Ok so I am a complete newb when it comes to trying to figure this stuff out. First I have never worked on Fords, and second I have never tried to restore/customize an entire vehicle.

My godmother gave me a '48 Ford Truck for x-mas it needs alot of work, and I am starting with trying to get the motor running. It has sat for like 3 years with no love at all. Needless to say it is not the OG motor, I have found all these different numbers on the block and heads, and amnifold but I am getting a ton of conflicting info, so I was wondering if you all might be able to help me out.

I understand that to be 100% sure I have to break it down and measure things, but with out doing that here is what I got.

On the block I found this number C8AB-9430-A I also found C7ME-A
On the manifold I found C8AE-9425-A
and on the block just behind the coil I found 45 352

At first I was thinking it was a '68 352 out of a Galaxy or Thunderbird, but when looking into it further neither one of those came with a 352.

Then I found some info saying it could be a 390 or a 428. I am hopelessly confused now.

I think before I start shelling out some cash to get it running I should know what to it is so I don't get the wrong parts, but then again I could be wrong and just have to the block size in order to get the simple stuff. I pulled the carb off today which is a 1407 Edelbrock beast, and looking in the manifold it is all rusted in there so not sure which way to go with that.

Well I would like to thank you all in advance for any help you can offer this total newb. I am learning as I go so please bear with me :-)

 

You need to measure the stroke. Just pull the #1 and #4 spark plugs. Get a dowel and insert into #1 cylinder and bring up to TDC by manually turning the crank nut. Once it's at TDC make a mark on the dowel. Now put the dowel in #4 (which will be at the bottom of its stroke) and make a mark in the same fashion. Measure the difference between the two marks to get your stroke.
3.5"=352/360
about 3 3/4"(3.784)=390
about 4"(3.984)=410/428

If you end up with a 3.5" or 4" stroke then you'll have to pull a head and measure the bore with a caliper to find which cid you have.
4.00"=352
4.05"=360/390/410
4.13"=428

You'll be pulling the intake anyways so it's no big extra work to take a head off and measure. Unfortunately the block casting codes on these are pretty useless other than giving a date and a few tells of certain engines.

 

Right on thank you very much for the info.

 

Sure thing.

 

Well, the block is either a 1968 Ford or a 1967 Mercury piece depending on which number you believe.

The intake is a 1968 piece.

The 352 just means it is an FE block and nothing more.

It is either a 390 or a 410 or a 428. The bore and stroke will determine that.