Since the Ford 427 was built for performance it took longer to manufacture due to the fact that it had to have closer tolerances. This of course increased the amount of machining and general production time which cost Ford more money. In 1966 the Ford 428 was introduced which was more or less a 427 for the general masses. The standard 428 had decreased tolerances which made it much easier to produce but the performance stats where not much to brag about considering the size of the engine.

There were a few variations of the 428 that Ford offered during the engine’s production years. The Police Interceptor 428 was produced in 1966 and had a slightly better carburetor setup than the standard 428 as well as some general changes in the compression and the intake and exhaust settings of the lifters. Some people might get excited today to find a Ford 428 Interceptor but in actual fact it only produced 10 to 15 horsepower more than the base model so it’s really nothing to brag to your friends about.

Another more popular 428 engine was called the 428 Cobra Jet which was introduced in April of 1968. This engine was designed to attract the performance oriented crowd. Ford however did not put as much into the 428 Cobra Jet as it did the 427 and the 406 models. The 428 Cobra Jet was designed for mass production and simply did not have the capabilities to be used in racing due to the decreased internal oiling ability and general bottom end manufacturing specifications. There is still some debate on actually how much horsepower the 428 Cobra Jet produced. Ford reported it somewhere in the range of 335 to 360 horsepower but many car enthusiasts say that it produced between 400 and 410 horsepower.