chief engineer at Ford Engine & Foundry (i.e. FE) where the FE was cast in 1957."

Paul