Fe Results Timeline

1. Fe Results Timeline Events
2. Fue Results Timeline

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and NBME, co-sponsors of the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®), have discontinued work to relaunch a modified Step 2 Clinical Skills examination (Step 2 CS). See full announcement.

Overview

The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is a beast. Six hours long, 110 questions, and up to 18 separate subjects to study for, depending on your discipline. It scares most people just thinking about studying for it, and some quit before they even start. “I Have Other Obligations” It’s downright overwhelming. Timeline: A history of education. The TES was founded in 1910. Here is a timeline of all the events that have transformed the educational landscape in the 105 years since.

Step 2 of the USMLE assesses the ability of examinees to apply medical knowledge, skills, and understanding of clinical science essential for the provision of patient care under supervision, and includes emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention. Step 2 ensures that due attention is devoted to the principles of clinical sciences and basic patient-centered skills that provide the foundation for the safe and effective practice of medicine.

Step 2 CS uses standardized patients to test medical students and graduates on their ability to gather information from patients, perform physical examinations, and communicate their findings to patients and colleagues.

Other Step 2 CS Resources

NOTE: The Step 2 Clinical Skills exam is temporarily suspended due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What To Bring (& What Not To Bring)

Important: If you do not bring acceptable identification, you will not be admitted to the test. In that event, you must pay a fee to reschedule your test. Your rescheduled test date(s) must fall within your assigned eligibility period.

On the day of your examination you must bring:

• The Scheduling Permit you received when your registration was completed
• Your Confirmation Notice
• An unexpired, government-issued form of identification that includes a photograph and signature. (i.e current driver's license or passport)
• Lab coat and stethoscope (not required, but strongly recommended, as there will be a limited supply available at the test center)

Each test center contains locked storage. You will be able to place personal items that you might need during breaks or during the exam at your seat in the orientation room. Luggage may not be stored in the center. There are no waiting facilities for spouses, family, or friends; plan to meet them elsewhere after the examination.

*Your name as it appears on your Scheduling Permit must match the name on your form(s) of identification exactly. The only acceptable differences are variations in capitalization; the presence of a middle name, middle initial, or suffix on one document and its absence on the other; or the presence of a middle name on one and middle initial on the other.

Please bring only necessary personal items with you to the center. You may not possess pens, cellular telephones, watches of any type, pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), two-way communication devices, or notes or study materials of any kind at any time during the examination, including during breaks. These items must be stored during the examination.

If you have a medical need for an item during your USMLE administration, a list of approved personal items is available.

Bulletin: Testing contains more information about the rules and regulations during the test.

What to Wear & When To Arrive

Wear comfortable, professional clothing and a white laboratory or clinic coat. The proctors will cover with adhesive tape anything on the laboratory coat that identifies either you or your institution.

• All examinees will be required to remove eyeglasses for visual inspection by the test center administrators. These inspections will be brief and will be performed during the check-in process.
• Jewelry, except for wedding and engagement rings, is prohibited.
• Hair accessories and neck ties are subject to inspection. Examinees should not wear ornate clips, combs, barrettes, headbands, and other hair accessories. Examinees wearing any of these items on test day may be asked to store such items in their locker.

The time you should arrive at the test center is listed in the Confirmation Notice you will print after scheduling your appointment.

Proper Behavior - Testing Regulations and Rules of Conduct

You cannot discuss the cases with your fellow examinees, during breaks or at any time.

Conversation among examinees in languages other than English about any subject is strictly prohibited at all times, including during breaks. Test center staff will be with you to monitor activity. To maintain security and quality assurance, each examination room is equipped with video cameras and microphones to record every patient encounter.

The USMLE program retains the right to remove any examinee from the examination who appears to represent a health or safety risk to the standardized patients or staff of a clinical skills evaluation center. This includes, but is not limited to, examinees who appear ill, are persistently coughing or sneezing, have open skin lesions, or have evidence of active bleeding. Examinees who are not feeling well are encouraged to seek medical advice prior to arrival at the center and, if consistent with medical advice, should consider rescheduling the date of their examination. This can be done at the website of your registration entity.

Clinical skills evaluation center staff monitor all testing administrations for the Step 2 CS examination. You must follow instructions of test center staff throughout the examination. Failure to do so may result in a determination of irregular behavior. The USMLE Bulletin of Information provides a complete description of irregular behavior and the consequences of a finding of irregular behavior.

Irregular Behavior:

Irregular behavior includes any action by applicants, examinees, potential applicants, or others when solicited by an applicant and/or examinee that could compromise the validity, integrity, or security of the USMLE examination process.

