Im curious as to what the general consensus here is regarding the FE 390 vs IH 392 and Dodge 383? obviously this forum likely is a bit biased,but i know all three of these engines are generally well regarded. ive owned both 390 and 383 powered trucks,along with a number of the 392's baby brother 345's. Bob

 

Chrysler has always put out good engines, 318,340, 383, 440, 392-426 hemi.
But being a Ford FE guy, I would take the 390.
IH 392 comes in third.

JMO

 

As installed in trucks, I'm sure they are pretty similar, with maybe the IH being more HD & certainly a better boat anchor when worn out.

Stock, in cars--of course the IH wasn't a player, but the 383 Chrysler (and just about everything else) would spank a stock 390. (Hence the 427 Fairlane...)

 

I had a '72 IH 1210 pickup with 345/4 spd. I think the IH is a good solid truck engine, as it was built. You could get them with 4bbls, but other then that not much was offered in hop up parts.

The 383 was a good engine also. Lots of them around still, and made good power with the right parts. Never driven one "stock", so can't say much.

I'm a Ford guy,so ya I'm baised with the 390, but never had a stock one of those either! I've read the story behind the Bullitt mustang and how the old 383 Charger would run away from it. Probably true. It's the old story....whatever you brought, you better hope it's enough.

It would be interesting to have a true "stock" pull off. I think, like even todays truck motors, each had their good points and bad points.

 

The IH 392 is pure truck. In fact I believe they had high nickel content in the blocks to increase durability. I don't think they're high performance engines, the complete focus on IH was truck, truck and then truck. The 392 was used in everything from the pickup/Travelall to the medium duty trucks.

I don't think there were ever any hi-po parts for the IH 392, or it's little brothers the 345, 266, 304...all the same block family BTW.

The 390 and 383 were fine and also used in trucks, but mostly were car engines. The 390 and the 383 had some performance options and a couple of variations were in hi po cars (Fairlane/Mustang GT....Super Bee/Road Runners) and moved out ok.

So durability, real heavy duty use, the IH V8 gets the nod. Light duty trucking to doing some hot rod duty...a tie between the 390 and the 383.

Ford did more hi-po work on the early 390, then later. If I recall, in '61 when the 390 was the biggest engine in the Ford stable, the hi-po job was rated at 401 hp, with I think 3 X 2 bbls and in the early '60's I think you could get a 390 in the T-Bird with 340 hp. After that it was pretty well 4 bbl only with 300 hp std. to 315 -320 hp in GT's.

The 383 put out 335 hp with I think 440 heads as the standard engine in the Super Bee/ Road Runner. They seemed to move out fairly well.

All good engines, all have uses, some more suited for particular uses than others.

 

That was always the comment I made about my ol Binder..."It's pure truck" No frills. Meant to do one thing, HAUL stuff, not like todays girlie trucks.

Friends dad growing up had alot of Travelalls and Pickups. Like to find a nice old one again.

 

I have had the good ole trucks, 69 F250 390, 73 F250 with a 400 hp 428, 93 F350 IDI turbo diesel, and now a 2006 F350 PSD... and let me tell you,,, these girlie PSD trucks can pull our old gas trucks up, down, and sideways.

 

Ya, I've had a '99 V10 and '00 PSD F350's CC DRW trucks. Ya, they are more powerful, but for $40K they SHOULD be. They weight twice as much, have twice as much junk on them, so they should have TWICE the power. I loved my big trucks, don't get me wrong, but when it comes to working on them down the road I didn't want to so they are gone.

 

For years FE powered Ford trucks have been the standard that other manufacturers have had to compete with. They are powerful, durable, and easy to work on. Technology has changed, and the new breed of powerful trucks are trucks using diesels. Pulling today's large 5th wheels and trailers, where not only power but good brakes are a concern, the newer trucks shine. My FE powered trucks would get a best of 12 mpg empty. I pull a 30 ft. 5th wheel with our 6.0 and got 13.3 average traveling 5,000 miles from California to Missouri and back. I have got a best of 21 mpg empty. It averages 18.5 at 70 mph empty. FE powered trucks were great back in the day, but now there is a new day.

 

Hey hey hey, thats not nice.

 

I saw a lot of Colorado through the back windows of a Travelall. LOL

When they stopped making them, dad bought a Ford truck, and replaced that with another Ford truck. He's still wearing out the second one.

 

Maybe I'm pointing out the obvious. Maybe just stirring the pot. But comparing 60's-70's technology with 21st century technology is not only comparing apples to oranges, but more like comparing apples and super charged oranges. So when talking about the 390s, I grade on a curve cuz those so-called girlie trucks are WAY beyond in terms of HP per CID.

 

A more accurate comparison of the IH 392 would be to the FT391. Both are HD engines designed for torque not horsepower. Dodges entry into the HD engine's would be the HD413 a torque beast but a slow rev'er. All of these made very good torque motors , all done by 4000RPM's or less. None of these are very economical ---My opinion there all good pulling engines 'good for medium--heavy truck use. Number one would be the FT391 , then the IH 392, coming up last the 413 Dodge. The FE390 and 383/440 are a really in a different class than the IH392. THE FE's and RB's are more of a performance--LT duty pickup type engine.

Have A Good Day------Hotwrench

 

Of course,comparing any of those 60's and 70's engines with todays modern diesels is well......No real comparison! as far as 390/383/392 goes,it seems as if your opinion HOTWRENCH makes the most sense!

 

ii have to chime in here i have a 392 in a scout my buddy has a 7.3 powerstroke in his ford truck if i load my scout up with bikes and a trailer with bikes and the powerstroke loaded lighter less bikes no trailer i would walk away from that ford like it was standing still on the hills and in the mountains but i had a hard time keeping up on the flats i had to stop for gas 3 times on that trip he filled up once the powerstroke is a great motor also built by international but cant hold a candle to the raw power of the 392 but they arent very fast and red line at around 3600 rpms and burn unreal amounts of gas it not very practical today and would suck in a car but they kick *** in a play truck