The background is that I have a stock 76’ F250 4x4 Custom (Highboy). It has a tired 360 and what seems to be a decent NP435. The truck has 89k on it and I believe that is accurate mileage. Even though I have read that the 360s go for a long time, mine is very tired. Leaks a ton and I have oil seeping out of 6 out of 8 spark plugs... could be bad valve seals I guess but seems more likely bad rings.

I decided to buy a 390 from an ole boy ( in pieces) and build a solid motor for the truck as a project for my 17 yo old son and I. The kid is in love with this truck. Anyway I’ve got the block, crank and rods at the machine shop. They cleaned everything up, found it was stock bore and the crank was good with original diameter journals. They will bore the block 30 over, the crank 10 under, and resize the rods.

So far so good. But now we have a lot of decisions to make. I don’t have a ton of experience building engines and really no experience with FEs aside from this truck. The machine shop is attached to a Napa and is highly recommended by all the car guys and hot rodders in my area. Fortunately They seem very familiar with this engine family. My plan is to have them basically build us a short block.

spoke with the guy a couple days ago he asked what I wanted out of the motor. I explained that it’s going in a truck that isn’t going to be a daily but the goal is a strong, reliable, and fun engine. I’m not looking for crazy horse power but around 300 would be nice ( I’m planning on Edelbrock carb, intake, and heads). I told him I’d rather stick with hydraulic lifters budget wise and keep the compression at reasonable number so we can run 87 octane.

I also gave them a harmonic balancer that came with the motor which was fine but I’ll need to buy a new flywheel (mine is in the truck) so they can balance the motor. I’ll need to figure out a decent cam duration and pistons. Any suggestions are appreciated. They are willing to put a parts package together for me, it will supposedly save me a few bucks.

Also I’m curious if I can use stock rocker arm shafts from this 390 on the edelbrock heads. Btw the only reason I’m planning on the not using a pair of the cast iron stockers is that it seems after the shop goes through them and installs hardened seats etc I’ll be close to the cost of the Edelbrocks but if I’m wrong please let me know.

If there are any special instructions that I should be asking the machine shop to do specific to the 390 please advise.

 

What year are the stock heads you have? While the earlier ones can be more desirable as far as performance goes, the later ones had hardened seats. May be spending money you don't need to on the eddy's.

 

Only the D2TE heads had induction-hardened seats, and after getting the exhaust valve smacked into them millions of times, the hardening is long gone

Rule of thumb has long been: If you need to completely redo a set of heads, the Edelbrocks are pretty close in price to a complete redo.

 

Just throwing out some ideas to let you know what's out there...

The Edelbrock heads were more or less trail blazers at one time. Today, the out of the box Bear Block Motors or the Trick Flows will out perform the Edelbrocks.

You can get custom pistons for any bore and compression ratio you want. They're pricey but allows you do only remove as much metal as needed to clean up your bores...no need to go 30 over. Also, you can get a more modern sized ring pack for a little better performance.

For cam recommendation, I prefer to ask someone who has built a lot of FE's. Give them your engine parameters and goals. They can likely recommend a grind that will better fit your needs than a cam from a catalogue. Optimized cam and Bear Block heads or Trick flow heads should get you over 1 hp per cube and still have truck like low end grunt. For the ultimate, hydraulic roller cams are sweet. No fears of break in and can use modern oils which I'm convinced gave me 0.5 to 1.0 more mpg.

 

I have a pair of earlier and a pair of later heads the guy through in. Neither pair look terrible and I could probably take a gamble and run em but I’d rather not need to crack back into this re built engine anytime soon.

I’d never heard of BBM heads before, they look sweet! I did look at the trick flows and they seem to be better as well. Unfortunately I’m still expected to put food on the table and provide shelter for the family so I need to keep this project in a reasonable price range...

The other concern is my 17 son will be driving this truck some as well and Lord knows he doesn’t need a super high performance ride...