NOTE: The Step 2 Clinical Skills exam is temporarily suspended due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. On-Site Orientation

Each examination session begins with an on-site orientation. If you arrive during the on-site orientation, you may be allowed to test; however, you will be required to sign a Late Admission Form. If you arrive after the on-site orientation, you will not be allowed to test. You will have to reschedule your testing appointment and will be required to pay the rescheduling fee.

*The clinical skills evaluation centers are secured facilities. Once you enter the secured area of the center for orientation, you may not leave that area until the examination is complete.

2. The Patient Encounter

Your Step 2 CS administration will include twelve patient encounters. These include a very small number of nonscored patient encounters, which are added for pilot testing new cases and other research purposes. Such cases are not counted in determining your score. You will have 15 minutes for each.

Announcements will tell you when to begin the patient encounter, when there are 5 minutes remaining, and when the patient encounter is over. In some cases you may complete the patient encounter in fewer than 15 minutes. If so, you may leave the examination room early, but you are not permitted to re-enter. Be certain that you have obtained all necessary information before leaving the examination room. Re-entering an examination room after leaving will be considered misconduct. Continuing to engage the patient after the announcement to stop has been made may be considered irregular behavior, will be reported to the USMLE, and could jeopardize your continued participation in the USMLE program.

If you are unsuccessful at Step 2 CS and must, therefore, repeat the examination, it is possible that during your repeat examination you will see similarities to cases or patients that you encountered on your prior attempt. Do not assume that the underlying problems are the same or that the encounter will unfold in exactly the same way. It is best if you approach each encounter, whether it seems familiar or not, with an open mind, responding appropriately to the information provided, the history gathered, and the results of the physical examination.

The Standardized Patient & Physical Examination

You should perform physical examination maneuvers correctly and expect that there will be positive physical findings in some instances. Some may be simulated, but you should accept them as real and factor them into your evolving differential diagnoses.

You should attend to appropriate hygiene and to patient comfort and modesty, as you would in the care of real patients. Female patients will be wearing bras, which you may ask them to loosen or move if necessary for a proper examination.

With real patients in a normal clinical setting, it is possible to obtain meaningful information during your physical examination without being unnecessarily forceful in palpating, percussing, or carrying out other maneuvers that involve touching. Your approach to examining standardized patients should be no different. Standardized patients are subjected to repeated physical examinations during the Step 2 CS exam; it is critical that you apply no more than the amount of pressure that is appropriate during maneuvers such as abdominal examination, examination of the gall bladder and liver, eliciting CVA tenderness, examination of the ears with an otoscope, and examination of the throat with a tongue depressor.

When you enter the room, you will usually encounter a standardized patient (if not, you will be asked to communicate with a standardized patient over the telephone). By relating to the patient in a patient-centered manner, asking relevant questions, and performing a focused physical examination, you will be able to gather enough information to develop a preliminary differential diagnosis and a diagnostic work-up plan, as well as begin to develop an effective physician-patient relationship.

Regardless of your current clinical role, during the patient encounter your expected role is that of at least a first-year postgraduate resident physician with primary responsibility for the care of each patient. You should treat each patient you see as you would a real patient. Communicate in a professional and empathetic manner, being responsive to the patient’s needs. Do not defer decision-making to others. It may be helpful to think of yourself working in a setting where you are the only provider present.

As you would when encountering real patients, respond appropriately to the patients’ needs for information exchange and understanding and engage them in planning for next steps.

Introduce yourself as you would in a professional setting. Do not mention the name of your school or institution.

The information you need to obtain in each encounter will be determined by the nature of the patient’s problems. Your approach should be focused. You will not have time to do a complete history and physical examination, nor will it be necessary to do so. Pursue the relevant parts of the examination, based on the patient’s problems and other information you learn during the encounter.

You should interact with the standardized patients as you would with any patients you may see with similar problems. The only exception is that certain parts of the physical examination must not be done: rectal, pelvic, genitourinary, inguinal hernia, female breast, or corneal reflex examinations. If you believe one or more of these examinations are indicated, you should include them in your proposed diagnostic work-up. All other examination maneuvers are completely acceptable, including femoral pulse exam, inguinal node exam, back exam, and axillary exam.

Another exception is that you should not swab the standardized patient's throat for a throat culture. If you believe that this diagnostic/laboratory test is indicated, include it on your proposed diagnostic workup.

Synthetic models, mannequins, or simulators provide an appropriate format for assessment of sensitive examination skills such as genital or rectal examination. Specific instructions will be provided in cases where this is necessary.

Excluding the restricted physical examination maneuvers, you should assume that you have consent to do a physical examination on all standardized patients, unless you are explicitly told not to do so as part of the examinee instructions for that case.

