Homegrown Horsepower: Garage Built 406FE Ford And A Son’s Love

Buying a car to restore with your son is the ultimate expression of hot-rodding; Jacob Mandell and his father did just that about twelve years ago. The duo purchased a G-Code 1962 Ford Galaxie 500XL, and when the car arrived back at the family garage Jacob dove right into to get started on the project. 

“I immediately pulled the engine and began to tear it down for a rebuild. I then dropped it off to be hot tanked and magnafluxed. Right about the time I heard the good news that the block was in tip top shape, I received some bad news as well. My father had had a stroke and was in the hospital, unable to move. He could only blink,” says Jacob.

A tough break, for sure, and one that would stop most projects right in their tracks. The project was the last thing on Jacob’s mind, as it was more important that his dad be able to walk and talk and be himself again. “Long story short, by a miracle, he came back from his stroke with only minor weakness on his left side. During his long recovery, money was tight and my parents sold the Galaxie and all the parts with it to keep me in college.  Amazing people!,” he explains.

The one item that wasn’t sold off with the car was the 406FE engine block, and in fact the block sat, unused, at that machine shop until Jacob could pick it up and pay for it to bring it home. 

“Fast forward ten or eleven years.  I’m looking in the garage at a complete short block, still bagged and lubed up, sitting on the stand, next to a 1960 Ford Country Sedan. My dad grew up with one and, a few years ago, fell in love with the idea of putting the 406 in one. So I found a couple wagons and bought them, in hopes of one day building the car he wanted. I decided at that moment to sell my daily driver (2005 STi) and start riding my bike to work. It was time to finish the engine and get the wagon running,” he says.

The 406FE was built in Mandell’s one-car garage and is currently housed in the Country Sedan that’s supposed to hit the road later this summer if all goes well. The block has been bored .030-inch oversize for a cleanup. It’s stuffed with a reconditioned stock C2AE-D crankshaft along with reconditioned stock connecting rods that use ARP‘s Wavelock rod bolts to secure the big end of each rod around the crankshaft. Wiseco flat-top pistons and rings are used along with Clevite rod and main bearings.

Mandell had the rotating assembly balanced prior to installation, and blueprinted all of the specifications during the build to assure the engine a long happy life. The engine was retrofitted for a bronze camshaft thrust plate and an alternator mount to bring it into the 21st century.

As with any engine, the induction system is critical to performance, and to that end, Mandell selected a set of Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum cylinder heads with 72cc chambers, giving the engine a final compression ratio of 11.0:1. COMP Cams‘ 294S solid flat-tappet camshaft measuring .605-inch lift I/E and 248 degrees of duration @ .050-inch lift gives it that old-school mechanical sound at idle, and the heads have been upgraded with COMP’s 930-16 valve springs to keep the valve motion under control. 

The top side includes an Edelbrock Victor intake manifold fed by a C&J Engineering custom Holley 4150 carburetor flowing 830 CFM. A combination of Fel Pro gaskets throughout along with Cometic head gaskets keeps everything sealed up nice and tight.

Valvetrain consists of Harland Sharp heavy duty rocker stands and Precision Oil Pumps‘ billet rocker stands, heavy duty oil pump shaft, billet spacers, and rocker stand studs along with Sealed Power roller-tip rocker arms. Precision also supplied the oil restrictors to the rocker shafts to better keep the oil under control at the top of the engine.

A Melling HP oil pump combines with a Milodon oil pan and windage tray combine to control the oil flow, while Edelbrock’s water pump and HP fuel pump give the engine the necessary fluids. MSD‘s 6AL ignition box combines with a Blaster 2 coil and Pro Billet distributor to light the fire inside the high-compression engine.

Ceramic coated Sanderson 1 3/4-inch long tube headers run into a 3-inch collector, back though 3-inch exhaust to a set of Flowmaster‘s Super 44 mufflers to complete the package.

First Start Of the engine – Mr. Mandell Behind The Wheel

“You can see him shaking his head in disbelief when it lights up for the first time in 12 years. The look on his face afterward was worth the months of riding my bike everywhere,” says Mandell. We’d have to agree, Jacob. Congratulations on getting your awesome project up and running, and thanks for sharing it with us. If you’re interested in keeping up with Jacob’s project and use Instagram, feel free to give him a follow! A quick glance through his photo stream shows not only this engine project, but many other hot-rod photos he’s taken at local shows. 

Since its inception just a few short weeks ago, Homegrown Horsepower has been one of EngineLabs‘ most popular features, and we’re always interested in new submissions. We’ve noticed that nearly every submission so far includes some sort of family connection, whether it’s a father and son or family friend, the concept of introducing the unaware into hot-rodding is a common theme. Check out this post for more information how you can get your engine featured right here on EngineLabs!

About the author

Jason Reiss

Jason draws on over 15 years of experience in the automotive publishing industry, and collaborates with many of the industry's movers and shakers to create compelling technical articles and high-quality race coverage.
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