Guy I'm buying truck from says motor is a 390 and is original to truck. Vin says 360. Any way to tell for sure besides measuring how far piston goes down cylinder?

 

no but a quick search here would have told ya that

 

Everything I found was old so I figured I'd give it a try.

 

The FE is old. What would change?

 

What else is he telling you? "Recent trans rebuild", "new PS pump", "recent steering box repair", "new gears and bearings in diff(s)", "bushings and pins etc recently replaced", "never in an accident", "never off-roaded", "never driven in winter salt", "recent battery", "original miles, odo has never turned over".

Partial list. Buyer beware.

 

As Numberdummy says every 360 becomes a 390 on the selling date and most can't read the VIN. Since you did then I'd go with what my eyes saw. Statistically, even without the VIN, far more came with the 360 engine.

 

Also said a little old lady owned it and only drove it to grocery shop and to church.

 

I read several of Numberdummy's posts and always consider his opinion gospel. prolly got changed to a 390 on the day it was sold and the story stuck. I'm gonna buy the truck caz i think its a good deal and I'll measure the cylinders when i get it home for my own piece of mind.

 

hi im new to this , so bare with me , i just bought a 1977 f250 xlt ranger vin F26HRY46689,built in may of 1977, so the guy i bought the truck from, says the truck had a 351W, and was rebuilt some long time ago he didn't do it im the third owner of the truck , turns out its a 352 stamp on the driver side , front of block ,so im under the truck theres a stamp on block shows 33 diff , above the oil filter stamped 4B14 the heads on the out side stamped D2TE-AA inside the head stamped 6A19 on one and 6A14 on the other, and the exhaust port has 4 holes per exhaust cylinder like the 428cj and the valve cover has 5 bolts ,theres a plate on the block which you can barely see cause its warn out some what .. shows bore 4.05 ,rod 1, main 1 ?????? im confused... then I stock a wire down , making sure number one was tdc, 1 cylinder and 4 cylinder gives me a 4 inch difference between the two ..... im confused I know I have a Frankenstein motor and cant find any numbers on the block except the 4b14 above the oil filter... so someone plz help don't know how and what to order when ordering parts for the motor thxs so what motor do I have 360-390-410-428 I have no clue im cluesless also he gave me a aluminum plate numbers has followed F26HRY46689 - 3 - A -72 BOTTOM OF THAT IS F263 - 4 - 37J - A

 

Welcome to FTE.

You doing this on your phone or something? Your post is hard enough to read that you won't get many to answer. Try punctuation, paragraphs etc.

Also, feel free to start your own thread, after you've read the FAQ's and searched.

On to the questions at hand.

The FE was replaced in the 1977 model year. Are you sure you have a '77? Post your full VIN and info from the warranty/data plate on the door.

FE motors have 5 valve cover bolts, the valve covers cover both the top of the heads and part of the intake manifold, and the spark plugs angle like so: //\\. Sounds like you have an FE, but double check those points.

"352". Did you find that cast into the driver side front of the block? Almost all FE motors have that cast into them, as "in the beginning", they were 352s.

"4B14" looks like date code, and translates as 1974 (4) February (B) 14th of the month, (14).

"D2TE" on the heads means a 1972 casting revision. (and hardened seats if they are still there and not ground or worn out) D for 1970s, 2 for 1972, T for Truck, E for engine.

A plate on the block with Bore 4.05 rods 1 mains 1 sounds like a rebuild tag. Usually it will say something like 30-10-10 for .030 over bore, and .010 under rods and mains. Yours sounds like the standard (4.05) bore, with rods and mains .010 under. Is there a company name on that tag?

How are you measuring the 4" stroke? Do you have the heads off? A 410, which Ford used in some Mercury motors in 1966-'67, would have a 4.05 bore and a 3.98 stroke. (these were 390s with 428 cranks and a shorter piston)

A prior owner might have made a 410 out of his old 360 or 390 when he did the rebuild.

As for ordering parts, it depends on what you need. Usually with a pickup motor, everything service and tune up wise externally is the same for the 360 and 390 for any given year.

You may have a mix and match motor there, so it would depend on what you need.

 

hey thxs for the reply I put the vin and more info on it sorry about the miss printing I couldn't find out who did the rebuilt the plate is worn I do have a bunch of picture on motor

 

Measure the stroke. 360s had aprroximately 3.53 stroke and 390s had 3.74 stroke. Also I do believe the 2 wheel drive came with the 390 and the 4 wheel drives came with the 360. The block numbers above the oil filter will give you a casting date which will point you in a general direction. Any other numbers on the block are pretty much useless. Check to see if there are cross bolted main caps. If you have that go buy a lottery ticket cause you just scored a 427.