New to this forum, this is my first post. I just bought a 73 F-100 Explorer with a 360 2V., not a dent, still has original Exp. wheel covers, yellow with the white stripe at the bottom (owned by a little ole man who only drove it to the dominoe hall, ha, ha)
I'm normally a GM guy but Dad had a 72 model before he died and I just had to have it. Truck hasn't been run in a while but is in great shape for the year.
I'm a mid 50's guy who wants to preserve a little of his youth so I will keep it as close to original as possible, BUT, I am aware that the 360 can be a little weak. I don't want to go into the engine (390 internal parts yet) so my real question is what can be done externally, different heads (would 390 help?), intake, carb, exhaust, spark to make a 350 chevy guy jealous?
You guys seem to have experimented and be quite knowledgable. Thanks for your replies.

 

With a stock 360 you could throw pretty much any FE head on and it would be the same (they're all pretty good).

The first thing I would do is put a 4bbl intake on (junkyard cast ones are cheaper, but aluminum is much lighter) with a good carb. I prefer Edelbrock carbs but many others swear by Holley.

I would then put on better ignition, my preference is MSD.

Then get yourself some headers and dual exhaust.

Then if you still need more power, start building the engine.

Oh--and the best part, all of these improvements can be transferred over to your next engine.

 

First off, I would get yourself some headers. Then get a 4 bbl intake manifold off of a 390. As far as heads, I'm not an expert.... but lots of guys on here can help. JMO

 

Most effective horsepower gain with a 360 is to pull it and put a 390 in there. Those 30 cubic inches and the 1/4"+ longer stroke do amazing things to the preformance output.

 

Thanks guys, are there any specific numbers I should look for on the intake? What size carb and is it a bolt on with no or little modifications to linkages etc?

 

As far as the numbers on the intake, I can't remember sorry. But a 600 cfm carb would be fine. And it should be pretty much bolt on. I'm in the process of doing this right now.

 

I remember my completely stock (rebuilt) 360 in my highboy, and that thing woke up just with a set of headers. Putting a 4bbl on it extended the usefull RPM range - a lot.

Be prepared to carb (and distributor) tune for these.

Another thing to think about, a pre-72 timing set (timing chain and gears). The 72-up 360's were way detuned by changing the cam timing. It made it pretty limp.

Like Bear said though, a fresh 390 would be a mind-blower. It's amazing what that extra stroke does ...

 

Ok, here comes another dumb question. Whenever you say tune for these exactly what are you refering to? Also, with the pre-72 gears, will that change the distributor setting. Don't know what the dist runs off of on a Ford unless it would be the cam.

Can the oil pan come off while the engine is still in the truck.

I haven't actually picked this truck up yet, just getting ideas on where I want to start so I can't actually look at it.

I do believe it will be a classy ride whenever I finish. Just want it to run and sound good.

Thanks for your help.

 

A couple things I've done to my '75 360 were...

1) when it got rebuilt, put in a Comp Economy cam that got rid of the advanced cam timing trouble your 72 prob'ly has too. '71 was the last year for most engines but seems like others including the 360 pickup engine was de-tuned in a couple steps. That may not all be from advancing the cam timing tho might be partly from compression or carb de-tuning?

Retarding the stock cam 4 degrees will do a pretty good job of undoing that monkey business. :) More power -and- better gas mileage -and- more usable power range.

2) cut the exhaust off right behind the Y pipe and found out that sucker was complete crap inside. The one pipe is welded to another and the straight through pipe had a football shaped hole, torch cut and no bigger than a golf-ball more like a jack-ball. :/ I made mine look inside and out, like a header collector. (lost my picture)

That was a big step in power, it added almost 2 cylinders to that bank. :)
Headers and duel exhaust gains are partly right there, see? :)
They are getting gains from a double whammy. ;)

The DuraSpark system was already on my '75 F150 and IMO one of the best things that ever happened to engines. That or an after market setup will be money well spent. :)

3) Changed out the booster assembly on the stock 2100 carb that included improved emusion tubes. Your 72 might already have the better type. I'll try to get some pictures, been meaning to do that anyway. :)
Big step forward in usable power with that too, for my smogged-down '75.
That's not something you buy that's something to fix with a soldering iron and a drill. I just happened to have stumbled across a set and tried them out. :)

Anyway...
Just wanted to add my dumb-tinkering stuff to the thread... these guy's will have you putting a full race cam and hand-made pistons in it etc before you know it. ;)

Alvin in AZ

 

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Something you can do quick is to pull the distributor, remove the breaker plate and look underneath to see what you have. Got my '65 10 months ago and it was a rough running 72 360-2V in it. Cleaning out the sludge, a new exhaust and a rebuilt 2100 by Pony Carb made the engine more tractible. Yet still it was a lump on the road. The I got into redoing distributors and the trucks was the first. Had greased up centrifugal weights and only 20 degrees internal advance. This with the 8 degrees initial was next to nothing. Pulled the distributor cam and replaced with a 13L/18L cam and set for 26 degrees internal combined with 13 degrees intial which the engine liked a lot. Replaced the heavy spring with one light spring and left the other one as is. Set vacuum advance at 12 degrees and took it out. Now there was no doubt a definite improvement in acceleration with this mix. Power is up considerably and mileage has also increased some due to the increase in advance at cruising speeds. This was quick ,easy and cheap to do.

 

FE's,like most engines, love headers. If you're new to FE's be aware that when you remove the stock manifolds you will likely need to apply heat to the top bolts, take care not to twist them off or your life will become a living hell. A 4bbl would be good, another option might be a 500 holley 2bbl, they bolt right on and seem to be plentyfull and cheap.

 

Just an opinoin - I'd start with a set of good long-tube headers and a dual exhaust with flow-thru mufflers. ( let the gasses out easier before you make more of them ) Then, I'd add a 'plastic' 1" spacer under the carb. Then a tune > plugs / wires / carb adjust / etc. That alone will make a difference. I added a 2' x 3" exhaust tip to each. Instead of a "blaaat" it sort of growls - quiet but deep toned. I get asked "just what is under the hood?"

 

What ever you do, do NOT get the 500 holley 2b, get the 350 2b if you are going to stay with a 2b, beleve me and save yourself a giant pile of trouble.

 

Seems every FE thru that era had the cams retarded, even replacement gear sets were retarded due to the smog restraints they had to meet.
Every FE I've worked on or owned woke up by advancing the cam including fuel mileage gains.
360's have the BMEP numbers matching Briggs & Stratton, why reduce it more by retarding may I ask?