My 428 turned out to be a 429,,,yuck! Now rebuilding my 390 for my 72 F250 cs.I will be heavy!300 lbs for me plus a 13 foot cabover camper, and pulling a 16 foot fiberglass boat. My trans is a 3 speed stick with granny low. Which carb? cam? Intake? and headers should i run? points or electronic ignition? HELP! dahmer

 

Looking for a build recommendation? I think this one works good:

1. KB150 pistons. Look up part number "UEM-KB150030-8" on Summit, assuming a .030" overbore.
2. Mr. Gasket .020" steel shim head gasket, part number "MRG-1132" on Summit.
3. Ported / polished heads. Do it yourself if you feel up to it, to save money, or have someone do it. Just do it. FE heads respond so good to porting you'd be a fool not to. I'm not talking hog 'em out either, more of a clean it up and smooth it up job. Be sure to remove the emissions bump on the rear of the roof of the exhaust ports.
4. Stock 4 barrel iron intake. We've had some problems on here with the aluminum intakes sealing to the heads. Although I think this is more installation error than anything else, the stock iron intake will work great for what you're doing, and save you a little money along the way.
5. Crane 343901 camshaft, with matching valve springs and new lifters. Summit PN "CRN-343902" for the cam and lifter package, and "CRN-96801-16" for the valve springs. Those wont be in until March though, so the previously recommended Crane valve springs "CRN-99837-16" will work just fine.
6. Adjustable rocker arms and matching pushrods. See here: http://www.dscmotorsport.com/Cylinder/index.htm He charges $23 each for new adjustable rockers, yet he only charges $280 for the whole assembly. You want the "FE Adjustable Rocker Assemblies" and the "427 Ford Adjustable Pushrods". One is under the category "Rocker Arms - Iron and Steel" and the other is under the category "Push Rods".
7. Vacuum secondary 600cfm carburetor. Your choice as long as you can tune it properly.
8. Headers, dual exhaust, and good mufflers.
9. Ignition, whatever works and floats your boat. I prefer electronic. I like the Mallory Unilite distributors myself.

Depending on your cylinder head CC's, you're looking at from 9.04:1 to 9.55:1 compression. Desktop dyno thinks this thing will make around 374hp @ 5000rpm, and 442ft-lbs @ 3500rpm, with an extremely broad and flat torque curve.

Off topic:
I really need to write a tech article on how to properly build a 390 and have a moderator stickey it. Might not be good for my post count though.

 

that is the EXACT same build i am going to do when ever money comes my way. now that i see what kind of torque that makes i really want to do it that will be 1 heck of a stump puller espc if i ever find a truck with 4.11s to swap over.

 

Sounds good to me Rusty. tuvm. I to, like the stock dual plane intake,,even if it does weight too much. Do u think headers and a super single will work as good as true dual exhaust? I never knew adjustable vavle train was available. I need a wide torque curve due to the 3 speed trans(with granny), Hoping to get a 4 speed soon. Should help alot, shorter gear spread. Thank u once again,,DAHMER

 

Yeah, I suppose the single exhaust would work. Just go .5" bigger than you normally would on the pipe size. Or just match pipe size to header collector size.

 

DAMN. I must have bought the LAST set summit had for this 390 build I'm doing. They arrived in two days. But now I ordered another set for my personal 390 and I was wondering why they haven't even shipped yet. Where did you find out they won't be in til March?!

 

I will also use this for my 390 build up. This is EXACTLY what I have been looking for. Mine will be used in my Kaiser (look at the avatar), which weighs 6000 lbs and will be used for off-roading.

 

Rusty,

You should post your standard build recommendations. That would be great. I could have really used it when I had my 390 rebuilt. I don't even know what cam and pistons I ended up with.

 

Just go look it up on Summit. It says when the expected shipping date is.

Glad I could help with these builds. I like to hear how these things turn out, so check back when they're done. Or with questions before that.

I'll start a write-up. Dont know when I'll get it done though. I anticipate it would really cut down on the "Help me build my 390" threads on here. Not that there's anything wrong with that though!

 

I agree....
You should write it up. I'm having 390 problems and have been doing my homework by searching though the site. I find that I learn a ton more by searching rather than asking. ANyhow while doing this I came accross like 400 posts by rusty and others like him.
Tks for all the help and advice. Once I get all my questions, facts and goals together I will be posting a 390 what the heck do I do now post.

later
TFC