The cases are developed to present in a manner that simulates how patients present in real clinical settings. Therefore, most cases are designed realistically to present more than one diagnostic possibility. Based on the patient's presenting complaint and the additional information you obtain as you begin taking the history, you should consider all possible diagnoses and explore the relevant ones as time permits.

Telephone Patient Encounters

Telephone patient encounters begin like all encounters; you will read a doorway instruction sheet that provides specific information about the patient. As with all patient encounters, as soon as you hear the announcement that the encounter has begun, you may make notes about the case before entering the examination room.

When you enter the room, sit at the desk in front of the telephone.

• Do not dial any numbers.
• To place the call, press the yellow speaker button.
• You will be permitted to make only one phone call.
• Do not touch any buttons on the phone until you are ready to end the call - touching any buttons may disconnect you.
• To end the call, press the yellow speaker button.
• You will not be allowed to call back after you end the call.

Obviously, physical examination of the patient is not possible for telephone encounters, and will not be required. However, for these cases, as for all others, you will have relevant information and instructions and will be able to take a history and ask questions. As with other cases, you will write a patient note after the encounter. Because no physical examination is possible for telephone cases, leave that section of the patient note blank.

3. The Patient Note

Immediately after each patient encounter, you will have 10 minutes to complete a patient note. If you leave the patient encounter early, you may use the additional time for the note. You will be asked to type (on a computer) a patient note similar to the medical record you would compose after seeing a patient in a clinic, office, or emergency department. Examinees will not be permitted to handwrite the note, unless technical difficulties on the test day make the patient note typing program unavailable.

The ratings for the patient note are overseen by practicing physicians.

You should record pertinent medical history and physical examination findings obtained during the encounter, as well as your initial differential diagnoses (maximum of three). The diagnoses should be listed in order of likelihood. You should also indicate the pertinent positive and negative findings obtained from the history and physical examination to support each potential diagnosis.

While it is important that a physician be able to recognize findings that rule out certain serious or life-threatening diagnoses, the task for Step 2 CS examinees is to record only the most likely diagnoses, along with findings (positive and negative) that support them.

Finally, you will list the diagnostic studies you would order next for that particular patient. If you think a rectal, pelvic, inguinal hernia, genitourinary, female breast, or corneal reflex examination, or a throat swab, would have been indicated in the encounter, list it as part of the diagnostic studies. Treatment, consultations, or referrals should not be included.

A program for practicing typing the patient note is available in the Practice Materials

NOTE: The Step 2 Clinical Skills exam is temporarily suspended due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Calendar of Test Dates

Applicants registered for Step 2 CS can use the Step 2 CS Calendar and Scheduling system, available at the website of their registration entity (listed below), to check available test dates at the five Clinical Skills Evaluation Centers. This calendar is updated continuously to reflect applicant scheduling, rescheduling, and the opening of additional test dates, based on demand.

If you are interested in taking Step 2 CS, you are strongly encouraged to use the Step 2 CS calendar to monitor the availability of test dates. The only way to ensure a test date is to complete registration and scheduling through the Step 2 CS Calendar and Scheduling system.

NBME

For students / graduates of LCME-or AOA-accredited medical programs in the US or Canada:

ECFMG

For students / graduates of medical schools located outside the US and Canada:

If you are registered for Step 2 CS, please be aware that:

• The Step 2 CS scheduling system does not allow an applicant to reserve his/her scheduled testing appointment for another applicant, nor does it allow the transfer of a testing appointment from one applicant to another. When an applicant cancels a scheduled appointment, the appointment returns to the pool of available testing appointments where it can be claimed by other registrants.
• At any given time, many applicants registered for Step 2 CS may be attempting to schedule or reschedule testing appointments. It is common for appointments that become available to be claimed immediately by another applicant.
• The Step 2 CS scheduling system allows registered applicants to indicate their preferences for test dates and centers. When a testing appointment is canceled, all applicants participating in the email notification system who have expressed a preference for this date/center are notified immediately by email.

If you have any questions about the application process, you may fill out our Contact Form »

NOTE: The Step 2 Clinical Skills exam is temporarily suspended due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Test Centers

You may schedule a Step 2 Clinical Skills exam at any of the Clinical Skills Evaluation Collaboration (CSEC) test centers.

Information on CSEC test centers (addresses, maps, and travel information) is available on the Test Centers page of the CSEC website.

NOTE: The Step 2 Clinical Skills exam is temporarily suspended due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scoring the Step 2 CS Exam

Step 2 CS is designed to evaluate your ability to gather information that is important for a given patient presentation. During your physical examination of the standardized patient, you should attempt to elicit important positive and negative signs. Make sure you engage the patient in discussion of your initial diagnostic impression and the diagnostic studies you will order.

