I think the 360 uses a longer rod, just as the 352. But I digress. The OP needs to read up on the engine and get the basics going.

Less than $10 used:

Amazon.com: How To Rebuild BIG-BLOCK FORD ENGINES (0075478607082): Steve Christ: Books: Reviews, Prices & more

Ford won Le Mans with FE engines, and raced them in NASCAR and drag racing for the better part of the 1960s. All kinds of speed parts are available. Recently, there has been more interest in the FE motor, so some parts are more readily available.

Your 360 will never be a "beast". But with headers, the right timing set and a small 4bbl, it will be better than a stock 351w.

By "...or bigger..." I mean you can take a 360 block out to 445 with a stroker kit. But you're broke, so you can just read about that for now for free at least:

Ford 390 FE - Car Craft Magazine

$6000 to $8500 or so, depending on your whims.....

 

So, every other site about changing a 360 to 390 say you have to put in 390 rods though? And I thought I remember hearing that you change them because the 390 rods are shorter

 

Yes the 390 rods are shorter 390 rods are 6.490 while the 360 rods are 6.542 ford accomplished this gicing the 390 a 3.780 stroke and the 360 a 3.500 stroke.

One thing to keep in mind with a carb is a bigger carb does you no good if the flow is restricted to the point where the extra cfm you get from the bigger carb can't travel with enough volume. Air when flowing acts just like water but different. Let me try to explain.

Air unlike water can be compressed into a smaller space even though it doesn't want to be. Air like water moves in a flowing motion creating turbulance when it hits a solid object i.e your valvetrain, pistons, yadda yadda yadda. The idea behind porting is two-fold it creates a bigger space for the air to flow. and it smooths down restricions creating less flowing turbulance.

The way air enters a carb is through the venturis. The venturis are shaped much like one of those nuclear reactor stacks we have all seen big on the bottum skinny in the middle and big on top. Well when air enters the venturi it has lots of room but is moving slowly as it begins squeezing into a smaller space in order to avoid becoming compressed it speeds up. Then upon reaching the larger bottum portion it slows back down and reduces in pressure. So what you can do with a larger carb is actually pull too much air into the system and severly lean out your fuel creating a danger zone for detonation or bogging the engine down. Most people think that when an engine bogs down it has too much fuel this isn't true what happens is your engine throughyour bigger carb sucked in too much air leaned out the fuel beyond the optimum curve of something like 12.5:1 carb selection plays a big part in your performance. Now you said you decided on either a 500 or a 550 cfm carb this probably will not be enough for a 390
a god foruma to use is this where d=displacement.

(D x 2)=Base
Base - (Base x 0.15)=CFM

This will give you a rough estimate on how much your engine could need an any situation other than all out drag racing and the like. So a 390 would be as follows

390 x 2=780
780-(780 x 0.15)=CFM
780 - 117 = 663 cfm

So for the 390 your minimum that I would recomend for the engine would be a 660cfm 4150 holley carb (I like holley they run better in high altitudes and cold weather)

Now the 360

360 x 2 = 720
720 - (720 x 0.15) = CFM
720 - 108 = 612CFM

So there I would run a 600cfm carb to keep things in the proper runnin range.

Somewhere along the line I was talking about something else and got sidetracked into this.

 

Yes the 390 rods are shorter 390 rods are 6.490 while the 360 rods are 6.542 ford accomplished this gicing the 390 a 3.780 stroke and the 360 a 3.500 stroke.

One thing to keep in mind with a carb is a bigger carb does you no good if the flow is restricted to the point where the extra cfm you get from the bigger carb can't travel with enough volume. Air when flowing acts just like water but different. Let me try to explain.

Air unlike water can be compressed into a smaller space even though it doesn't want to be. Air like water moves in a flowing motion creating turbulance when it hits a solid object i.e your valvetrain, pistons, yadda yadda yadda. The idea behind porting is two-fold it creates a bigger space for the air to flow. and it smooths down restricions creating less flowing turbulance.

The way air enters a carb is through the venturis. The venturis are shaped much like one of those nuclear reactor stacks we have all seen big on the bottum skinny in the middle and big on top. Well when air enters the venturi it has lots of room but is moving slowly as it begins squeezing into a smaller space in order to avoid becoming compressed it speeds up. Then upon reaching the larger bottum portion it slows back down and reduces in pressure. So what you can do with a larger carb is actually pull too much air into the system and severly lean out your fuel creating a danger zone for detonation or bogging the engine down. Most people think that when an engine bogs down it has too much fuel this isn't true what happens is your engine throughyour bigger carb sucked in too much air leaned out the fuel beyond the optimum curve of something like 12.5:1 carb selection plays a big part in your performance. Now you said you decided on either a 500 or a 550 cfm carb this probably will not be enough for a 390
a god foruma to use is this where d=displacement.

(D x 2)=Base
Base - (Base x 0.15)=CFM

This will give you a rough estimate on how much your engine could need an any situation other than all out drag racing and the like. So a 390 would be as follows

390 x 2=780
780-(780 x 0.15)=CFM
780 - 117 = 663 cfm

So for the 390 your minimum that I would recomend for the engine would be a 660cfm 4150 holley carb (I like holley they run better in high altitudes and cold weather)

Now the 360

360 x 2 = 720
720 - (720 x 0.15) = CFM
720 - 108 = 612CFM

So there I would run a 600cfm carb to keep things in the proper runnin range.

Somewhere along the line I was talking about something else and got sidetracked into this.

Ahh I sort of remember where I was my point was that you need to be able to match the flow of your intake to the flow of your carb remember however that intakes are measured in one runner and carbs are total flow. Using some port mtching and a small bowl blend you should be able to get everything that yuo want out of an econmy style head and stull be able to afford them without a second mortage.

 

Thank you for that info man.


I have 2 questions right now, one still hasn't fully been answered, where can i find some 390 rods? i looked at napa like the one post said to try, and i can't find them anywhere except for some very expensive high high performance ones.

Next, I'm still going to go get the 351w (from the beginning post ha) and I will sell it instead for some of these fun 390 parts. Question is, how much does a 351w with auto tranny with everything on it go for? Its set up however to fit in a truck like all of ours so... I know that probably don't matter but yeah, the engine will run so theres no problem with it but i don't know how much these things go for so how much should i list the engine with tranny for?

 

You get the rods with the crank--look for tired 390s at the scrappy or for sale.

As for the 351w, again, look on line, you'll find private and commercial sellers, and for a runner between $500 and maybe $1500.

 

These are a really good price not the cheapest on earth but the are stong by a reputable company uses good hardware and the price is affordable
individual
Eagle Specialty Products 6490F3D-1 - Eagle ESP H-Beam Connecting Rods - Overview - SummitRacing.com

set
Eagle Specialty Products 6490F3D - Eagle ESP H-Beam Connecting Rods - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Personally I would get the set if I was going to get them but I buy parts wel above the horsepower I want for instance I use Oliver rods with kings alecuelar bearing (probably butchered the spelling)