Will a cleveland or anything else just bolt right in? I know the 390 will

 

Ford was never consistent with bellhousings. The only thing that will bolt-in is another FE - 390, 428, 360, and some other variants. The FE series has some great motors and there is still a loyal following with a lot of aftermarket support. But they are not cheap to build as compared to small blocks. I sold my great running 390 for $500 and there are engines around if you look around. The pre-72(ish) heads are prone to valve seat erosion and by the time you rebuild them properly you might find that bolting a set of Edelbrock complete heads on a decent 390 will run pretty good for not a lot of money. The 72 and up D2xxx heads had hardened seats but that is no guarantee that someone hasn't ground out the hardening during a valve job. I went off the deep end with mine. I found a solid 390 in the local pick and pull and after a lot of $$ I have a 447 stroker with aluminum heads, a roller cam, and fuel injection. I'll never get those $$ back but it is a blast to drive and looks pretty original in the engine bay.

 

That is allot of really good information I am not sure I love this truck enough to do all that!!! I did see that there was a ton of available parts for a 1969 F100
A decent motor, upgrade the brakes, may do power steering, paint and wheels will get me to 10 grand including the truck. I saw windshields are available too. Mine is frosty around the edges. I have never priced Edelbrock Heads before, but looking now I see they are $831 and out of stock It says 1961-76 390-427-428 Guess no one would put them on a 360 LOL

 

First find out where the leak is going. I'm also thinking blown head gasket. So when you do it, have both spark plugs out on the bad cylinders. But since you have a exhaust leak i am also worried about 2 burnt exhaust valves not sealing properly. The first year Ford used hardened valve seats was 1972. Your exhaust leak could be a cracked exhaust manifold.
BTW, right side is the passenger's side. Think like you were sitting in the driver's seat. Left side is driver's side.

 

Quick update
I found a 390 that has a 4 barrel and 150 psi on the compression test Tomorrow I will clean it up and start tearing it down
Only paid $200 so it was a cheap shot in the dark.
I saw a tag on the front left and right rear of the heads ( Looking from the front)
The pic is one of the tags One says H-4163 The other says H-4164

I search Google and there is no info on any number like that
I will look at the head casting numbers tomorrow and port size
With 150 psi compression, I was thinking it maybe a 10:1 piston

 

I think those tags were put on there by some company that rebuilt those heads. For their identification purpose in case of a warranty claim.

 

A couple of comments. I don't know if this has been resolved, but if you were testing the compression on the 360 with the wrong cylinder order in mind you may have would up with the wrong valve positions. Just a thought.

Next up, if you are going to rebuild a 360 going to either a 390 or 410 is probably not your best bet. Get a rotating assembly with a 4.25 inch crank - it will make about 445 cubic inches and give you easy and reliable power. My friend and neighbour just blew up his freshly built 302 due to a small error in polishing the factory crank left it with too tight a radius at the counterweight, and it shattered his block. New crank, rods, and pistons is the way to go. He was kicking himself because he has built dozens of engines and knew better than to polish the stock crank.

If you do go with aluminum heads Edelbrock are not the best available choice. Seems TrickFlow are the leaders at the moment, but as is the case with a lot of stuff these days there is no inventory anywhere. BBM and Survival (FeLony) heads are good options. I'm not sure any of them are immediately available. If you go for an aluminum intake don't use the Edelbrock Performer it is nothing more than a stock replacement, the Edelbrock Peformer RPM is the one to use.

For the best advice available I strongly suggest going over to fepower dot net and joining to ask questions from the builders that hang out over there. Best source of FE building info on the net.

 

UPDATE
Halloween is over and my truck is now at the top of my todo list LOL

I bought a 390 that is a useable starting point
It will go to the machine shop soon for a bore and 9.5 to 1 pistons
With the factory moving, Edelbrock is back ordered badly so I placed my order today
The Edelbrock engineer was a great help

I found a set of C4 Med Rise big port heads After shipping they were $325
You should watch this!!!! I will port the exhaust and smooth the intake ports

I ordered the Performer intake and a ComCam (owned by Edelbrock) cam shaft.
It is just slightly bigger than the Performer cam that Edelbrock sells
The engineer suggested I buy it and the 650 instead of the 600 carb
262/270 duration .513/.520 lift The Edelbrock was 272/282 duration .460/.480 lift
It moves my RPM range up slightly but the heads can flow at .513 and they should do well after I port the exhaust
I also ordered the valve springs, lifters, a nice HEI Distrubuter and long tube headers

What does everyone think of that cam, intake, heads and carb combination?????
Watch that video... Smart guy!

 

If I am not mistaken Comp is not owned by Edelbrock. They are both owned by Industrial Opportunity Partners, who specialize in financial, not automotive, engineering. They pretty quickly downsized both to cut costs. Don't expect much in the way of support etc. or new product development.

At this time Edelbrock heads are better than the stock alternatives, but far from the leader of the aftermarket pack. Trickflow seems to have the best aftermarket combination of head and intake, but the issue is availability, just as it is with Edelbrock. If you do stay with the Edlebrock head you may want to go with bare heads and have them reworked. There are some specialists out there that can make very good flow and power, but you need to order from them.

Most damaging in your list (if performance is your goal) is the Performer intake. It is strictly a stock replacement that is lighter than the original. You want a Performer RPM to get a bump in power.

If I were starting with a bare block and crank I'd toss the crank as well and get new rods to go with the new pistons and new crank. You can get a balanced rotating assembly from a couple of suppliers for a reasonable price. Strongly suggest you join FEpower.net and post your goals before you get too deep. You will get answers from guys who build a couple of engines a week.

 

I talked to Edelbrock. They told me they moved the factory out of Calf and the new factory is almost complete. They said they over sold the expected inventory they had during the Covid lock down and because of that, they are now very back ordered. He also told me they acquired Comp Cam. Anything past that is news to me. I got great support when I called to ask about FE motors. Biggest problem is the back order I was told they have 800 Performer FE intakes on order

The dual plane performer intake is not for race, they make many others that are. I saw a video on the flow test and it looks much better than a stock 4 barrel, but with a 5500 rpm it is designed for a street motor and a 650 carb. I dont need the 6500 rpm range from a Performer RPM cuz the heads will not flow enough fuel to match that

I searched out C4 heads and will port them, but again, for a Idle-5500 rpm motor I was not needing the gains from a set of $2000 bare aftermarket heads.
I am building a 1969 F100. I have allot of expenses that are needed more than a stroker crank

My plan is a motor that produces good torque and HP with parts that all match in their ability to flow. I do not plan to race it but it will look/sound like I could

 

Great plan in my opinion. That way you have less of a chance of breaking things in the driveline and will have very good reliability.

 

Common problem on motors with burnt exhaust seats time to rebuild the heads..
These stock motors just like unleaded gas as it burns to hot cooking the exh. seats
Under load like towing the engine will start popping back out the carbutror as it loose power until you let off the gas peddle...