 

Also I just want to confirm that I don’t need to run a high volume oil pump or water pump since this won’t be a high RPM build?

 

Since you are going through the engine, are shooting for 300 HP and will be making max power around 5000-5500 rpm, you don't need the HV oil pump. Standard water pump will work too.

I see custom pistons mentioned. That's a good idea if you need it, but you may not. If you can use OEM pistons, you will want to spec CAR 390 pistons. Pickup 390 pistons are actually the same spec as the 410, have a shorter compression height (1.66") and sit .100+ down the hole.

The pistons from the '66 to '70 390 2bbl "Regular Fuel" engines produced a nominal 9.5 compression with a combustion chamber volume of 67 to 71, +/- depending on what year and the actual (vs. advertised) volume. These pistons are slightly dished with 4 valve reliefs in them.

If you end up with larger combustion chambers, the same era 4bbl "Premium Fuel" pistons would raise you about 1 full point. Flat tops with valve reliefs, they were advertised as being good for 10.5 compression. Both these have a compression height of approx. 1.76"

Don't let them put "pickup" pistons in there just because you are working on a pickup. Ford made the pickup engines much lower compression, and the sunken piston method they used is cheap, but has nothing else going for it.

Also plan on Sanderson or other fine brand headers. FE exhaust manifolds are pretty bad.

The 390GT/428 cam or something a little hotter will work for your goals as well. Spend the extra bucks and get a roller cam.

JMO but don't use old parts on new heads.

 

I hear you...taking it easy is usually better A good, basic 390 will have enough giddy yup.

 

Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't be spending $1500-2k+ on heads for my 17 year old unless this is actually for you and he gets to drive it sometimes? Parts options are wide and varying and really depends on your budget and actual power goals. Better bang for buck can be had with quality headers and flat top pistons as suggested and getting only what's needed on your original heads. This saves money for ignition upgrades, valve train upgrades, etc.

If you're serious about spending money on aluminum heads- Trick Flow and BBM are definitely top brands; have a look at Survival Motorsports, Lykins Motorsports, Pond Motorsports. These are builders of the top level of power and quality of FE engines in the nation. Brent Lykins is super helpful with guidance on builds as he does the full range from daily drivers to 8500rpm truck pull engines. Same goes for Barry Rabotnik of Survival.
Brent's latest build was a 352 with ported C6 heads that made 433 hp at 6800 with 405 lb-ft at 4500. Video link of it on the dyno for ear-candy.

Either way, there's many proven combos done for 390s to make good reliable power without breaking the bank. Sometimes less is more. Just my 2 cents.

 

No my son has a Jeep that is his primary vehicle. He will be driving this truck from time to time. He will get the truck someday but that’ll be when I’m tired of it or dead.

Yep seems like there is no obvious direction to go. Some say rebuild the low rise iron heads and they’re fine and others say go with custom aluminum heads. I guess I was thinking of a compromise with the Edelbrocks but who knows.

 

The Edelbrock heads can go from mild to wild. Our FE has Edelbrock heads and makes 767 n.a. horsepower. The Edl. heads are reasonably priced and out of the box have 2.08 intakes and 1.66 exhaust valves, which is plenty for a fun every day pickup. There are so many reasons to go aluminum instead of stock iron Ford heads.
Take your time and do your research and you will be happy with the result. For the cam, I would go with a hydraulic roller. Keep everything simple.

 

Nothing wrong with choosing a HV waterpump. In fact I'd prefer it over a std volume unit although trucks weren't cursed with radiators that were too small. Another good cam is Crane's 272* Energizer, I used one in a 68 Merc's high compression 390 and that alone allowed it to digest 89 octane fuel vs the 93 it needed before. Also ran a similar grind 40 years ago in a GT390 in a 70 F100 that allowed 87 octane with the GT's 10 to 1 ratio and the stock GT heads.

 

Dude that engine sounds AMAZING!

 

I would spring for a new harmonic balancer, the rubber in the old one is likely pushing 50 years old