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London Engine Census
I decided while at the London car show to pay attention to what engines were in the Cobras. There were well over 200 cars there.
First the disclaimers: My memory is not what is was and the count was by my memory - nothing written down. Second I only cared about Ford engines, and I didn't try to count anything else. There were a few Viper V-10s. A turbo Buick V-6 that will eat many V-8s for lunch. A couple Chevys, too. So here it is my un-official, non-professional, uneducated count. For every 385 series engine, I saw three FE engines. For every big block, I saw 7 small blocks. Of the small blocks two thirds were of the 351 W block, the rest the smaller 5.0/289 blocks. I saw one 351 Cleveland and I think one Clevor. A bunch of hoods not open. I guess small blocks are more popular, like it or not. |
That may be because small blocks are more plentiful.
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And less expensive and lighter and smaller for easier fit. Doesn't mean I
wouldn't want an 427 FE in the future sometime though.:LOL: |
I was at the LCS as well. Overall, I agree with your assessment of the mix of engines in the cars at the show. One observation for me--I was a bit surprised at the number of cars with 5.0L engines in them (higher number than I expected).
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As far as 5.0 or 302 engines being in abundance FFR has created that as 5 liter equipped Mustangs are the donor cars and with the newer FFR Mark III kit they will fit any of the newer type engines. The big block equipped original cars are what really created the replica industry of today as even if the cobra has a small block installed normally you will see the 427 sticker on the side fender. Even the original cobras came with more 428s than 427s because the price of a 427 cost Shelby around $700 or twice the price of a 428 from Ford. Today the price of originality with a 427 SO is in most cases price prohibitive for most replica builders. Did you see any 260 engines in any of the replicas?
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I'm not enough of an expert to look at an engine and tell the differance between a 260 and a 289 or a 302 for that matter. That block family all look alike to me.
I will say most in this class were newer 5.0 with EFI. I would guess 10 EFI to every carb engine in the 5.0 block size. Maybe a little less. I would agree that FFR cars are much more likely to have a 5.0 EFI engine. I was surprised to see as many supercharged cars as I did. One roots style blower on a SB - not sure but think it was a 5.0. There must have been a dozen and a half - maybe two - centrifigul (sp?) blowers. Mostly on 5.0 EFI cars. |
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