The patients may ask questions, and you will see a range of personalities and styles in asking questions and presenting information. You should address each patient's concern as you would in a normal clinical setting.

The ability to communicate effectively with patients, demonstrating appropriate interpersonal skills, is essential to safe and effective patient care. Step 2 CS is intended to determine whether physicians seeking an initial license to practice medicine in the United States, regardless of country of origin, can communicate effectively with patients. The standardized patients assess communication skills, interpersonal skills, and English-speaking skills via carefully developed rating scales on which the standardized patients (SPs) have received intensive training.

On the patient note, your ability to document the findings from the patient encounter, diagnostic impression, and initial diagnostic studies will be rated by physician raters. You will be rated based upon the quality of documentation of important positive and negative findings from the history and physical examination, as well as the differential diagnoses, justification of those diagnoses, and diagnostic assessment plans that you list. As is the case with other aspects of Step 2 CS scoring, physician raters receive intensive training and monitoring to ensure consistency and fairness in rating.

Scoring the Subcomponents

USMLE Step 2 CS is a pass/fail examination.

Examinees are scored on three separate subcomponents: Communication and Interpersonal Skills (CIS), Spoken English Proficiency (SEP), and Integrated Clinical Encounter (ICE). Each of the three subcomponents must be passed in a single administration in order to achieve a passing performance on Step 2 CS.

The CIS subcomponent includes assessment of the patient-centered communication skills of fostering the relationship, gathering information, providing information, helping the patient make decisions, and supporting emotions. CIS performance is assessed by the standardized patients, who record these skills using a checklist based on observable behaviors.

Examinees demonstrate the ability to foster the relationship by listening attentively, showing interest in the patient as a person, and by demonstrating genuineness, caring, concern, and respect.

Examinees demonstrate skills in gathering information by using open-ended techniques that encourage the patient to explain the situation in his/her own words and in a manner relevant to the situation at hand, and by developing an understanding of the expectations and priorities of the patient and/or how the health issue has affected the patient.

Examinees demonstrate skills in providing information by using terms the patient can understand and by providing reasons that the patient can accept. These statements need to be clear and understandable and the words need to be those in common usage. The amount of information provided needs to be matched to the patient’s need, preference, and ability. The patient should be encouraged to develop and demonstrate a full and accurate understanding of key messages.

Examinees demonstrate helping the patient make decisions by outlining what should happen next, linked to a rationale, and by assessing a patient’s level of agreement, willingness, and ability to carry out next steps.

Examinees demonstrate the ability to support emotions when a clinical situation warrants it by seeking clarification or elaboration of the patient’s feelings and by using statements of understanding and support.

The SEP subcomponent includes assessment of clarity of spoken English communication within the context of the doctor-patient encounter (for example, pronunciation, word choice, and minimizing the need to repeat questions or statements). SEP performance is assessed by the standardized patients using a global rating scale, where the rating is based upon the frequency of pronunciation or word choice errors that affect comprehension and the amount of listener effort required to understand the examinee's questions and responses.

The ICE subcomponent includes assessments of both data gathering and data interpretation skills. Scoring for this subcomponent consists of a checklist completed by the standardized patients for the physical examination portion of the encounter, and global ratings for the patient note. Ratings for the patient note are overseen by practicing physicians. Patient notes are rated on the documented summary of the findings of the patient encounter (history and physical examination), diagnostic impressions, justification of the potential diagnoses, and initial patient diagnostic studies.

Fe Results Timeline Events

Copies of the patient note template, sample patient note styles, and software to practice typing the note are available in the practice materials. Although it is not feasible to list every action that might affect an examinee’s patient note score, the descriptions below are meant to serve as examples of actions that would add to or subtract from the score.

The following are examples of actions that would result in higher scores on the patient note:

• Using correct medical terminology
• Providing detailed documentation of pertinent history and physical findings. For example: writing “pharynx without exudate or erythema” is preferable to stating that the pharynx is clear.
• Listing only diagnoses supported by the history and findings (even if this is fewer than three)
• Listing the correct diagnoses in the order of likelihood, with the most likely diagnosis first
• Supporting diagnoses with pertinent findings obtained from the history and physical examination

The following are examples of actions that would result in lower scores on the patient note:

• Using inexact, nonmedical terminology, such as pulled muscle
• Listing improbable diagnoses with no supporting evidence
• Listing an appropriate diagnosis without listing supporting evidence
• Listing diagnoses without regard to the order of likelihood

NOTE: The Step 2 Clinical Skills exam is temporarily suspended due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Score Reporting Schedule

2020 Reporting Schedule - Step 2 CS

Calendar released April 1, 2019

*No Step 2 CS exams will be delivered March 27 through April 4.

