I went and picked up a 390 from out in Hollywood and its casting numbers are

c3ae-6015-h block
c3ae-6090-c heads
c3ae-9425-b 4 barrel intake
points distributor (autolite?)
it says thunderbird across the valve covers

My question is is any of it worth anything or should I just pull it apart for the rotating assembly it doesn't look like it has too many miles on it

 

I'm curious why you purchased the motor? Was the intent to put it into a '73-'79 truck?

If you're just wondering if the reciprocating assembly is worth anything compared to parting it out, I guess that all depends on how much time you have on your hands and what you're expecting, financially, to get out of it.

There are lots of FE motors out there. You might find better luck decoding the part numbers to see if there is some sort of cross reference that indicated some bang to it, see the FE / FT forum or other FE specific sites. Meaning, you might be lucky and have a GT motor; the heads and intake will have more than typical value then. But all in all, without knowing much about the motor, I don't see many buyers lining up to pay more than $300 for the assembly. If you take the time to disassemble and clean a fair amount of parts, then you might make $500-600 over the course of 6-7 months. At this point in time, if the heads are nothing special, used FE heads are nothing special. Same goes for the block and intake. Cam and lifters are most likely junk to almost anyone. Same goes for the pistons. Rods have value and the most valuable will be the crank, if it is indeed a 390. Check out ebay and you'll get an idea of going value of components versus assemblies. Most people putting a FE into a vehicle are going to most likely want to put in a rebuilt unit, not a used one- if it's used, they will not want to pay much for it- about as much as a LB "core" for rebuilding...and again, anyone rebuilding one will use about 65-75% of the existing parts, given those parts are in good condition.

 

Pre-65 blocks have a different bolt pattern for the motor mounts so they won't be a direct bolt in in the 73-79 trucks.
This is the pattern your block has, the second picture is the bolt pattern of the later blocks.

 

I have a 360 I bought it for the rotating assembly to make mine a 390 I'm wondering if the rest of it is worth anything

I'm familiar with the motor mount issue I have some home made adapters at home for a different block that will work

 

The rest isn't worth anything but if you have a complete 390, why take the rotating assembly out to put in the 360?? You have a complete 390 so......once again why take out the 390 internals to make a 390 out of a 360??


Doesn't make sense.......also, you would have a "numbers matching" 390 from a Thunderbird complete to resell which is more desirable than a 360 from somewhere that I made into a 390 out of thunderbird parts.....see where I'm going with this??


The complete motor itself would be more valuable as a Thunderbird 390 than in parts....If you want a 390, build the Thunderbird motor. You said you had already made brackets for the different motor mount positions so......

 

Measure the stroke to determine the engine size because this 1963 block casting number is for 352/390 in Galaxies; 390 in Mercury & Thunderbird.

Stroke: 352 = 3.50" / 390 = 3.78"

1961/64 FE valve covers with embossed THUNDERBIRD were painted gold and used in 390's, but who knows if these valve covers are the originals?

No such thing as numbers matching on FoMoCo vehicles, that's a GM thing. Numbers matching refers to the VIN .. GM stamped the vehicles specific VIN on powertrain parts.

 

Ok...bad choice of words.




If it appears to be a correct Thunderbird 390FE motor, then it would be worth more as a complete correct Thunderbird 390FE then in parts......


Example...if I bought the motor "as pulled and complete" and thought it was a correct Thunderbird 390 then I might pay...say $500 for it .......but once you open it up and put it in parts, I'd pay $200 or I'd walk away. No telling if it's complete in parts or not or if stuffs been swapped.....


If you have the motor untouched, IMO sell it complete. You can find what you need to turn your 360 into a 390 fairly easy without tearing into that hopefully correct Thunderbird 390...

 

It's not specifically for a Thunderbird as the block casting number prefix is C3AE .. A refers to full sized Ford. Plus, the 352 used the SAME block casting number.

If it was a Thunderbird only 390 block, the block casting number prefix would be C3SE

The only Thunderbird's that have a unique 390 are 1962/63 Sports Roadsters, but this only pertains to the intake manifold that came with 3 deuces.

The 1962/63 Thunderbird VIN engine code (5th digit) for this 3 deuce engine is M

 

I didn't think it was a full motor when I bought it just a short block

I turned out it was complete from the balancer to the flexplate with a few brackets and a starter attached

You're all misunderstanding me by worth anything I didn't mean money I meant could/should I use some parts off of it

it seems to have sat in a machine shop for a while as it has chips on it and the valve covers are blue not gold so I guess they've been repainted probably been pulled apart before too

 

As previously stated, painted gold THUNDERBIRD valve covers were installed in 1961/64 390 Ford & Thunderbird.

Blue embossed FORD valve covers: 352 / 406 & 427 valve covers were plain / 390 MERCURY valve covers were red.

But today, who really knows what size the engine is? One should not go by the valve covers to ID engine sizes.

And btw: I didn't mention one word about value, just said the engine is not specific to a T-Bird and it could be either a 352 or 390 based on the block casting number.

Plus: You will not find any Ford part numbers marked on these parts.

All you will find is casting or ID engineering numbers, because 1956 was the last year FoMoCo marked actual part numbers on parts.

 

Well thank you for the help

I hope I didn't buy a 352 last motor I bought with that casting number I bought as a 360 turned out it was a 390

I saw that casting number again and figured it was the same thing

 

1968/71 360/390 block casting number prefix is: C8AE

1958/64 FE engines were only installed in cars, have a different bolt pattern on the block (see post #3) for the rubber insulators than 1965/76 FE engines.

These 1958/64 FE engines came with rounded valve covers without holes for oil caps/smog valve and have an engine oil fill tube on the right front side.

 

Ok.....I see what you are laying down now.... Thanks for that info.









Yes I was misunderstanding you...."worth" to me means money when speaking in those terms as you could have said is anything in this motor salvageable or worth while to use in my other motor.....