352 to 390
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,624
Likes: 8
From: Missouri
Thanks DF!
That would be the infamous Dave Shouweiller (sp?). He gets mad when you call him famous. There is a wide variance of cylinder wall thickness in the FE. You can pop a freeze plug and see how big of a drillbit you can fit between the bores. This will give you a very rough estimate of how much bore it will take. Measure at the top and bottom of the cylinders. This will also tell you a little about how bad the core shift was.
That would be the infamous Dave Shouweiller (sp?). He gets mad when you call him famous. There is a wide variance of cylinder wall thickness in the FE. You can pop a freeze plug and see how big of a drillbit you can fit between the bores. This will give you a very rough estimate of how much bore it will take. Measure at the top and bottom of the cylinders. This will also tell you a little about how bad the core shift was.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,888
Likes: 1
From: Iowa
yeah to be exact its 395.3, i dont tihnk you will have problems with the .80 over 352, when my 390 was bored. 60 over the machine shop said it could go .90 but i think thats to risky, thats why they went with .60 over, id like to find a 428 crank anyone know where i could geta cheep one. thanks
Cargo Master
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 14
From: Colorado
rusty70, the motor runs excellent! I've had it running but I haven't had the innerfenders on to drive it until Tuesday. Then I took it out with the straight headers 
. I still need to do some adjustments of course but its coming along great! I'm having problems with my Holley secondaries not opening up. Something in the vac sec pod is screwy and causing problems (am working on fixing that right now). I'll get some pics posted soon. That much power is dangerous on the dirt roads without power steering. The torque of it is just crazy. I can be in 3rd gear at 20mph and punch it and it just takes off sideways then I have to spin the wheel fast enough to straighten it out then spin it back to get straight again. I GOT to get power steering sometime in that trucks life. I'm sure it'll be fine on asphalt, I can't wait to see how well it burns out!
. I still need to do some adjustments of course but its coming along great! I'm having problems with my Holley secondaries not opening up. Something in the vac sec pod is screwy and causing problems (am working on fixing that right now). I'll get some pics posted soon. That much power is dangerous on the dirt roads without power steering. The torque of it is just crazy. I can be in 3rd gear at 20mph and punch it and it just takes off sideways then I have to spin the wheel fast enough to straighten it out then spin it back to get straight again. I GOT to get power steering sometime in that trucks life. I'm sure it'll be fine on asphalt, I can't wait to see how well it burns out!
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,600
Likes: 4
From: Iowa
Hehe, another satisfied Ford owner. Get the power steering. You'll love it. Might I also suggest, go up to the junkyard and get a vacuum canister and master cylinder and put power breaks on it. I did this, and it's great. No more mashing the pedal to get stopped.
New User
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Stupid question, but I've been reading these posts and I would also like more displacement. Couldn't I just buy a longblock 390 and swap my parts over to it with out too much issue? other than new exhaust and intake and other bits? The mounting of a 390 from 352 should all be the same right?
Tuned
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 360
Likes: 3
From: Napa
The blanket statement that 427 blocks cannot be bored more than .030 is inaccurate, and probably straight out of a magazine somewhere- and all 427 blocks are not the same. I won't go into it any further, as the 427 shouldn't have even been mentioned, this thread has nothing to do with 427's- they're a completely different animal
Different years of regular blocks will also have different wall thicknesses, the earlier blocks tend to be nice 'n strong in the cylinders, while the later blocks usually have better main webbing
You see a lot of people trying to make 390's into 428's with an .080 over bore and the long crank, end up with cheesy cylinder walls, but they can say it's 428 ci- but would have a much better engine if they went .030 over 410 for 416 with cheap available pistons, almost the same size engine, with good walls. If you could find some stock 410 pistons, a thick 352 could go to a 410, same bore as 390- just the 3.98 crank would be more spendy and tougher to find.
If you're going to buy 390 rods & crank, why not just get a whole core engine and start from there?
Different years of regular blocks will also have different wall thicknesses, the earlier blocks tend to be nice 'n strong in the cylinders, while the later blocks usually have better main webbing
You see a lot of people trying to make 390's into 428's with an .080 over bore and the long crank, end up with cheesy cylinder walls, but they can say it's 428 ci- but would have a much better engine if they went .030 over 410 for 416 with cheap available pistons, almost the same size engine, with good walls. If you could find some stock 410 pistons, a thick 352 could go to a 410, same bore as 390- just the 3.98 crank would be more spendy and tougher to find.
If you're going to buy 390 rods & crank, why not just get a whole core engine and start from there?
Super Moderator
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 34,495
Likes: 2,810
Stupid question, but I've been reading these posts and I would also like more displacement. Couldn't I just buy a longblock 390 and swap my parts over to it with out too much issue? other than new exhaust and intake and other bits? The mounting of a 390 from 352 should all be the same right?
Back to your question--YES, you can buy a longblock 390 and swap your 352 parts to it. The mounting is the same. Pre '65 had different mounts, so make sure your mounts and the new block are compatible.
MeanGene427--this latest post is about swapping long blocks, not whatever was discussed in '03 if I'm reading it correctly.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 124
Likes: 0
From: Mississippi
One thing that I learned is what ever the bore size is, you need a minimum of .130 wall thickness for your motor to be dependable as a daily driver, racing is a different area all together.You want the more the better to be dependable, if you want displacement, stroke it.You can also raise the compression ratio from about 8.5:1 to about 10.1 or higher depending on your application?I would suggest keeping as much wall thickness as I could. From a 4.00 bore to a 4.05 would probably been safe, but without sonic checking all the cylinders you are just guessing.Also as mentioned by others, with core shift in the foundry could be a problem, hopefully not?Quality machinists are getting harder and harder to find!!! Some machine shops are like fast food restaurants and others prepare quality food.I hope that analogy is not to silly but, I hope you get the point anyway?
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