Note: In each scoring cohort there will be occasional dates when individual test centers or the entire testing network are unavailable. These are typically known in advance, and the dates will be displayed as unavailable when examinees schedule appointments.

For each 'Testing Period' in the above schedule, Step 2 CS scores are released every Wednesday over a corresponding four-to five-week 'Reporting Period.' It is expected that results for the vast majority of examinees who take the exam during the testing period will be reported on the first Wednesday of the Reporting Period. Results for 98%-99% of examinees who take the exam during the testing period are reported by the third Wednesday in a Reporting Period. For a small percentage of examinees (1%-2%), scoring and quality assurance may be not completed in time for these examinees to be reported by the first three reporting dates; these will typically be examinees who took the exam in the latter part of the testing period. Results for these examinees will be reported each week throughout the reporting period, and should be reported no later than the last day of the score reporting period.

This schedule allows USMLE staff to enhance the quality assurance and data collection/scoring procedures performed prior to score reporting. Additionally, it provides examinees, as well as others who rely on Step 2 CS results, with guidelines regarding when a result will be reported for a given exam date. These guidelines allow examinees to plan their exam registration and scheduling in order to have their results in time to meet specific deadlines, such as those related to graduation or participation in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), or 'the Match.'

The FE Ford engine was released into production in 1958. The earliest applications included use in the short-lived Edsel program. The FE was not a replacement for the Y-block; it was a larger companion to an engine family sharing some design features. In 1958, the Y-block was still considered a current design at only four years old.

Starting out at 332 ci, the FE quickly grew in displacement through its first five years of production, with 352-, 390-, and 406-ci variants followed by the now famous 427 in 1963. By 1966, the renowned 428 and the short-lived 410 had been released, and these completed the

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This 520-ci FE with 12.5:1 compression cranks out 770 hp and 653 ft-lbs of torque at 6,900 rpm. It features polished high-riser heads and a Tunnel Wedge manifold with dual-quad carbs. This is about as nice as they come.

You can easily build a 500-hp stroker FE engine these days. Case in point, this 475-hp 445-ci is based on the 390 FE and delivers a reliable 475 hp under 6,000 rpm. No grinding or clearancing is required to assemble the Survival Motorsports stroker kits into an FE block.

lineup of FE passenger-car engines. And as a result, a lot of high performance Ford FE engines history was written in a very short time. The 352 and 410 were dropped after 1966, and the 390 and 428 continued as the only FE engines in passenger-car production from 1968 through 1970.

The FE had been dropped from passenger-car use by 1971, but the 360 and 390 versions remained extremely popular in pickup trucks through the 1976 model year. Some commercial applications, most notably U-Haul trucks, had FE power through the 1978 model year. Throughout the 20-year production run, the FE had seen use as a marine, commercial, and industrial engine as well.

The high-performance factory engines were the ones that claimed all the glory, but the vast majority of engines were for more mundane applications. The most popular original FE vehicles were full-size family cars and pickup trucks, and these vehicles contain the engine blocks that are used for many high performance engine builds today.

The beginnings of the FE performance program took place when Ford split the car lines during the late 1950s, going from one basic platform to many as the market developed. The emergence of the bigger cars coincided with a gain in the popularity of racing. The NHRA U.S. Nationals were held at Detroit Dragway in 1959 and 1960, and auto executives were exposed to the rising popularity of the sport. At the same time, NASCAR began the transformation that would take it from being a local-circuit group to a national sport. Television was about to change the way cars were marketed, and motorsports was one of the beneficiaries.

Ford responded to the market opportunity with high-performance iterations of the 352 and then the 390. In this era, a production-based engine could still be equally successful in drag racing and NASCAR.

My 427 high-riser entry as campaigned at the 2009 Engine Masters Challenge. The engine features a Genesis block, a forged-steel crank that came out of a truck, and a set of Carillo 6.700-inch H-beam connecting rods. On top of the 427 is a set of CNC-ported Blue Thunder heads with a 11.5:1 compression ratio. This engine made more than 670 hp on 91-octane pump gas in contest trim with a .697-inch lift, solid-roller cam and two 750 Quick Fuel modified carbs.

The FE performance program started out as upgrades to the passenger-car engines, using strategies that had been employed by hot rodders for several years. Higher compression, multiple carburetors, and dual exhaust were initially enough to get attention. But as the rivalry between the “Big 3” heated up, they quickly evolved into performance specific engines. The first of these was the 406, blessed with a larger bore than the 390, solid-lifter cams, and optional multiple carbs. Within a couple years the 427, with a stilllarger bore, cross-bolted main caps, and better cylinder heads, replaced the 406. The 427 became the lead piece for all of Ford’s big-block race development, and remained in that position through the end of direct factory involvement in 1970. When discussing professional racing and FE engines, the 427 is going to be the focus of conversation.

