I recently purchased a 76 F-100 short bed. The previous owner said it had a rebuilt 460 from a thunderbird in it. I can`t find the serial number on the truck or the motor, but the heads on the motor appear to be 390 heads. How can I easily find out more information about my truck, motor and transmission. Any help is greatly appreciated, this is my first carb motor and the oldest vehicle I've ever bought. Looking forward to doing some restoration to it, it's in daily driver condition already, but has some work to be done!

Thanks,
Joshua

 

"The previous owner said..." = OMG!!! YOU NEED TO VERIFY BY DOING RESEARCH!!! Google pics and info and compare.

The 429/460 is a totally different engine than the FE engine family (330/352/360/390/410/427/428).

Google pics/articles on both engines and determine which one you have. On an FE, the intake manifold makes up part of the head area- look at your valve covers... does the valve cover span both the head and the intake manifold???

.. take over fellow FTE'ers..... I came in to take a break from fabbing an exhaust and there's alot of learning to be done here...

... back to work. <poof!>

 

Yes, the intake manifold comes up the inside portion of the heads and the valve covers go over part of the manifold.

 

The top portion of the motor is definitely a 390. I guess I'm trying to make sure his mechanic didn't put the top end of a 390 on a 460 block. If he did, what does that mean? Motor runs great...

 

It means he lied. 390 heads etc will not fit on a 460. EVER...

 

Arrightee.. I'm in for lunch.

Btw, it might not even be a 390 since the FE engine family are nearly externally identical.

With very few exceptions (high performance Mustangs), ya won't find a VIN or serial number on Ford engines - that's a GM thing. So be VERY skeptical when anyone says "numbers matching" with respect to a Ford.

Here, read up on your FE... and perhaps verify that it is indeed a 390:

352/360/390/427/428 FE Series
FE Clutch Fan Conversion
FE Exhaust Manifolds and Why You Probably Want Headers
How to ID a 360FE vs 390FE
Rebuilding the Ford FE Engine
CarCraft Magazine: Build a Low-Buck Street/Strip FE
Ford FE.com: 332-428 FE Engine Forum
Sanderson Shorty Headers FF427 Reference Pics
Doug Thorley FE Headers
Barry Rabotnik's Survival Motorsports- FE Engines & High Performance Parts
Ford FE Smog-Legal Horsepower,Part I
Ford FE Smog-Legal Horsepoewr, Part II

Hopefully your driver's door hasn't been replaced. .. review your data plate to understand how it as originally equipped: http://www.fordification.net/tech/vin.htm

 

Thank you very much for the help.