My father has a 76 Ford highboy F-250 had since new. It has a 360ci. in it I was wanting to put a 390ci. in it as a gift, it needs a new motor bad and could use some info on were to get a short or long block from. Would a 460ci. be a better choice. Any info. would be great not real knowladgeable on Fords but have always liked the rig. The rest of the rig I can figure out fine just not a good motor person more tranny and suspention. Thanks pbb.

FE motors are great powerplants.

Sadly, they are getting scarce. But can be found in junkyards and places like Ebay and Craigslist. Finding a good runner might be tough.

If you were to swap a 460 in, you would be changing bell housing and or trans depending on auto or manual and the motor mounts.

how about Napa would that be worth looking into for a longblock ??????

manual 4 speed is in it would it bolt up to a 460 or would I need a bellhousing change?

Google is your friend:flipoff2: http://www.landlproducts.com/default.aspx

hold on. are you lookin for a block, runner, rebuilt or what? i have some people that could help.

longblock would be great thanks.

longblock, rebuilt or ?

pull the 360 out take to a qualified shop have it rebuilt to 390 specs ..
any 390 you find in the junkyard or craigslist will just be a 360 .

biggest scam out there, every ford truck ever made came with a 390 when its for sale :homer:

If your going to that length, and your 360 block is good, why not get a 390 crank or all new rotating kit and go that route?

didn't know that you could turn a 360 into a 390 but if I can than what all has to be done besides the bottem end crank and what not. Do bearing journals or anything need to be switched out or is it pretty simple?????

Same bore, same block. Just need 390 crank, rods, and pistons. If you're starting from scratch, I'd use car 2V pistons over truck pistons... that way you'll have a 9:1 compression engine instead of 8:1.

or use some forged pistons, i would stay away from cast pistons summit sells trw (speedpro) forged pistons for like $300 or so (at least that's how much they were when i bought them) if you want some really good info go to www.fordfe.com those guys helped me build my motor in my t-bird.

if you want a stroker kit www.survivalmotorsports.com and talk to barry robotnic if you want one of those if i recall the prison break kit is 445ci out of a 390 block but i could be mistaken

bill coon sells cammer heads if you want to throw them in the mix lol that's if you have like 10k to blow on heads

seriously though edelbrock heads are your best bet, by the time you get your heads mildly ported and rebuilt you will be well into the price range of a new out of the box set of edelbrock heads

if you want some stock 390 pistons and rods i have a set in my garrage i swapped out for h-beams and forged pistons they are from a car, 1966 Thunderbird 315hp 390 shoot me a pm if you are interested

i would stay away from 460s, to me they are becoming the ford equivilent of a smallblock chevy where everyone has one + you can't beat the sound of a high compression cammed out FE at idle

thanks for the help ppb I learned somethin.

The 360 had beefier, forged internals than the car engines. You might consider rebuilding your 360, raising the C.R. to ~9.5:1 and stuffing a 390 cam in it. That will increase the HP/Torque numbers considerably without the cost of a new crank and rod set.

you fuckers are all getting soft.

keep the FE. by the time you change the bellhousing, get a new clutch / flywheel, motor mouts and all the exhaust it will be money that could have been put into a good fe.

a good basic FE for a truck is the 410. it startes out as the 360/390 block you have. then find a 428 crank. ebay has them from time to time, but you can get new ones from summit. i belive they are made by scat. get it balanced. run forged pistons, as the fe has a problem with light detonation damaging the cast pistons at higher compression and hp levels.

if your heads are damaged, then spring for the edelbrocks. they are a great way to wake up the fe. but for a truck the 360 /390 heads are ok ( they suck for hp - but good trq )
if you use the 360/390 heads have some minor port work done as many casting had flaws near the valve guides.

you want to keep the compression around 9 - 9.5. any more will not like pump gas. a good cam makes all the diffrence.

the intake and exhaust are also big power adders. if you have the 2brl now ( i would think so ) than any intake is an inprovement. the edelbrock performer is a waist of $ on even the most basic FEs. the ports are smaller than most factory 2 or 4 brl intakes. the port-o-sonic is good as is the performer rpm for performance intakes.

i can run a few dyno # if you like - if you can get me the casting # off the heads i can fill you in on them too



i kinda have a thing for FEs :D


my last one was over 550 hp and ran low 13s in a f100