Hi all,
I have a 1968 F100 SWB truck that I am restoring. The truck has the 360 2V engine with only 142K miles. I want to go through this engine and convert it to a 390 at the least but I was wondering if the factory 360 heads will be ok with a little port work? I want to get more power out of this thing just to play around with, no drag racing or anything hard core. My plans are to convert to a 390 and bore to a 406 with a good 4 barrel aluminum intake and carb. I also plan to run headers and dual exhaust along with a good cam (?). I am currently trying to get all the parts and pieces together before I start this so help me out before I buy things I don't need.

Thanks
Scott

 

Factory "D2.." heads are fine and are the same heads as a 390 of similar vintage. They have hardened seats for unleaded gas.

One key to more power is to use the late '60s "390 2V Regular Fuel" spec piston, which will give you about 9.5 : 1 CR. Some 360 motors have those, some have the "...4V Premium Fuel" flat top pistons. Those come out about 10 or 10.5 when used in a 390. If you can live with premium fuel, those would work also.

You can try overboring your 390 to the 406/428 speck bore of 4.13", but you may ruin the block in the process. Stick with the least overbore you can get away with. More on the subject here:

http://www.clubfte.com/users/ratsmoker/FAQ.html

Intake, 4bbl, headers, cam and all the other usual details will get you into some serious power compared to the stock 360, and use about the same amount of gas.

There are about a million 360 rebuild threads on this forum, and several intake manifold discussions, so read on. And, read this if you like: