360 hp gains
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Joined: Nov 2015
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360 hp gains
I have a 1973 f250 with a 360 and I was wondering how much horsepower would I get from an edlebrock intake and carburetor,header,exhaust, and cams. would that be enough for at least 300hp, I'm trying to do a street setup with it.
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You can improve cylinder pressure a little with a shorter duration cam with a higher lift. Of course, headers always help the FE, but on the intake side you probably already flow as much as it will eat. Of course such a cam, or any cam change, requires different springs.
Others here report decent low buck gains with headers, the 4bbl manifold (dual plane stocker or similar aftermarket) and a small 4bbl. Beyond that if you are going to take it apart for the cam, keep going and put a 390 crank, or other stroker in there and add some compression.
jmo, send me your credit card info and I'll order it all up for you....
Laughing Gas
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 960
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From: Victoria (North Saanich)
My truck came with 175 HP on the VIN plate. Can't see getting from 175 to 300 with an intake, carb, cam, and headers. I think you need at least pistons. You can make good power out of a 352 so it is not a displacement problem.
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The thin gasket doesn't help the sunken piston and is probably not worth a lot compression wise anyway. Plus I'm not sure how reliable the thin steel shim gasket is anyway for long term street use.
Cargo Master
Joined: Dec 2015
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From: Harned, Ky
The 360 was designed as a truck engine with lower compression and used the same cam as the 330-361 in MD trucks. This produced good tq but poor mpg. I found that replacing the cam with a 390 style car cam improved the overall performance and mpg's, my old favorite was the 390GT - 428CJ cam.
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Elder User
Joined: Nov 2009
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From: Mayfield, KY
Of course everyone has different expectations when they build a motor and what they expect it to do. If you are looking for HP gains to say I have 300 HP under the hood then I would think you are going to have to spend your coin changing pistons as already mentioned. Are you set on having a 360 engine? If it were me and I was changing pistons already then why not change out crank and rods and make it a 390? Easier to get to 300 that way. Another thing you will have to address with a 73 truck with 300 hp is that front end.....no good having power if you can't keep it between the lines......
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Cargo Master
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,549
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From: Harned, Ky
Of course everyone has different expectations when they build a motor and what they expect it to do. If you are looking for HP gains to say I have 300 HP under the hood then I would think you are going to have to spend your coin changing pistons as already mentioned. Are you set on having a 360 engine? If it were me and I was changing pistons already then why not change out crank and rods and make it a 390? Easier to get to 300 that way. Another thing you will have to address with a 73 truck with 300 hp is that front end.....no good having power if you can't keep it between the lines......
I agree with stroking it to a 390 or swapping in a 390.
What's wrong with the front end on a 73, or are you just advising to make sure it's in good condition.
I had a 73 F-100 with a 428cj, the suspension was in good condition and alignment was correct, it drove like a car even at 100+ mph. Not saying anyone should drive that fast, I took it to the race track a few times.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Aug 2006
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just ringing in on the old bad mouthed 360 ford engines. first,it is still an FE engine family, same as 352, 390, 406, 427 and 428 and all the configurations of the 427. I love these engines but at the ripe old age of 15, i couldn't buy the 427 cross bolt main block and the lemans racing rods with pistons and crank from my good older friend "skinner" cook. believe me, i wanted it bad but had to accept that the 360 in my truck would have to do. first, put a 428 PI intake on it with el cheapo black jack headers (had never heard of Hedman but i like them best), a Holley 750 to begin with and then to a a bad-ss Carter AFB 625 that would run circles around the Holley out of the box. well, finally got around to a rebuild and used a cam that i ordered from Holman-Moody (performance proven) that truck was pretty quick but it was a torque monster. i wish i still had that old truck...memories
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