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Hey guys im startin to make my shopping list for my truck for when i get back from my deployment next summer. Its a 76 f100 with the 360. Now from what i thought the 360 and 390 were the same besides the crank and rods so would these 390 heads work?
Yes, they'll fit but the performance return will be disappointing.
The compression ratio and camshaft in a 360 is dismal.
I think your money would be better spent getting a 390 crank and rods and turn the 360 into a 390 get the 390 pistons also this will raise the compression ratio to something thats decent.
Then, with a decent cam, intake and exhaust system if you have the money go for the aluminum heads.
I did basically the same thing for my '73 F100. It's now a 390 (395.77 with the +.030" overbore).
I got the machined 390 crank and bearing kit and the eight rebuilt 390 connecting rods on E-bay. The crank was turned -.020" on the mains and -.010" on the rod journals. The connecting rods had resized big ends with new bolts and the small ends had new bushings already honed. Total cost was between 5 & 600 dollars. I bought them a couple of years ago so my memory of the exact cost is a little foggy.
I used Silv-O-Lite #1131 pistons that I got from Summit Racing for $144.00. With these pistons I'm running aprox. a 10.2:1 compression.
Very low compression (less than 8.0:1), and an emission cam that is installed 4 degrees retarded are the 360's biggest problem.
Forgot to mention, neither the crankshaft nor the connecting rods required cores to be returned.
Last edited by mikeo0o0o0; Dec 27, 2011 at 08:10 PM.
Reason: added info
Thanks, glad to help if I can.
I want my project to look stock even though it's a mild build so I'm running stock exhaust manifolds instead of headers. For performance and better MPG headers are definitley the way to go.
Here's how my 390 turned out.
That looks good i want the rest of my truck to look stock but have some power under the hood, have you heard it run yet?
Nope, not yet. At the rate I'm going it'll be another couple of years before I hear it run.
Here's what it looks like at the moment, not too much further along than the previous pictures.