I have a 400 in my 78 F-150 now...came with truck. Looking for a little more power and dependability. Most lean towards the 460. I would dare to be different. Give me your best shot. What kind of power are you fe guys getting out of your 360 390 motors? How available are the parts and upgrades for it? i.e. heads, cams, intakes. What kind of tranny does it bolt up to? I have a np435 in truck. Any help, pros, cons would be great thanks.

 

both are awesome engines. it's 2011, you can get parts for either.

I'm an FE guy, but.... two things sway me towards the 460.
1. No Fe's available in your 78, a 460 was offered I believe. This would make mounting it easier and would keep it more "original"
2. 460's by nature have a huge cube advantage.

good luck!

 

If it's just a LITTLE more power, I'd fiddle with the 400. Your money will go into the engine, not mounts, cooling, exhaust, PS and other accessory drives & misc. stuff that will drive you nuts and ruin reliability, at least in the short term.

I'd tell you to keep the 390 if that's what you had to begin with also.

A 400 with 9.3 compression, an rv cam and 600 cfm 4bbl, with the stock manifolds & dual or large single exhaust would probably come close to 300 horse, by my wag.

Headers if you like, they are always good for a horse or two.

Read on:

M-Block 351M/400 Performance

M-Block 351M/400 Parts Reference

TMeyer, Inc. Precision Automotive Machining

 

Lot's of guys have talked about the swap from 400 to 460 over in the 73-79 forum. From what I take from the guys that have done it if you want around 4-425hp or less then it's cheaper to keep the 400. Past that the 460 takes over the $/hp race and is the better choice. There's a guy (smokeyb + some number at the end) that did a mild build of his 400 like 85e150 said and it dyno'd at like 340hp 470tq. Pretty respectable numbers.

As much as I love the FE if you are going to do an engine swap I'd go with a 460. It's up to you, both can be made to make any streetable power level you could be after, one is just cheaper than the other.

 

I am not an engine builder, the 400 was an early attempt to comply with the new emission standards that the country was trying to figure out back then.

The 400 can be build to make decent power, give it a look. The 460 can offer more because it is more.

What are you wanting to do??



John

 

My cousin and I have played with the 400 that it came with. Took it out of truck had it machined and cleaned and put rv cam valve springs in it new pistons with headers edlebrock 650 and new intake. Nothing wrong with it as it sits now. I was wanting to buy an engine for show and GO that I can build slowly over the next 2 years in my garage by then I should have the outside and interior done on truck. I might just keep 400 in it.

 

If you are there with the 400, the next step is a 460. You can make a 390 plenty hot, but it's still down 70 cubes on the 460. The conversion hassle is worse with the 390, so imo, hands down the 460.

 

I am not a fan of the 400, but I think if I had already freshened one up in proper app truck I would run it. If it was yet to be pulled it would be a different story.

Obama care must have worked much better at your house.




John

 

I have never had a 400, but i have never heard anything about them that made me want to go out and get one. I have had a 429, and currently have a 460, a 390, and a 445 on the way from barry. The 2 reasons i decided to build the 445 was first i didnt have room to deal with modifying everything to take a 460 (i.e. exhaust, mounts, cooling, tranny) and secondly, I wanted to go with the older engine since i havent seen many highly modified fe's in my neck of the woods. That being said, if i had a project with no engine to begin, or had plenty of room and time to work on it, i would go with the 460, no question about it. There is no replacment for displacement! For example, car craft did a budget 460 build awhile ago, as well as two 390 builds, one for street, one for strip. The 460 build they stroked it to 557 and made 618hp for right around $6000. The 390 street build they stroked to 445 and made 508hp for right about $6000. Same price, extra 110hp, sounds like a no brainer to me.

Here are the links to those articles on the car craft website:
Ford 390 FE - Air Fuel Ratio - Car Craft Magazine
Edelbrock Torker Intake Manifold - Car Craft Magazine

 

I have a 428 in my 79 bronco ,on propane Rv cam,msd ignition ,single plane manifold ,and has the power to gut two Posi's it has all kind's of power (for me anyhow)and it looks like it came from the factory ..just wanted to say it isn't horse power in a truck but torque that get's you moving ..if your gonna build..the bigger is better ..460 has lots going for it ..and more goodies too ..just my opinion ...

 

There is no replacement for displacement. That says it all.

 

Got it. Thanks for all the posts.

 

Adding more fuel to the fire.
The saying has always been no replacement for displacement.
I say that is a pile of bull.
I have put a 390 in my 79 f250. was a bit more involved than a 460 swap but gained more benifits.
my 390 is a truck 4v (9.5 comp if im lucky) has stock cam, stock heads,
a holley street dominator intake, a stock 600 cfm holley, flowtech headers, and a msd 7al-2 (little overkill).
I run a power robbing c-6, the motor burns oil, never been rebuilt, the truck has welded diffs, 5.13 gears, and 37 boggers. and full body.

I race in a mud curcuit.
There is a 78 f150 with a 460, c-6, 5.38 gears, 38.5 boggers, I am not sure the parts in his truck but last year he had police inteceptor heads on so he bends the rules of the curcuit to win.
His motor is rebuilt every year, he has for sure 3 performance bolt-ons,
he has took off the box and put on a light wood flatdeck, his truck is always running at its best when i race him.
I am very proud to say that my truck is right there with his. most of our races were within hundreths of seconds. we both won about the same amount of times.
He won the curcuit cause he went to another race than I.
I was teched every second race. he never got teched once.

The 390 has more torque than the 460 in my opinion and also has a higher rpm range. and if you run the np435 you will notice the 390 more. and if one day its not enough for you stuff in a 428 crank for a 410, or go with a 445 stroker kit and still beat up bigger 460's.
Its all down to what you put into it.

 

Your bull statement is crap because when that saying came into being the, the 390 was on of the "no replacement for displacement" engines. Unless you are going to go with EFI, there is "no replacement for displacement" still.

 

" I am not sure the parts in his truck".........

How can you draw any conclusion when you say this? Your 390 may make more power than his 460, but we really don't know that, and can't prove it one way or the other from your post.

Built in the same manner, with the same attention to detail and component matching, the 460 will always outpower the 390.