FAQs on our Street Rod Engine PKGs

• How Much Horsepower do you really need?
• Which engine to choose?
• What options are recommended?
• How much Customizing is allowed?
• What's the lead time for ordering?
• Transmission Questions / Recomendations?
• Fuel Injection or Carburetor?
• What else is needed to complete the installation?
• How long can the engine sit in storage while building my car?

How much Horsepower?

Let's first off say that the Weight to Horsepower Ratio of these car's is incredible. Be realistic with what you want. Most of our customers want something with a classic muscle car sound, street friendly, tear a little rubber, handles nicely and still gets decent gas mileage. Take a look at the 300HP setup.  The next level of performance we offer is the 347 stroker engine. This motor is Quick revving, delivers a little more rumble, will bring torque to the back wheels!  When that's not enough (sometimes it never is) the 500+HP  363 cubic inch motor. Surprising still has street manners, a lot of attitude, more rumble, scary fast and more conducive for a street / strip use.  Performance Chart.

Which Engine to Choose?

The two popular setups for the Hot Rods thus far has been the 302 and 351w Based engines. The 4.6 litre engine is now in the mix too.  The reason for the 302 and 351w being as still being popular is they are good happy medium.  Lightweight, nice power gains. run cool,. Putting a Ford into a Ford is still important to the purist, most of the chassis are set to accommodate the small block Fords too.  The 4.6 litre is newer technology but with more installation time. If running with the Electric Power Steering we would recommend the 302 over the 351w because the oil pan can interfere with the Adapter.

What options to choose from?

Running with Air Conditioning is option recently offered through FFR for the '33 Hot Rod. Engine Factory will setup the engine with the A/C Compressor. This is an additional charge. See link for what it pulleys typically look like - Option # 4 Pulley Kit.

How much Customizing is Allowed?

The engines we label as the "Hot Rod Engines" are setup with the correct oil pan, high mount pulleys, A/C when it calls for it, along with the induction. Henry Ford was famous for the statement, "You can get any color so as it's Black".  He was a smart man especially when working with economies of scale. The internal recipes of our engines we prefer to leave alone. The parts work in harmony and often times changing something throws off the equilibrium, but this doesn't mean were not flexible.  In regards to the Cosmetic standpoint we offer some different options. The standard engine color is the traditional Ford Blue. Black Blue or Red is an option.  Ignition wire colors are available in Blue, Black, Red and Yellow, standard color being yellow. Polished options available too.

What's the lead time for ordering?

Some of our hotter selling engines we try to inventory to ship within 2-3 weeks for delivery. Some other engine / tranny combos that are more involved allow in the areas of 6-8 weeks.

Transmission Questions and Recommendations?

You have the option to go Automatic or Manual with the '33 Hot ROD. A std. Trans. is lighter with less Para static Losses.  For a more aggressive 350+HP engine We would recommend going with either a T5z or Tremec TKO series trans. They fit the best, have a 5th gear overdrive gear and are strong enough to handle some pretty big horsepower. In general the T5z Trans. is is sufficient for an engine up towards the 350HP range. Beyond this the TKO0-500 Trans. has the torque capacity of 500lbs. The TKO 600 5 Speed capacity is 600+lbs of torque. We sell engine / tranny packages as an option. We don't necessarily promise to have the best deals for tran but for the convenience of one stop shopping a lot of our customers opt for this route. Remember these cars are very light, so the power to the rear wheels is converted more easily than much heavier counterparts.  If using the car more as a Sunday Cruiser and comfort is more important an Automatic Trans. is probably the better choice. The firewall of these cars is tight so an Automatic Trans. will give you some more space as well.  The Ford AOD is a nice way of going.  They have the 4th gear overdrive to drop the RPMS considerably at 60mph.

Fuel Injection or Carburetor?

Carb vs. Fuel Injection ratio engines is close 50 / 50 these days. For a very clean and traditional appearance, minimal wiring , installation time, and cost A Carbureted engine is a great way of going. We setup the fuel mixtures, idle, timing and tuning. In the past fuel injection hookup and tuning was difficult , this has changed as of recently.  Engine Factory offers a plug and play Fuel Injected Boss EFI Engine. It has the appearance of a retro look Carbureted engine but is definitely not carburetion. The new Boss EFI has taken a quantum leap in technology for aftermarket fuel injection systems. It is the least expensive and easiest to install of any full featured system, The features the Engine Management System (EMS) mounted directly onto the throttle body thereby eliminating 80% of the necessary wiring harness. The throttle body assembly includes the EMS, throttle position sensor, MAP sensor, idle air control, and four 62lb. /hr. port style injectors. The linkage on the side of the unit is identical to a Holley 4-barrel and the throttle body has overall dimensions that are the same as a 4150 style Holley. We install a standard Air Cleaner on top. Despite the compact size of the EMS, it is still laptop programmable but for most vehicles the standard program is suitable. The EMS is self-learning which you can start the car up after installation, drive it around for 20 or 30 minutes and it dials itself in to the perfect tune. SEE OUR COMPLETE BOSS EFI ENGINE PACKAGES.  This system will run approx. $2,000 more than our carbureted engines.  So the question is which way to go Fuel injection or Carbureted?  We try to sum it up like this:  If you plan on driving your car once in a while, show and go, or on a occasional cruise than a Carbureted engine will work great for you. A carbureted engine will adapt to some weather changes and altitudes.  If you put a lot of miles on your car, drive in different altitudes, want a smoother idle, emissions is a concern and drive a lot in colder climates than Fuel injection is probably a better way of going. You can get 10-15% better gas mileage. This will pay the difference in initial cost.

What else is needed to complete the installation?

Part of the fun of getting a Kit is the pride in building it the way you want it. There is plenty of miscellaneous items to make your car Road Worthy, Trying to Piece Meal together and Engine shouldn't be one of them. The remaining items needed to purchase excluding the Engine and Transmission According to FFR:

Wheels
Paint
Brakes / Rear End (optional with Kit)
Headers 
Battery
Trans. Kickdown  (Applicable for Auto Trans. only)
A/C Fittings. ( Vintage Air has these)
Automatic Shifter Handle  (Applicable for Auto Trans. only)
Throttle Cable Bracket

Some of these above parts mentioned are avaialable through Engine Factory or FFR Direct.
Our engines come complete with all the accessories, pulleys back to rear flywheel. We provide the engine with a DVD of your engine running, instructions on where the fuel mixtures, ignition timing ect have been set.  Stickers and labels on some of the installation basics. Most of our engines are shipped with oil as well. We provide some instructions with our motors to give you some indication as well.   Factory Five has some info for reference as well.

How long can the engine sit in storage while building my car?

In a perfect world these kits can be assembled in a couple months time with some help along the way. Going at it solo and on a part time / weekend project it can take many moons to complete as many of you can attest to.  So to answer the question about how long the engine can sit in storage, the answer is for a long time. We have customers need to get the engine ahead of time to mock things up and then pull the engine out again to put aside.  We have a lot of heavy duty lubricant on the bearings and load areas for the first start up.  If an engine sits for over 6 months then fogging the upper cylinders with some lubricant like CRC or WD-40 will do some good. We don't recommend pulling the distributor and priming the oil pump. We do this ahead time, plus it defeats the purpose of purchasing a Turnkey Engine.