So here is the story. I got a 76 f150 on a trade. The truck has a 360 in it but on our first outing to test the 4wd, we got on too steep of an incline and cavitated the oil pump. luckily I shut it down before causing any problems. Unfortunately while unbolting the exhaust to remove the oil pan I broke a stud on the manifold and upon trying to figure out how to fix that I discovered someone in the past had also snapped a few bolts on both the exhaust manifolds. So now I have decided to just rebuild the engine while I have it out.

My plans right now are to stroke it to a 390, go .030 over on the cylinders, put a comp 4x4 cam in it, and an edelbrock aluminum intake and a 700 holley carb.

Now here is my dilema. I have been trying to do some resarch on what head I should use but have found a lot of mixed info on FE heads. Are the factory iron heads worth using on my build, or should I go the extra mile and opt for a set of aluminum edlbrocks? Is there any other more affordable alternatives? I was told by one person to go with the 390 gt heads but when I did more research on them it appears the only big differense between them and regular 390 heads is the valve springs, and they apparently are hard to find good headers for. I am on a military pay budget and currently feeding a family of six so the more pennies I can pinch the better. But I also want to do this build right the first time around. All FE guru's please chime in. I have experience with chevy engines, but am a complete newbie in the FE world, so any other advise you can give on this build would be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

I vote the Edelbrock heads. By the time you get an old set of iron heads built right, you are getting a long way toward the new ones.

 

Well, that makes sense enough to me. I wasn't sure if a mild build like mine would warrant the use of the edelbrocks, but it's better to do it right the first time.

Any other words of advise for this build? I'll be doing everything minus the machine work. I have a local machinist that specializes in these old fords.

 

Can he balance it? That's always money well spent in my opinion.

 

# 1 go buy "how to rebuild your big block ford " by Steve Christ this is a must have for an FE build
if you are on a budget stock heads with minor port work are plenty for a mild build . you can get the heads redone for about $300. 00 pair at least that's what i got quoted .
+1 on balancing
oh and welcome to FTE

 

Thank you both for the input. I'll definitely ask the machine shop about balancing and porting. I have ported out many go kart heads with great results but that is obviously different since I would be grinding on iron instead of aluminum and have 8 times the valves, so is this something you would say I should try or should I leave it to a pro? Would a simple pocket port be sufficient?

I ordered that book off of amazon today. Thanks for that, I am huge on reading and research so the more literature I can get my grubby hands on the better. I do not like to dive blindly into projects.

 

i did mine my self with a stone cone on air die grinder , i just smoothed out the nasty casting marks and matched the intake port to manifold . ports and valves are pretty big from the factory on the FE
most FE heads have stock valve sizes 2.02 /1.55

 

If you're not looking to go absolutely nuts, and want to keep costs down, here's a quick list:

1) Use the stock heads if the broken off bolts can be gotten out easily. Should be easy for the machine shop, just make sure the holes are good. It's a '76, so you should have the D2TE-AA heads.

2) Put hardened exhaust valve seats in the heads, either replace the guides with new or make darn sure they are perfect. Otherwise, a good valve job will disappear in a few months. You can go bronze/silicon guides, but that means you need full-lock valve stem seals and more machining.

3) Use the stock intake and exhaust valves, again making sure they are all 100% perfect, and the stems of the valves aren't worn - if they are, replace with new.

4) Valve springs - use whatever Comp recommends for that cam.

5) Clean up the intake and exhaust ports, but don't go too far polishing the intake ports. Too clean and the fuel will actually drop out of the mix, better to have some turbulence.

6) A set of 360 pistons on a 390 crank/rods will raise the compression up "just enough" or thereabouts to be decent for that cam.

7) A decent set of headers.

One point I'd like to make is that if you go "all out" on the stock heads and get them ported, new valves, bronze guides, porting, etc, you will be at around the same price for the Edelbrock aluminum heads. At that point, it's almost a no-brainer.

Other than that, you have the makings of a great engine and truck.

 

Ok, so looks like the thing to do is completely disassemble the heads, inspect them and determin if anything needs to be replaced. Have some machine shops give me some quotes and if I come anywhere near the cost of the edelbrocks I should just forget about the factory heads.

My other worry is that you risk corrosion anytime you put two disimilar metals like iron and aluminum together and since this is going to be an offroad rig, it's going to be getting splashed with a lot of mud and muck. Is this something to worry about?

 

Not with modern head gaskets and such... it won't be purdy no more, but I don't think it would be a mechanical issue

 

Purdy doesn't mean a lot on an offroad vehicle. Thanks for all the advise. Anything else I need to be aware of on this build?

 

The D2TE FE heads came from the factory with hardened ports for the exhaust valves. If the machinist goes deep into the head to clean them up, that factory hardening will probably be lost.

 

If you have the money, see if you can get a roller cam setup. It's spendy, (around $700) but it's nice stuff. It'll idle real smooth and the throttle response is instant! But a good flat tappet cam works too and is a lot cheaper. Just make sure you break it in right and use a good oil.

Sam

 

I am trying to keep costs down so I probably won't run a roller cam. But that does lead me to another question...

Should I go with a comp cam 4x4 cam or an edelbrock performer cam to match the heads and intake?

 

Thanks to everyone for all the input so far.