What's The Difference Between The Ford 427 And Ford 428 Engines?
Great. Another pair of engines from the same manufacturer that are a cubic inch apart. Well, GM loves giving anti-kindred engines similar displacements (looking at you, Chevy 454 and Pontiac 455), so why not Ford? At least the 427 FE and 428 FE V8s are part of the same line of engines and share a 4.63-inch bore center spacing. Don't worry, it still gets confusing because of the actual dimensions of the 427 and 428 medium-block FE engines. Despite their close displacement, 385-series 429 big-blocks are entirely different, so we're ignoring them today.
The 428 FE has a 4.132-inch bore and a 3.984-inch stroke, which means it actually displaces 427.39 cubic inches. Boy, it sure is weird that Ford, of all companies, would round up displacement like that (cough, 4.9-liter Windsor 302, cough). In this case, though, Ford was just trying to differentiate it from the 427 FE. Except there was no need to do that, because the 427 FE isn't a 427, either. Thanks to a bore of 4.232 inches and a stroke of 3.784 inches, its actual volume is 425.82 cubes, which rounds up to a Chrysler Hemi-ish 426. So, really, the FE engines are 426 and 427 cubic inches, respectively.
As for the "FE" designation, it likely stands for "Ford-Edsel." Though it might stand for "Ford Engine," depending on who you ask. However, forum users apparently sourced a 1958 internal document that refers to the "Ford and Edsel engine," so the argument will likely rage on …
https://www.jalopnik.com/2031962/ford-427-vs-428-engines-differences/
(photo credit: Morven / via Wikimedia Commons)
