There was a recommended Holley jet size that did the trick, and they were the perfect size to drop into the oil feed hole. Anyone remember?

 

Art;
The perfect size is determined by your engine build and use. Holley jet sizes .060 through .090 were used most of the time. The outer diameter on the jets were the same for these sizes. The difference was in the size of the holes.
I don't know if you could get a consensus on which size would be the best for most applications. .090 works for me, but I do not have scientific data to prove it is the best. Only data I have is that I have never lost a FE from oil starvation in the last 50 plus years if building FE's,
I did not build my last FE, that was built by Keith Craft Racing. So far so good on that one.
As I get older, my memory is not as good as it was back in the day.

 

I used #90's as well.

 

One of my old Ford Performance books said to used a short piece of 5/16 rod with a .080 hole drilled thru it, probably what they where doing before someone realized a Holley carb jet was a good fit.
So what ever size Holley jet that has a .080 hole, the number doesn't always recipient the size of the hole.

Edit: Acording to my Holley book a 74 jet has a .081 drill size, 80 jet is .093 drill size, 90 jet is .104 drill size

 

 

So I was able to locate a block today. Found a guy 2 hours from me with a complete 390 for $275. Gonna double check the stroke, but from everything I heard, Its a 390. Guy pulled it from his buddies 71 f250.

 

Remember 4x4 as OEM had the 360 only, no 390s in 4x4s. Do you have a usable set of 390 crank and rods?

 

I shot the guy a message and asked if the donor was 4x2 or 4x4. He said it was 4x2! I do not, I only have 360 parts. Im kinda hoping to use this as a blessing in disguise and end up with a much better motor.

 

That's a bummer.
Where was it cracked at?

 

I was able to pick up a 390 this weekend. Made a two hour drive down south and checked out the "390" from the 71. Measured the stroke and it came back as a 390. Paid the man and headed home with it. Disassembly further revealed that it is in fact a 390. The crank has the 2u marking and the rods have a stamping of C7AE-B. The engine has obviously been rebuilt in the past and appears to be low mile. The cylinders measured 4.078 and all bearings had a 010 stamped in them. Crank looks phenomenal as do they cylinders. They still very much had the original cross hatch. I disassembled it and will be dropping it at the machine shop tomorrow afternoon. I'll let them check it all over again, do any machine work needed and order me a kit.

I may be able to use the rockers off of this motor, they look to be in really good shape and the push rods are pristine.

 

 

If it looked that good I would clean it up and put it back together.

 

The thought crossed my mind, but this way I will know for sure its 100%.

 

I've done a few motors like this. Used to be called an overhaul, which is different from a rebuild. New bearings, rings, gaskets oil pump. Two were 100K mile roller 5.0's, one was a 58K mile 390 that had sat for 7 years. It needed two pistons too, had a set of matching ones stashed that I replaced the two with. Also swapped the cam and 2 bbl intake with a Crane 272 energizer and a 428PI intake. Bores were like new, crank was too like yours.