I'm pretty new to Fords in general and FEs in specific. Something I didn't expect when I bought my truck was the utter lack of aftermarket support, especially for the 360. In particular I'm surprised that nobody makes a piston to raise compression. Why is that?

Even the workhorse Mopar 360s and 318s can be made to run, they were also never intended as a "performance" mill...but the aftermarket has stepped up to produce the parts to make them decent performers (altho not "great", good enough for street use).

It seems like the magical 1hp per cid is unobtainable with these engines. Only choice is to stroke it, which I am not opposed to...it's just more money. Buying a set of 9.5:1 pistons during a basically stock rebuild is almost like "free hp", but they're just not available.

Why is that? Is the FE360 like the Chevy 307 and 305, just a "dead man walking" with no hope of redemption? There's gotta be millions of these motors out there owned by dudes who would be perfectly happy with a 300-350 hp mill but don't have the resources for a stroker and wouldn't mind (altho the cool-factor of 400+cid is alluring) factory displacement #s. Never mind the fact that OEM 390 cranks are pretty rare...finding one in the Pick-N-Pull is pretty unlikely. What gives?

 

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...CEtBoCahzw_wcB

There.....
Happy to help.

Drew

 

plenty of pistons for the 360 , just easier to go 390 rotating assembly and get even more HP /TQ

 

part of the problem is the FE's went out of production in 1976, another part of the problem as you stated is most people change stuff out and make them 390's or higher.
in my opinion if ya got the compression of a 360 to roughly 9:1 9.5:1 and threw a slightly higher than stock cam, with an aluminium intake and a 4bbl, headers and 2.5" exhaust i think it'd be sitting pretty.

 

I totally agree, greentruck72.

And thanks for the replies and link. I guess it's pretty easy to get spoiled these days with "one-stop/one-click" shopping...maybe I just didn't look hard enough.

 

Not sure what you mean by lack of aftermarket support. It's a great time to redo or build an FE from restoration to factory like specs to full blown bananas. Custom pistons, intakes, rocker assemblies, custom cams, roller and flat lifters in hydraulic and solid, stroker kits, heads, water pumps, etc.

Plus, there are enough FE nuts around the country to offer lots of helpful advice and at least a handful of guys making some sweet builds. Might go so far as to say it's a better time to build FE's now then back when Ford was making them.

 

The 360 engine was designed as a truck engine and only came in pickups that where built to haul and pull stuff unlike todays pickups. Low rpm torque was the main goal thus the low compression 410 style pistons and cams designed for larger MD trucks.
Upgrading to 69 or earlier 390 pistons, timing chain, and cam really wakes a 360 up.


As for the Mopar 318 and 360, 318 came in cars , pickup and MD trucks with compression ratios to match the app. For the 360 let's not forget the 360 powered 78-79 Dodge Little Red Express pickup that was the fastest quarter mile US made standard production vehicle in those years, 360 4 barrel engines also replaced the 340 in Cuda's and Challenger's in 1974.

 

The 360 was also one of Ford's 1st attempts at emissions control. A lot has changed since the 1st attempts. A lot can still be achieved with the FE.

Make a plan.


John

 

Yeah, it's 2016....
If you want to build a 360, build a 360.
Me? I think my 446ci FE might be too small.

 

At least if the need arises, with the vast array of aftermarket FE parts, it's no problem to build a 500+ CID FE.

 

I just checked my bank account, it *might* be a little problem :P

 

i'm actually curious on how to get/make a 500+ ci FE i thought the biggest was 482ci on a 427 biased stroker.

 

The iron aftermarket 427's will let you go to 4.440 bore and 4.375 stroke for 542 cubes.

 

hey what about the old 361FE edsel motors how'd they run?

 

They must not have done very good only used a couple/ three years. lol



John