Hi there

Well I finally am starting to get my 69 crew 4x4 highboy half decent, I thank everone for advice along the way. I have the new dash welded in and new guages out of an f 600 looks sweet. I just put in petronix Ignitor II I didn't notice much of a difference so I'm not sure if I need new plug wires as I got the flame thrower coil. any way I just rebuilt my holly 500 for it and it runs way better but I am sad to say I thingk the engine is dieing and will need somthing differt well 5 of the plugs were covered in oil after only a day of driving so that's rings of valve seals????? right well

long story short I have another 68 crew that runs good and the trany is good it's a 2 wheel drive the swap should be the same right??? also a 390 would bolt to the 4 speed trany??? I have a guy that maby has a 460 is there a big job to get it in to my pickup???? what other engines would bolt up to my 4 speed trany??

any help ot comments would be appreciated as winter is going to come and I don't want to be working on it in a snow bank

thanks
Aaron

 

360, 390, 352, 428 would all bolt up to your tranny. Make sure you use the correct flywheel for the engine, though, since some had a different balance. It would be a fair amount of work to put in a 460, you would need the bellhousing and perches from a donor truck.

 

the fly wheel is the same for all fe engines except 428 and 410

 

well no it is not some have different amounts of teeth.

 

but the balance is the same is what I was getting at

 

360/390 are identicle. 352, not so sure about, but that's not an issue here.

The only difference between a 360 and a 390 was the stroke, and the 390 was a much better engine for power building due to the longer stroke.

I wouldn't waste time with a 460 conversion, you might gain some power, but never have the same reliability.(Might just be my own opinion, but the FE blocks are still my FAVE Ford engine!)

Oil on the plugs...the engine is on it's way out. It's likely more than just the rings or the valves, but likely a combination of both.

Word of advice. Don't just drop another engine in, look at rebuilding it first, and do it right. Spend a few bucks on an engine worth building, and build it to where it not only runs well, but gets decent fuel mileage.

My last 390 was punched out .060 over, ran 10:1 pistons, a dual pattern Comp Cams 260/270 RV cam and a 2bbl carb re-worked for side-hilling(mountain country).

The only reason I stuck with the 2bbl carb at the time was because they are easier to keep running in off camber situations, and I was running some trails at the time that put you to near roll over angles. Not a time to lose fuel feed.

Edelebrock makes a great off-road 4 barrel. 600cfm would be about the right size for even a 352 CID FE block. 500 is a bit small, unless you're running a 302 Y block.

If you do not have to bore out to max, the minimum .030 over-bore is best to start with. I'd go with 9 or 9.5:1 compression pistons if I did it again for fuel choices only. Likely the 9:1's as they'll allow for regular gas. the 10:1's gave me premium only for a choice, and at today's rates....yeesh!

Stock pistons in most of these trucks were between 7.5 and 8.5:1, so 9:1 is a nice increase without sacrificing everyday driveability(at the pumps). Along with that, increased compression gives better fuel mileage thanks to the extra power. If you have the resources, roller cams, roller lifters and true roller rockers allow for better fuel mileage and power as well. Less resistance, less vibration, more efficient power transfer. Just some thoughts.