As a guy who's owned several 1966 Galaxies I am well versed in the one year only 7 liter package named for the Hi Po 428 cubic inch V8 at its core. In fact my first car pictured above is a 1966 Galaxie 500 Convertible. Yes, I still own her and have recently started her restoration. While I have never owned a 7 liter 428 FE car, it's always been the dream to replace the 352 interceptor currently in my convertible with one. So whats it gonna take? Well after doing the math, sadly it seems I would be well north of 25K to build that dream FE. New Fe blocks are available from a few sources Roush, Shelby, Bear and others but bare block go for between six and ten thousand. Then you've got machining and internals, heads and intake and carbs or injection. In short order id be looking at a motor costing twenty to thirty thousand alone. Sadly I can't drop that kind of coin on just the motor. So whats a guy to do? In comes Ford with its announcement of the 7.3 Godzilla gas V8 for its Superduty trucks. Turns out Ford put a guy in charge of its design that is more than a little involved with drag racing his own Foxbody mustang. Well that sounded good. Then Ford announced it was real and making 430 horse and 475 pounds of torque and they'll offer it as a crate motor! Turns out they weren't just bullshittin, you can go to Ford racing and order the new 7.3 gas motor for $8300! If you feel like shopping around both Jegs and Summit have one listed for $7451.99! But will it fit in my 66? Well dimensionally the motor seems smaller than current coyote motors and Kindigit Design has already put a Coyote in a 65 galaxie convert and the engine bays are identical. All this makes me wonder, while the 7.3 itself may not be an issue will Fords ten speed transmission fit under the floors of my 66 convertible? I don't know but I'd sure like to find out.
As much as I am tempted to jump on one, I can't help wondering, what if I wait? Whats it gonna cost me to get a 7.3 engine trans with all the accessories out of a hopefully low milage wrecked super duty? I mean its gotta be cheaper than new crate right? At the very least close even with all the extras? Why wait you ask? Well the new 7.3 gas in the Superduty also has a ten speed transmission, can you imagine? According to a quick inter webs search a Superduty 2wd crew weighs about 5648 pounds. In comparison my 1966 galaxie convert comes in at 3460 pounds! I'm no math magician (pun intended) but that looks like around a 2000 pound difference! Motor trend says they got a 2021 Superduty crew 4wd with the 7.3 gas to run 0-60 at oddly enough 7.3 seconds. Now you minus that 2000 pounds and it sounds like dropping that artillery under the hood would make my convert quite the rocket! And thats without making any changes.
What if I did want to make changes? Well it seems Fords 7.3 gas V8 is getting serious love. I've read some guys are getting five hundred plus horse with just tuning and exhaust and that north of Seven hundred horse is attainable with a supercharger. Reportedly without even cracking open the motor. If any of you come across one on the inter webs let me know!
James
The Lowered HMFIC
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