Help identifying engine for year and power

[jfl1960]

hahahaha that is funny, but it wouldn't be the first that I blew up on the juice. Might run the 150 shot on it but not until I have the other motor built and ready to drop in, for now it will just be used to try and setup my suspension and whatnot, will give me some wheel time and see how my suspension mods worked out.

 

[baddad457]

I see lots of stumbling around in the dark on this one. But 85_Ranger4x4's got most of it covered. E6SE block is a Roller block, used for several years in many applications, not just T-Bird. With the "S" heads (E6SE) it'll have pistons without valve reliefs and a "base" roller cam. But someone could have swapped pistons if it's been rebuilt. Not an HO motor, but there's not a whole lot of difference between parts in the std and HO motor, just the cam, upper intake, pistons (cast or forged). If you want to know when it was made, the date code is cast into one of the bottom rear flats of the block at the very rear. It's a number/letter/number code.

 

[jfl1960]

Good to know, as I said I will use this motor as is for now to get the truck up and running, I might be going to go carburated so if I do I will just pop off the heads to check pistons since I am tearing down the top anyway, would be nice to see some aftermarket pistons, so if the pistons have already been changed out the E7's and then a cam upgrade will take place if I have the clearance (will do a PTV check with stock cam to see where I am at before upgrading cam but after installing E7 heads), if not she stays as is and I build one of my other blocks I have sitting in the garage, so for now this E6SE motor is just a runner. As I mentioned earlier I read a few posts stating the 86 block isn't the best as the iron content was lower than the 87 and later so that makes me lean toward building the 88 or the 91 year motors I have so I have options and decisions to make. Also from what I have read so far I see nothing can be done to the E6SE motor to enhance performance due to the restrictive head and cam limitation (to an acceptable level for cost of parts, boy did they go in the wrong direction with that design) without gutting the motor and changing pistons, might just as well rebuild another block than tear down a running motor. Thanks all for your help and info, learned a lot about the 5.0 from this thread, still got a lot more to learn though and I will be back with more questions. When in doubt ask the experts.

 

[baddad457]

The E6SE blocks are identical in iron content to the E7TE block. The change was between the 85 roller block to the 86 block, Ford added an extra 4 pounds of iron to the decks and bottom of the coolant jackets. Be that as it may, you can upgrade the cam, or the heads without getting into trouble, but not both at the same time. The reason the E6 headed motors didn't have reliefs is due to the valve seats being a full 1/8" deeper into the head than all other SBF heads made. Swapping the heads alone subtracts that 1/8" from the PTV clearance.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The E6SE blocks are identical in iron content to the E7TE block. The change was between the 85 roller block to the 86 block, Ford added an extra 4 pounds of iron to the decks and bottom of the coolant jackets. Be that as it may, you can upgrade the cam, or the heads without getting into trouble, but not both at the same time. The reason the E6 headed motors didn't have reliefs is due to the valve seats being a full 1/8" deeper into the head than all other SBF heads made. Swapping the heads alone subtracts that 1/8" from the PTV clearance.

Which would gain more power, the heads or the cam?

I still have that set of E7 heads you talked me into...

 

[Mac]

Yeah I knew that for heads and other parts the year wasn't changed unless there was a redesign of the part and the mold had to be changed however for blocks I thought they updated the year to reflect the production year, if I am mistaken then let me know.
QUOTE]
Nope, that's why the cast in date code gets important. Some blocks had the same number for 2-3 year. Think Baddad mentioned awhile back the the C8 rods and cranks were used up to real late '70's. Don't get me started on the FE casting numbers.
Dave of the Nord

 

[jfl1960]

The E6SE blocks are identical in iron content to the E7TE block. The change was between the 85 roller block to the 86 block, Ford added an extra 4 pounds of iron to the decks and bottom of the coolant jackets. Be that as it may, you can upgrade the cam, or the heads without getting into trouble, but not both at the same time. The reason the E6 headed motors didn't have reliefs is due to the valve seats being a full 1/8" deeper into the head than all other SBF heads made. Swapping the heads alone subtracts that 1/8" from the PTV clearance.

Thanks for setting me straight on the year and iron content, for some reason 86 was stuck in my head and when I saw the E6 on the block I was not impressed, glad to hear my dismay wasn't warranted.

 

[jfl1960]

Yeah I knew that for heads and other parts the year wasn't changed unless there was a redesign of the part and the mold had to be changed however for blocks I thought they updated the year to reflect the production year, if I am mistaken then let me know.
QUOTE]
Nope, that's why the cast in date code gets important. Some blocks had the same number for 2-3 year. Think Baddad mentioned awhile back the the C8 rods and cranks were used up to real late '70's. Don't get me started on the FE casting numbers.
Dave of the Nord

Thanks Mac, numbering will make sense after I go insane, then I will be of the same mind set as the developer of this system, haha.

 

[baddad457]

Which would gain more power, the heads or the cam?

I still have that set of E7 heads you talked me into...

Which came first, the chicken or the egg ? The 86 HO motor was rated at 200HP. In effect that's just the cam swap from the base roller to the HO cam, plus dual exhaust and the crappy tubular "headers" The E7's made 25 more horses over the E6's. Pretty much everything else was the same between these two motors (CrownVIc vs Mustang) The upper intake had something different about it, although if you place the two side by side, they look the same.

 

[jfl1960]

Which came first, the chicken or the egg ? The 86 HO motor was rated at 200HP. In effect that's just the cam swap from the base roller to the HO cam, plus dual exhaust and the crappy tubular "headers" The E7's made 25 more horses over the E6's. Pretty much everything else was the same between these two motors (CrownVIc vs Mustang) The upper intake had something different about it, although if you place the two side by side, they look the same.

Good to know, so at the very least I can bump up the cam to an HO cam and get an HO top for the intake along with headers which I was going to do anyway, 200 HP isn't too shabby to start. Then I will do the 400 HP build on the 91 f250 E7 headed motor. Thanks for that info.

 

[baddad457]

Good to know, so at the very least I can bump up the cam to an HO cam and get an HO top for the intake along with headers which I was going to do anyway, 200 HP isn't too shabby to start. Then I will do the 400 HP build on the 91 f250 E7 headed motor. Thanks for that info.

Just keep in mind you won't get to that level with E7 heads. For that level of power, either block is on an equal footing as a starting point, if you're going to rebuild with new pistons.

 

[jfl1960]

Just keep in mind you won't get to that level with E7 heads. For that level of power, either block is on an equal footing as a starting point, if you're going to rebuild with new pistons.

Absolutely, aftermarket heads are on the list to get to 400 ponies, and yes I now realize both blocks are equal as a starting point for rebuild, good info for someone hunting for a block to know, but for a running motor with planned upgrades for power adders (heads, cam, etc...) stay away from the E6 or 86 motor.