So, I am still looking for a 390 it seems... The fellow that sold me the "390" actually sold me a 360. Yes, I went and measured the stroke but I obviously messed up the measurement. It was dark that night I went to look at it. In retrospect I can see now that I got taken. He knew exactly what he was selling and my inexperience led to a costly mistake. Frustrating thing, besides being out the money, is that I feel he knew better and screwed me anyways. And he DID know better. He is a Ford service manager and depite his saying he didn't know those engines" he has too much experience building vehicles to have not known.

So, I am deciding if or not to even proceed at the moment. Wife is not pleased at my screw up (as if I am...) and I can't afford any other mistakes. I guess I could try to resell it but not sure how that would go...

Also, I noticed last night that one freeze plug on either side looks odd. I am wondering if it had freeze plug block heaters in it or if these are screwed into the block. IS there such a thing as a screw in freeze plug? Assume if so I cannot replace it with a regular one if I were to try to utilize the block....

JIM

 

remember... i still have the 360 rotating assembly ALL ready to go! with the cam you plan to use it will wake it right up.

 

I thank you Bill.

My neighbor says I should call his boss. He presented himself as the svc mgr at that dealership. I certainly don't believe I would ever go there knowing (albeit in retrospect now...) that the svc mgr is underhanded and he thinks the big boss ought to know that. Might be leverage for getting my $$ back.

Stomach still hurts over this one. Either way at least it wasn't a load of $$, but its the price of powdercoating sheet metal vs spray painting for sure...

JIM

 

i know exactly what you mean.... could be an honest mistake on his part, unless he said he measured it himself!

 

He did. And he said the VC's that said "360" were swapped onto it.
And i was rushed through the stroke check. It came up btwn 3.5 and 3.75 and I said so. His response was "its a 390" as he screwed the plug back in. When I picked it up yesterday and pointed out the "360" on the VCs he said he had checked it himself. So, the whole thing is frustrating. I wasn't comfortable enough checking the stroke to be insistent ( next time tho!!)

If i could find the crank and rods on the cheap i would forget about it. Will probably be proactive about looking this week.

 

Well we can always break his legs. I will keep an eye out for a crank, The 360 block is easily built in to a 390 or even a long stroke 410.

Screw in plugs were used on some FE 406 engines and all 427s.

Did you check the stroke with a head off? only way to be sure as the measuring device can slip and it is only 1/4".

Garbz

 

I have not had the head off Dave. I did keep the dowel in tight contact and at the same angle throughout the stroke once I was home, and I ran the crank around a couple of times to see that the dowel was going straight in and straight out before making marks on it.

I am not going to make any noise with him about this. Will take my lumps if it is in fact not what was advertised. Agreed that the quarter inch is easily mismeasured with the head on and don't want to make a mistake, but I suspect I was had....

will know this weekend once I can get a head off. Or I suppose I could pull the oil pan and check crank casting numbers against the list at Fordification. Seems less work that way. Have a few days to think about it. I'm too busy to do anything until then.

JIM

 

Hey Jim, did you see this CL post?

Ford 390 with c6 2wd trans

 

I did not Bill. Thanks. Will call him now.

Edit: fellows phone # was out of service and he didnt repond to tell me how to contact him after letting me know the motor trans combo would be scrapped "in 4 hours"....

Oh well,,,

 

Picked up a crank today with a 3U stamp on it. It's already been turned -0.010 on rods and main journals. Has light surface rust on it an I am hoping it cleans up easily and is useable. Nice thing about the seller is he seems a cool fellow and offered to refund my $$ if the crank proves to be unuseable. The surface rust is VERY light but who knows what a machine shop will say about it...

Still looking for rods!!!

 

Got some rods. Block, crank and rods are all at machinist's!

Finally getting started.....