ya i dont like to waste money either since i dont have much of it.

ray

 

Never had a 360 but I love the 351w! I had my 1985 Bronco 351 HO (read late W) motor rebuilt a few years back, set it up for a balance of toque and hp. I was told the HO had thicker castings around the lifters than earlier W, not really sure if that’s true. Bored it for TRW .030 over pistons. Added 1970 351W heads, which provide 3/8” rocker studs. Came in around 9.1:1 compression. Installed an Edelbrock Performer intake and cam with .448/.472 lift. Using .500 would have required guide plates, tougher springs and hardened pushrods. I went with the Competition Cams railed roller rockers instead. MSD helped a lot on the ignition too. Very happy with the result! Doesn’t rev as high as some high lift motors, but lots of pull off the line. Btw it’s for sale in FTE classifieds. Took a new 6.0 diesel to tear me away from this 351w

 

I think I'm gonna look for a 360 and build it for cheap just to spite the people here that say they are crap.

Erik

 

If you want torque from a 400, stroke it to 420+. If you want to rev get a W. If you want different go with FE. For toughness you can't beat the FE. I had a friend in H.S. that had a 360 in a 67 F250. He tried for years to blow it up, but was unsuccessful. He finally sold it and the next kid was still trying to blow it up when I last heard. With points and 2bbl Holley you could hold it wide open in low playing in the mud all day. The rev limiter was the valves floating and the only time it died was when you ran 20 gallons of gas through the carb.

 

Would it turn the tires pretty easily?

 

hey pepper, i think you should build the 360 cause everyone else disagrees. i bet for $500 you could have 275hp and 350 ftlbs give or take. i think people need to think for themselves rather then do what everyone else does. if you want the 360 then get one and make everyone else wish they had one. Fling, i salute your idea also, simple and straight foward. CI=power...

 

Making a 360 into a 390 is not mixing and matching parts that were not meant to go together. All the 360 is is a destroked 390 PERIOD. I would love to see some people build up some 360's but for the most part if you are looking for performance then they are just going to go with a 390 or larger FE engine for some very obvious reasons. 1. Unless you had custom pistons and/ or rods made, you can't get any descent kind of compression (sure go ahead and find the early very small chamber heads but you still won't have crap for quench) 2. The rods in 360's have a very narrow beam and are longer to compensate for this motor's lack of compression. 3. Parts for 360's are pretty much the same price if not exactly identical for 390's. There are other reasons that we could go into. As far as your cheap way of doing things well, yea sometime you get lucky and stuff lasts for a while but more often than not it was just a waste of time if you would have just spent the money to do it right the first time. I am probably just wasting my breath here though so I don't think I will bother anymore.

 

whoa whoa why would the rods be longer if the 360 has a shorter stroke than a 390. that statements sounds like bs to me.

Erik

 

Dude, we are just trying to help you out... Not to be a jerk, but the 360 has the longer rods because of the shorter (3.50) stroke of the 352/360 crank to get the piston higher up in the bore. If you ran the stronger short rods from the bigger FE brothers to this engine the piston would sit even deeper down in the bore which definately isn't what an allready low compression engine needs. If a guy was to have custom piston made for a 360 I would find the short rods and have the pistons made accordingly. The long rod only came in a wide cross section beam on the hi-perf 352's which are probably pretty darn hard to find to say the least. Last but not least, if you want any knowledge/ help/ advice everyone in here will give it to you but... being arrogant and making statements about stuff you don't know as much about has a tendancy to make people mad and ignore you. I am not trying to make you mad and if you want to build a 360 then go for it. We are just pointing out the differences and showing you your options.

JC

 

Sometimes ignorance is best ignored.......

 

Bo, you might want to consider clearance issues also. In a scout 800 a fe will be a mighty tight fit. Just something to consider. I'm glad to see such varying opinions on these great engines, both the fe and the w! I still have to say that much like Sgt. Pepper, I am completely pleased with my 360. However, if I was going to build a big mud bog des****** I would probably have gone with a 460 or a blown small block. Ford builds many diffrent engines for many diffrent purposes and peoples wants. Bottom line let us know how you choose, and have fun doing it. -David

 

Annihilator, Thanks!!!

 

Look, a 360 has longer rods, I looked it up and will concead that point. However, the long rods actually make the engine more durable. It's not made to turn high rpms so breaking a rod isn't much of a worry. The long rod makes the angle of the rod at any given time less extreme than the shorter 390 rod. This means that a more even pressure is exerted on the piston at the angle of farthest deflection. This makes piston/bore wear less. I'm not lookin to build an all out strip motor nor do I see Huntersbo. I just want a dependable, durable, daily driver for as cheap as I can get one. Power with that is a must, but the difference will not be worth the cost. Also, although the compression will be around 7.8:1 or 8:1 it will not be a noticeable difference from 8.5:1 which is a common ratio for most post 60's pre 90's engines.

Now to call me arrogant is uncalled for. I said that what you said sounded like "bs" to me. I'm basing this on what seems right to me. I checked it out, found you were right and coming back on to defend the 360. Now you can write "I'm not trying to make you mad." all you want but the fact of the matter is you did. I wasn't trying to make you mad, but I did, and what did I get for doing that? A post insulting me by calling me arrogant and telling me that people are ignoring me because you and 71 think I'm arrogant. If anything, your post is hypocritical and 71 is a coward for not having said what you said yourself. He had to sit back and wait for someone else with more ***** than him to say what he thought, which by the way is totally off base. I stand here saying my peace in solitude, try that next time 71.

Erik

 

BTW has anyone actually built a 360 that can tell me for sure what kind of hp and torque was gained or experienced or meassured. I would like to hear a voice of experience.

Erik

 

Back in the '80's my brother built a 360 back to stock factory condition, and put it in the '70 F100 (it was his at the time). He did, however, use a 4 barrel intake and headers. That thing would fly. I would estimate the horsepower at around 250. I think you'd be better off using a smaller crane cam, like the 343971 or 343901. The 901 is slightly bigger than the stock cam, the 971 almost matches it, while adding 30+ years of camshaft technology. Check here for info on Crane's cams. Notice that on all cam listings they list a recommended compression ratio.