Ahhhhhh nutzzz
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jun 2024
Posts: 112
Likes: 22
From: Springfield, Illinois
Ahhhhhh nutzzz
- Well fellers I'm now in need of a 390, a good 390.
- The 360 fiber timing gear disintegrated clogged the pick up screen and took out the lower end!
- Figure might as well go with a 390.
- I'm in Springfield Illinois and will travel a couple hundred miles for the right engine.
- Jeff
Super Moderator
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 34,499
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What's a "good" 390? Pickup motors, the newest of which are 50 years old, are low compression "soft" power engines due to the sunken pistons used. Car motors, the last of which was produced 56 years ago, are probably worn out and had buttery heads.
Is your block ok? What bore do you have?
FE parts are not cheap, but I'd rather pay more for a stroker kit and machine work on my block than roll the dice on an unknown which probably needs a rebuild anyway
Is your block ok? What bore do you have?
FE parts are not cheap, but I'd rather pay more for a stroker kit and machine work on my block than roll the dice on an unknown which probably needs a rebuild anyway
Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 10,478
Likes: 2,637
From: Near Salt Lake City
I would find a machine shop and build one
Nice stable whitey68
I am sure there is a decent machine shop in Springfield?
Had one near me (a real good machinist) turn 2 big block Chev cranks for me 270 each
Bored a 454 block for me and had the 2 cranks turned and new freeze plugs, hot tanked the block and assembled it for me with new cam bearings
That was 2000 bucks and I bought the pistons, cam bearings and freeze plugs
One crank was a forged 396 crank to make me a 427 with that 454 block
You consider doing the same to make yourself a 428?
Fun stuff, good luck
Nice stable whitey68
I am sure there is a decent machine shop in Springfield?
Had one near me (a real good machinist) turn 2 big block Chev cranks for me 270 each
Bored a 454 block for me and had the 2 cranks turned and new freeze plugs, hot tanked the block and assembled it for me with new cam bearings
That was 2000 bucks and I bought the pistons, cam bearings and freeze plugs
One crank was a forged 396 crank to make me a 427 with that 454 block
You consider doing the same to make yourself a 428?
Fun stuff, good luck
FTE Community Team
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 1,842
Likes: 252
From: Oak Harbor, Washington
"Buttery heads", I like that. Post-leaded fuel, the valve seats wear fast until they've been rebuilt and have had hardened seats installed. The truck FT engines (mostly) had hardened seats of some variety -- except the 330MD -- but IDK about the 390 FE heads.
FTE Community Team
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 1,842
Likes: 252
From: Oak Harbor, Washington
Induction hardened valve seats didn't work out so well, as it turned out. GM tried the same thing, but once lead left the petrol, the seats (and to a lesser extent, the valves) wore fast.
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Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 4,469
Likes: 965
From: Tri Cities, TN
Here is a copy and paste from an old article in Hot Rod. The problem with putting seats in an FE is there is very little metal under the seat to machine out in order to install the new seat and if a seat comes out you are in worse shape than if had just put it together and worried about seat recession years down the road. Also, you have to make sure the exhaust valves you are using are compatible with the specific seat material.
Original engines in cars built before the early 1970s generally don't have hardened exhaust seats that are resistant to unleaded gas. Nevertheless, tests conducted in the mid-1970s by the U.S. Army, the Postal Service, and other large fleet operators showed unleaded gas-induced exhaust valve seat recession isn't a significant problem unless the vehicle operates continuously over 3,500 rpm and/or under heavy-load conditions. In other words, if you don't do a lot of towing, don't have really steep gears, and/or don't frequently run your car at the track, you should be good to go.
Original engines in cars built before the early 1970s generally don't have hardened exhaust seats that are resistant to unleaded gas. Nevertheless, tests conducted in the mid-1970s by the U.S. Army, the Postal Service, and other large fleet operators showed unleaded gas-induced exhaust valve seat recession isn't a significant problem unless the vehicle operates continuously over 3,500 rpm and/or under heavy-load conditions. In other words, if you don't do a lot of towing, don't have really steep gears, and/or don't frequently run your car at the track, you should be good to go.
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FTE Community Team
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 1,842
Likes: 252
From: Oak Harbor, Washington
Over the past 40 years I've had to have hard seats installed on at least four old-iron engines: two Dodge, one GM, one Ford (and one Ford I sold just to avoid doing it, as it was a 4.0l in an Aerostar and I just didn't want to deal). I think the cite by Hot Rod is optimistic, but even if true there have been a lot of miles put on those engines since 1975, a lot of time for even light use to have worn out the seats. Shrouded valves really make engines run poorly.
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jun 2024
Posts: 112
Likes: 22
From: Springfield, Illinois
Heads we're done a few years ago, but no miles put on it.
This engine I'm told but not positive is a 360, ran like a champ up until this happened. So I figured it would just be easier to find a 390.
thing doesn't smoke at all, has some light blow bye but I'm my present condition so do i 🤪
This engine I'm told but not positive is a 360, ran like a champ up until this happened. So I figured it would just be easier to find a 390.
thing doesn't smoke at all, has some light blow bye but I'm my present condition so do i 🤪
FTE Community Team
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 1,842
Likes: 252
From: Oak Harbor, Washington
Were hardened seats installed? Or did the shop just oversize the pocket to reduce the shrouding. A good shop won't do that, but I've seen it done: grind the seat, then use an oversize stone to kind of chamfer the pocket. Awful stuff, but cheap. It's real hard to get the correct stem height when doing that too, as you have to cut off so much of the stem.
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