The 428 was originally released in 1966 as a torque-oriented street engine. But in the late 1960s, somebody at Ford finally realized that the low-production and high-strung 427 was not reaching the masses. Ford had a good race program, but it was getting a bad street “rep” because the more-mundane 390-powered cars could not keep up with the GM or Chrysler big-blocks. The response was to blend the readily available and bigger 428 blocks with higherperformance parts, which included heads, cam, and intake. The 428 Cobra Jet package was available from late 1968 until 1970. It delivered on all points and thus provided a reliable, strong, and still-competitive combination in NHRA class racing.

The 429-engine family was slated to replace the FE, but the factory programs surrounding the new engine were short lived, barely making it two years before performance development stopped. Eventually, the potential for the “385” family engine was realized, but that is another book.

The Famous Cars

Ford’s initial platform for FE performance and racing was the fullsize cars, the most popular being the higher-end Galaxie. Many FE engines were installed in full-size cars, most of them 352s and 390s. But the racers got the 427 cars.

The 427-powered Galaxie was a competitive package, but the Chrysler cadre had a distinct weight advantage with its smaller cars. The first response was to develop a lightweight factory drag-race version of the 427-powered Galaxie. It included a high-riser version of the 427 engine, along with a variety of weightreduction strategies, including changes to sheetmetal, interior parts, and even the frame. Always rare, and quite valuable today, the lightweights were only the opening act.

This 428 FE engine is dressed out for street use in a 1966 7-liter Galaxie. The 428 featured an externally balanced, cast-nodular-iron crankshaft. Because of longer stroke, hydraulic lifters, and reduced compression ratio, the 428 was much more streetable than the 427. Affordable 428 FE engine blocks are a rarity these days. If you see one at a swap meet or on an online auction site, you need to check inside the water jackets as well as the casting numbers to confirm that it is indeed a 428. Some unscrupulous sellers have overbored 390s and tried to pass them off as 428s.

As the factory horsepower wars heated up, even the lightweight 427 Galaxies were deemed too heavy to run with the mid-sized Dodges and Plymouths with their 426 Hemi power. Ford partnered up with Dearborn Steel Tubing to produce the 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolt to regain the competitive edge. The 427’s high-riser manifold necessitated the use of the bubble hood. While it looked like a road-going Fairlane, the Thunderbolt was a genuine race car. Rear window cranks, windshield wiper, carpeting, radio, heater, sound deadener, and body insulation were all deleted to save weight. Most cars posted quarter-mile times between 11.6 and 12.0 seconds. Still competitive in Super Stock today, Ray Paquet and Paul Adams have run T-Bolts into the 8-second quarter-mile range.

The next step was a factoryauthorized, dedicated drag-race car: the Fairlane Thunderbolt. Dearborn Steel Tubing, a Ford contractor, assembled the T-Bolts. It took the lighter-weight, mid-size, 1964 Fairlane sedan and installed the highriser 427 engines into about a hundred of them. This was never intended as a street vehicle, and everything was modified to enhance the cars’ chances at the drag strip. This included major front-end work to accommodate the large engine, lightweight seats, thin glass, aluminum and fiberglass components, and a race-only rear suspension. The Thunderbolt became a Ford racing icon, and the combination remains near the top of NHRA Super Stock racing 45 years later.

Ford did not install the 427 in production Fairlanes until 1966. The production 427 Fairlanes from 1966 and 1967 are both very rare and very competitive cars, with a solid racing history. But like the lightweight Galaxie that preceded it, it never received the adulation reserved for the Thunderbolt.

Something about the almost absurd combination of small car and huge engine makes anything else seem normal in comparison. The ultimate expression of small car/ huge engine is also FE powered—the 427 Cobra. The Cobra started out as the well-documented combination of a British sports car and a Ford small-block V-8 for road racing. The roadster competed with well-funded efforts from domestic and foreign racers, and the 427 FE, a readily available race engine, satisfied the need for more power. What had already been an attractive sports car morphed into a beauty born of necessity, with broadened and flared fenders for larger tires, side exhausts, and a scooped hood. Brutal in both potential and execution, another automotive icon was born. Today, there are many, many more inspired iterations of the car available than were ever originally made.

NASCAR racing was the primary development and test bed for Ford’s FE race program throughout the 1960s. The 427 was upgraded and altered every year as needed to remain competitive. But while NASCAR served as the engine technology source, the cars themselves were not inspiration for many production performance offerings. Muscle-car enthusiasts and street rodders looked to NASCAR for entertainment, but to the drags for inspiration. So while we use parts that were designed for the high banks, we don’t emulate the cars themselves very often. Street cars have the big tires on the rear, scoops on the hood, but no numbers on the doors—a tradition that still holds true today.

