390 Heads
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390 Heads
Hey,
This is my first time on the board. I have to confess to having owned Mopars most of my life. My father has a Ford though and its turning my hair gray. He has a 1972 Ford 250 Camper Special. He got a rebuilt 390 from a fairly reputable shop for it about 2 years ago. He has had nothing but trouble with it since. The story is long and I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say that he finally broke down and called me. When he said he had 180 lbs of compression in each cylinder the light began to come on. According to my calculations, that means he has at least 10.2 or 10.3 to 1 compression. He has been running pump fuel. The moral of this story is that he seems to have the high compression 390 heads. My books say they went as high as 10.5 to 1. High compression may be great for a racing engine, but not for a truck used to pull a trailer. So, after all of that here is the question. First, where are the casting numbers on a 390 head? Second, are the high compression heads worth anything to someone else?
Thanks
This is my first time on the board. I have to confess to having owned Mopars most of my life. My father has a Ford though and its turning my hair gray. He has a 1972 Ford 250 Camper Special. He got a rebuilt 390 from a fairly reputable shop for it about 2 years ago. He has had nothing but trouble with it since. The story is long and I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say that he finally broke down and called me. When he said he had 180 lbs of compression in each cylinder the light began to come on. According to my calculations, that means he has at least 10.2 or 10.3 to 1 compression. He has been running pump fuel. The moral of this story is that he seems to have the high compression 390 heads. My books say they went as high as 10.5 to 1. High compression may be great for a racing engine, but not for a truck used to pull a trailer. So, after all of that here is the question. First, where are the casting numbers on a 390 head? Second, are the high compression heads worth anything to someone else?
Thanks
More Turbo
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 507
Likes: 2
From: Pasadena US
390 Heads
Before you get all exicted over the heads, lets see what they are. The casting number is on the exhaust side of the head, near where the manifold bolts are. It's probably all rusted as the paint burns away in the area. Clean ir up and see what it says. There will be a letter then a number folowed by two more letters. This will be followed by 6049 and another letter.
Pete's Ponies
Mustang RUSToration & Performance
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Mustang RUSToration & Performance
Laughing Gas
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 1,188
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From: yes
390 Heads
C8AE-H is a standard emmisions era head, just because he got high cranking pressure doesn't mean he has high compression, but, C8AE-H was used on the 390GT which was around 10.2:1 so the mechanic might have made him a 390GT. they are good heads, the standard valve size is 2.03/1.56 you might bump back his timing and have it run on premium fuel, just out of curiousity, what kind of gas milage does he get? and does it have a 2v or 4v carb
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390 Heads
Its got a new Carter 650 AFB on it and it was getting terrible gas mileage. Around 6 - 8 MPG on pump fuel. I am going to suggest that he find someone willing to trade him some 70's 390 heads from a truck for his. I don't think he will have much trouble finding someone to trade him. According to my manual the 390 came in 1968 with either a 2 barrel or a 4 barrel carb. The two options had very different compression chamber sizes (and consequently compression ratios!) With the 2.03 valves were these from a 4 barrel engine? That's my supposition. Thanks for all the help.
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390 Heads
By the way, give me a ballpark guess what these heads are worth. The will need new valves, but the guides were new 8,000 miles ago.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,613
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From: Gainesville, FL
390 Heads
You've got a hot rod on your hands. There are some problems and some solutions. No matter what you do, if your towing, your going to get bad gas mileage. The truck is heavier than most and the more horsepower, the better. Secondly, those 1968 heads do not have stelite valve seats. Running it on unleaded gas is a death wish for the valve train. You probably already have the heads pulled since you know the valve size, right? Get a valve job and run premium gas with a lead substitute. Retard your timing to 4 degrees BTDC. If your really concerned about the compression there is a old trick for the desperate; install two head gaskets to increase deck height. This is not a cure all, in fact, it can be a disaster. Intake seals may not fit after this modification. But, if the block has been decked and the heads machined it will work well.
Good Luck, Have Fun,
Kingfisher
Good Luck, Have Fun,
Kingfisher
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Oct 1999
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From: yes
390 Heads
According to my manual the 390 came in 1968 with either a 2 barrel or a 4 barrel carb. The two options had very different compression chamber sizes (and consequently compression ratios!) With the 2.03 valves were these from a 4 barrel engine? That's my supposition. Thanks for all the help.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jun 1999
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From: Creedmoor, North Carolina
390 Heads
Donald, If your dad can't handle that engine, have him bring it to Durham NC and He can have the 352 with 7,000 mile on the rebuild out of my truck. I would like to see him happy. :-)
John
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Cargo Master
Joined: Jul 2000
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From: Northern California
390 Heads
I have a 360 that runs 180# of compression and it handles pump gas with no problems. I also have a 428 that runs 210# or compression and I also run pump gas on that as well. I think the 180# is normal for a 8.5:1
The C8AE-H heads are very common on the trucks and you should not consider trading them. If you already have them off, I'd polish the combustion chambers and reinstall them. 180# is NOT a problem, that is what you should have for a stock 390. Some truck got the lower compression pistons (410 pistons in a 390) but this reduced the squish effect and was a bad idea.
Keep the 180 compression and look elsewhere for the problem.
By the way, what was wrong with the engine? How did it run? was it pinging?
I really think your looking at the wrong area, but we really need some specifics about what the engine was doing to give intellegent answers.
The C8AE-H heads are very common on the trucks and you should not consider trading them. If you already have them off, I'd polish the combustion chambers and reinstall them. 180# is NOT a problem, that is what you should have for a stock 390. Some truck got the lower compression pistons (410 pistons in a 390) but this reduced the squish effect and was a bad idea.
Keep the 180 compression and look elsewhere for the problem.
By the way, what was wrong with the engine? How did it run? was it pinging?
I really think your looking at the wrong area, but we really need some specifics about what the engine was doing to give intellegent answers.
More Turbo
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 507
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From: Pasadena US
390 Heads
These are not high performance heads. They are run of the mill FE heads; not bad, just common. The valve sizes are the same for almost all FE heads, except the high performance heads. This being so, there is no reason why this engine would not run well. I had these heads on my original 360, which ran great until I added the 428. The 428 has early ( 61) heads with slightly bigger combustion area, but more CID to squish into it also. I have no problems with pump gas. I would check the ignition timing to see what it is running, both initial and total. If the heads are off, have them adapted to stainless seats.
Pete's Ponies
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