Well, unless by some bizarre misprinting, my dad and I for sure have a 360. 2T is stamped on the crank. The decision has been made to stick with what we've got and just build off of it. Seems like a lot of folks on here dont bother with a 360 build. But if I bump up compression with some aftermarket pistons and an aggressive cam, I should be able to see 400 hp, correct? Anyone who has done this, feel free to chime in. I know there is a lot more to it than just that. But just trying to get some ideas

 

400hp I think is going to take a big gulp of nitrous. You are dealing with a motor that probably was around 150hp when it was new maybe a little more I forget. Even to add a 100hp is going to be tough. You would be better off just finding a used 390 crank and rods. The money you would waste on a aggressive cam would buy your 390 crank and rods. A 390 with car Pistons and a stock cam will run better than a 360.

 

No way using that 360 block and simply trying to put higher compression pistons and aggressive cam in it. Don't really understand why since around town torque is king while horsepower is king on the drag strip.

I took my 360 and just turned it into a 390 with about a 9.35:1 compression ratio and a mild almost OEM cam. The cam makes it's most torque, and it is decent, at 2000 rpm. My truck runs 2300 rpm at 60 mph so I am right in the sweet spot. Best HP is at 3800 rpm which would be 89 mph and that is never gonna happen.

 

Im looking for a 10.1 compression if possible and a long duration high lift cam. Intake will obviously not be stock and niether will exhaust.

But just going off of what u guys are saying, I will get closer to what im wanting with a completely different rotating assembly. I can spend the 2grand to get there, I just didn't want to.

Keep the info coming

 

Forget keeping it a 360. 390 or 410 or bigger.

Survival FE Engine Kits

 

Two grand is your max budget? Then forget it. No way. Not when you put in buying a crank, buying rods, buying a high flow 4bbl. manifold, buying a big 4bbl carb, buying headers, buying the cam and valve train components, buying the pistons, buying all the bearings, all the gaskets, oil pump, oil shaft, water pump and then does all the necessary machine work from heads to block to crank to rods to rocker shafts to balancing. I know as I just paid my bill which was reasonable but already over your 2K to 3.3K labor and all parts. I didn't need any decking nor line honing on my block but did need a sleeve.

 

Your budget is definitely doable. The last one I built was a 68 390 out of a LTD. It had scored the cylinders pretty good but .030 did clean it up. The crank did not need turned but lightly polished and .001 under bearing used. I had the machine shop put hardened seats in the heads and they also had to do 8 guides if I remember correct plus a valve job. We only had to resize 1 rod so lucked out there. With the machine work plus parts including buying a cam that was basically a stock 428CJ grind we had $1280 in it. That wasn't buying any new alum 4 barrel intakes or anything fancy. Also I put the thing together. I've seen 390 cranks and rods go for $100 already so that's my thinking of it being possible.

I had a 76 F100 2wd with a 360 that we used for a donor body for a little. I drove it around some and never was impressed. That 390 went into my father in-laws 65 F100 and it feels like it requires like no effort to accelerate. There isn't a hill around here that it needs a gear change on.

 

The real question is, how much of the work do you think you can successfully do yourself? Can you do the mild port cleanup on the heads yourself? If you have the D2TE-AA heads you can get decent street performance out of them without having to drop a lot of money on the Edelbrock heads. I wouldn't worry about big horsepower numbers, I'd be more concerned with getting the most torque possible in the off idle to 4800 rpm range. An "RV" style cam, a decent dual plane intake that has good lower end velocity, 525-625 cfm carb, and a good hot spark with electronic ignition will make the seat of the pants dynamometer happy.

One of the major downfalls of the 360 is it being both a low compression engine, and the pistons being so far down in the cylinders. Reducing the volume of the squish area (the part of the combustion chamber without the valves) makes a big difference on performance, and helps to reduce detonation / pinging problems. Swapping in a 390 rotating assembly solves this, and you pick up another 30 cubic inches of displacement. It's up to you to decide if the price difference between a used 390 crank / rods and one of the aftermarket stroker kits is worth it, or would that extra money be better spent on the other parts you need.

 

Sorry for the confusion. 2 grand is what I was thinking JUST for the crank rods and pistons. Thats a few kits ive been looking at online.

The scat link looks really nice.

 

+1
<table border="0" height="171" width="433" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="17" valign="top" width="427">Prison Break 445 - 360, 390 or 428 FE Stroker Kit</td> <td height="17" width="6">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="7" height="3" width="433">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="119" width="3">
</td> <td colspan="4" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="119" valign="top" width="423"> The best way to get big power from your 360 or 390! Scat 9000 series ductile iron stroker crankshaft Your choice of pistons - dished for 9.8:1 compression with 72cc heads or flat tops - 11.0:1 compression (4.080 bore .030 over is standard - other sizes optional upgrade), Scat 6.700 I beam rods with ARP 8740 bolts, Moly rings, Main and rod bearings, Internally balanced - use your stock flexplate or flywheel</td> <td colspan="2" height="119" width="7">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="7" height="1" width="433">
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</td> <td rowspan="3" height="29" valign="top" width="123">
</td> <td colspan="3" height="2" width="9">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" width="3">
</td> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="17" valign="top" width="293"> $1,995.00</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

That sounds much better than trying to locate some .060" over, 352 pistons, if the bores clean up at .010" over...

 

Granted, I had this work done 10 years ago, and the guy doing the machine work is a personal friend of mine, but.....

Bought a used block crank and rods, crank turned, 1 sleeve installed, bored .040" over (397 CID if memory serves), honed with torque plates, indexed the block and had cam bearings installed. With all the parts the bill was $1483.19 (I'm looking at it now). No short cuts, all quality parts. This was for a short block, no head work, I did all that myself earlier. Assembled myself.
Providing you can use your block, it still going to be tough to get a 390 for under $2K. And that doesn't even consider the assembly fluid I consumed in the process!

 

I have a 410 (416). It runs really good, but after I bought the crank, had it ground, bought pistons (forged were the only thing available), and had it all balanced, an extra $500 would have gotten me a 445.

In other words, unless you have a 428 crank that doesn't need ground and are fine with running 10:1+ compression, just go with a 445.

If I ever do anything to my green truck again though, it's getting a 414.

 

How about some 391 truck pistons? They have the 352 comp height and 4.05 bore. The math says that will put you around zero deck. They are dished so it won't get you tons of compression but may get you in the range of a decent street engine.

 

If I remember right, the truck pistons are much heavier, have full skirts, and (maybe) four ring grooves.