Throughout the late 1960s, professional drag-race programs evolved and the cars got further from a production basis. The hard-core drag racers moved into AF/X cars, with radical modifications to wheelbases and engines. These in turn morphed into “Funny Cars,” which used tube chassis and nitromethane fuel. The SOHC FE or “Cammer” engine remained a common powerplant in these exotic race machines, but it was far removed from the engine you’d get in your car from the local dealer. These cars and engines are certainly worthy of discussion, impressive by any measure, but beyond the scope for this book.

The most famous of the FE-powered cars was never really sold to the public. Ford made a very public and concerted effort to win the 24 Hours of LeMans race in the middle 1960s. Ford put enormous resources behind the effort because the company wanted to break the stranglehold that Ferrari had at LeMans and establish itself on the international racing stage. Enzo Ferrari’s scarlet cars had won the race from 1960 to 1965, but that was about to end.

To start with, Ford used the small-block V-8s to power the GT40 sports racing cars. In subsequent years, the need for more power became apparent. In a situation similar to that of the Cobra, Ford opted for the well-developed 427 FE as a power upgrade to the GT racing program. And the engine delivered; Ford GT40 cars finished 1-2-3 in 1966. But perhaps the most memorable win came the following year, as legendary American drivers A. J. Foyt and Dan Gurney won the 24 Hours of LeMans in an American sports race car, the GT40. Most notably, the FE 427 powered Ford GT40s to four consecutive LeMans wins from 1966 to 1969, an epic achievement for Ford and the FE engine.

So here is the FE engine legacy: It was the engine that was in the most famed Ford racing vehicles of the time in each form of motorsports— NASCAR, the Cobra, the GT40, and the Thunderbolt. This should be the backdrop for comparable fame and popularity on the streets of America, but it never happened. What went wrong?

Mustangs, Galaxies, Fairlanes and Trucks

As a dedicated Ford fan and a Detroit-area FE racer since the 1970s, it hurts to say this but it needs to be said. What went wrong is that Ford put everything into the low-volume, high-dollar racing efforts and comparatively very little resources went toward the everyday cars that made up the greatest volume of production.

The FE was factory installed or available in numerous car and truck platforms. The full-size Galaxie (and sister models) was the recipient of most FE production, from the early 1960s right to the end. Most popular among enthusiasts are the 1963–1967 models.

Ford intermediate cars, the Fairlane, Torino, and Mercury variants from 1966 through 1969 had the FE as a regular production option. Most were 390 powered. A very few 1966–1967 models had a 427, and the 428 CJ was available in 1969.

Mustangs and Cougars were often FE equipped from 1967 through 1970. The 1967 and 1968 big-block models were nearly all 390 equipped. In 1969, there were a few 390s, but the 428 CJ was the engine of choice. The hydraulic-lifter version of the 427 was installed in a few Cougars in 1968, but no 427 Mustang has ever been documented, despite 30 years of rumors.

Ford pickup trucks carried the FE as an available option through 1976. There are probably more FE engines in pickups than in any of the cars. The FE can be installed into any of the cars or trucks where it was an option. Any deserving small-block or 6-cylinder-powered candidate can be converted to FE power using factory replacement components.

When new, a 390-powered Galaxie of 1964 or earlier was a competitive car on the streets and local tracks. But by the 1970s it was common knowledge that the average 396-powered Chevelle was significantly faster than any 390 car. A 428 Mustang could hold its own, but the majority of FE owners simply lost enthusiasm because they were outgunned every Friday night. They moved on to other cars or other hobbies, and the FE-powered cars were left to sit or be used as basic transportation. Interest from the aftermarket never really took off, so the supply of new parts was not there, and the old factory parts were getting used up and worn out.

By the 1980s the FE engine was considered obsolete by all but a few die-hard enthusiasts and racers. No mainstream magazine coverage, no new aftermarket parts, and no real development existed outside of the private effort of a few NHRA Super Stock racers. The engine design that had won Daytona, LeMans, and the Winternationals was considered to be in the same league as the Buick Nailhead, the Chevy 409, the Olds Rocket, and the Y-block.

The FE Reawakens

But there was a difference: the cars. The Cobra was still worshipped, the Thunderbolt was still an icon, and the legacy from those early NASCAR and drag-racing wins still hung on. Stock and Super Stock racers running FE power continued to win with no factory support. As people started to repair, reproduce, and emulate those cars, the demand for FE parts began to build.

