Hey all! Just finally found this site. My buddy and I are fixing up his dad's old truck.

It's a '75 F100 with a 360 and a 4 speed tranny. 4x4, manual hubs(not sure if factory 205, or a conversion.) and it has a few modifications.

The motor has a 4 barrel carb and intake on it, as well as headers and dual exhaust. The motor sounds pretty cammy, but to my surprise, it won't go over 3000 RPM. Whats going on!?!?!?!

I have most my experience based with Mopars and if we had this types of mods on our rigs, we could run right up to 5000 RPM without any major problems, so what is going on with this ford?
I would think it should still make great power, even though FEs aren't that great a motor. Is it Ignition? What do we replace? I would like to have the distributor curved for better performance, so what should we shoot for as far as ignition timing?

BTW, what do you think this thing should make for Horsepower? What type of compression did they have? might be worth pulling the heads and shaving them?
So with a properly tuned carb, ignition, RV cam, headers and dual exhaust, How much power should this motor make? has good oil pressure, and doesn't smoke. Not sure how the rings are sealing though.

we are thinking about taking the engine fan off and just putting an electric fan in as well as maybe fabbing up a cold air intake system with a K& N filter. I can't remember if it has a Holley carb right now, but if it does, we will definitely try the ram air.

Thanks guys!
Andrew

 

Put a real motor in there, maybe a 318 wide block or a slant six.
Eric

 

Dang brother I don't know if I'd have said that!!!

Let us see if we can help you out anyway

First if the 75 does not have DuraSpark electronic ignition (can’t remember if it was 75 and 76 or just 76) I’d at the very least make sure it is in tip top shape (points, condenser and all that) or convert it to the crane xr-i or pertronix or DuraSpark.

Second, if it sounds CAMMY and the ignition is working properly, I’d start looking at valve springs. People will stick cams in and not replace valve springs, each time they float the strength decreases and you lose BIG power. In addition, if the timing chain was not replaced, its probably killing the cam and the timing, they have nylon gears which is no good.

Getting 350-400 horsepower should not be much of a problem with a cam and some flat tops. If you stock pistons are in good shape, they may actually be 410 pistons and you could run a 428 crank for a 410 with decent compression.

 

OOPS, I'm wrong about the 410, it was the late 390's that used the 410 pistons to get low compression since you have a 360 that won't work, my apologies.