Specialty suppliers, such as Dove, carried the FE torch through the slow years, catering to the dedicated racers and restorers. Demand started to build in the mid 1990s when Edelbrock released a replacement FE aluminum cylinder head. Equally important, there were a lot of candidate engines available from the huge truck population, and there were also a lot of candidate cars to choose from.

In 2004, Scat released a caststroker crank for the FE, and Genesis concurrently released the cast-iron reproduction 427 blocks. I built the very first big-inch FE engine that used both parts, topping the 505-ci package with an electronic fuel injection (EFI) system. The engine was profiled in Hot Rod magazine’s July 2004 issue as the “676 Horsepower Dinosaur.”

I entered a similar 505-ci FE in the Jegs Engine Masters Challenge the following year, using the new Blue Thunder cylinder heads. Most of the competitors thought it was pretty cool to see one of those ol’ FE motors in the contest, and at first viewed it as a curiosity. It became apparent that this was not a nostalgia piece when it made 752 hp on the dyno with pump gas. Essentially, it was a modern engine with FE architecture. I finished eighth overall out of 50 entrants, and got another magazine article as a result.

Fue Results Timeline

The 2006 Engine Masters Challenge entry was a 427 with a belt drive, flat-tappet cam, and a single Quick Fuel 1050 carb. It made well over 650 hp on 91-octane unleaded. This package consisted of a highly modified 391 truck crank from Performance Crankshaft, a set of Scat 6.49 H-beam rods, and custom 10.5:1- compression Diamond dish pistons. Heads were custom CNC-ported Blue Thunder castings with an extensively modified Dove intake.

A Novi 2000 blower on a stroked 428 FE delivers more than 650 hp with roughly 10 pounds of boost. The system runs reliably on 93 octane without risk of detonation. The engine started out with the addition of cross-bolted mains to a factory 428 block, along with custom 9:1 pistons and a 4.250-inch-stroke crankshaft. It is topped off with some mildly ported Edelbrock heads and an owner-fabricated blower system. The fuel-injection conversion uses a modified intake with bungs for the injectors, which are welded into place. In addition, a F.A.S.T. management system handles the electronic aspects of fuel induction.

The legendary 427 single overhead cam Ford, called the SOHC or “Cammer,” was never installed in a production car. The 427 SOHC engine powered many Ford drag racers to victory throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This is the most exotic FE engine that Ford built in any sort of numbers. It features a forged-steel crank, forged-steel connecting rods with capscrew fasteners, hemispherical domed pistons, and many other trick parts. The heads flowed an incredible amount of air, featured huge intake runners, and had D-shaped exhaust ports.

The FE designation stands for Ford Edsel. This series of engine was first released in 1958 and continued in large-volume production until 1976. This 1967 427 medium-riser engine has dualquad carbs. It features original exhaust manifolds and trim. Ford offered two iterations of the 427 block–side oiler and top oiler. In 1965, Ford released the side-oiler block, which routed oil to the main bearings and then to the cam and valvetrain. The top-oiler version sent oil to the cam and valvetrain first and then down to the main bearings.

This fuel-injected 445-ci stroker makes more than 500 hp and is equipped with polished heads and intake for showcar use. Starting off with a basic 390 block, we added a Survival 4.250-stroke kit consisting of a Scat crank and rods, Probe 10.8:1-compression flat-top pistons, and 6.700-inch-long I-beam Scat rods. Heads were lightly modified Edelbrock pieces, and the cam is a fairly aggressive .668-inch-lift solid roller for that “sound.” The EFI system starts out with an Edelbrock Victor intake. Comp Cams F.A.S.T. division supplies the fuel-handling components, which include injectors, throttle body, wiring, and sensors. This combination delivers a race-car sound, serious power, and still maintains good manners due to the EFI system’s ability to control start quality, idle speed, and part-throttle behavior.

Jay Brown from Minnesota entered his FE-powered 1969 Mach 1 into Hot Rod’s Drag Week competition in 2005. This is a grueling event covering more than 1,000 miles and five drag strips over a five-day period. The best overall-average ET wins, and the Mach took home the class win. He just repeated the feat in an SOHC-powered 1964 Galaxie.

Subsequent FE race wins, engine builds, and project cars have received an increasing amount of media coverage from writers looking for “something different.” With a full array of parts now available, it is possible to build a complete 427 FE from scratch using no original pieces. You can build a 445-ci 390-based FE stroker that’ll get you 500 honest horsepower without breaking the budget. In a few short years, the FE engine has gone from near extinction to mainstream again. This is without question the best time in the 40-year history of the FE to be building one for the street.

Written by Barry Robotnik and Republished with Permission of CarTech Inc

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