Dear Forum,
I hope that someoone will make my life a little easier. I recently purchased a 65 short bed with a lot of mysteries. I was told it has a 390 and I have looked over the engine to verify but the only stamping I can find is 30 then 352 underneath it. If someone could tell me where to look- or if this is the ID, I would be forever in your debt (at least today) Love my slick!
Weezer
Dodge City, Kansas

 

Weezer, All FEs are 390s on sale day. LOL

Most likely you have a 352, it was the only V8 offered in 65, even though a 390 could have been swapped in.

The 352 on the block is a casting number, the 390s wore it to. The only way to tell if you have a 390 or 352 is to measure the stroke with a white house wire and a Sharpie.

John

 

Thanks for helping me out. I guess I'll get ambitious and see what I got!
Weezer

 

Here's the easy way to check the stroke without removing the head. Get a straight 12 inch piece of white electrical house wire or coat hanger wire. Get a magic marker. Remove the number 1 spark plug. Turn the engine over until the timing mark is at TDC. Now, put the wire in the number 1 spark plug hole with the wire resting on the top of the piston. (Because the old timing dampers sometimes will slip, the timing marks may be off. Make sure the engine is at TDC in the Number 1 hole by rocking the crankshaft back a forth a bit. When the wire is as high as it will go, it is at TDC. Once you are sure it is at TDC, continue.) Make a mark on the wire even with the lip on the valve cover. Now rotate the crankshaft 180 degrees, until the wire is at its lowest point. Mark the wire again, at the lip, and measure the distance between the two marks.

Here are the specs: 3.98 is the stroke for the 410 and 428 engines; 3.78 is the stroke for the 390, 406 and 427 engines and 3.5 is the stroke for the 352 and 360 engines.

You have uncovered one of Ford's greatest mysteries! They say there are unknown forces moving about in the vicinity of FE motors. These forces know not the effect of the work that they do, nor can they explain how they do it, it is so dark and fearful a thing.
You see, the night before sale day, these evil ones, some impish, some brutish, all descend upon their intended victim - the FE doomed for sale! Using powers utterly unknown to mankind, these ghouls of the garage perform a mighty transmogrification! YES! IT WORKS! And the lowly 352 and the shortchanged but stout little 360 are transmogrified into the MIGHTY 390!

Be careful here. 352s and 360s are indistinguishable on the outside from a 390. The plain and less than desirable 352s and 360s have an eerie and mystifying ability, a phenomenon not yet scientifically understood. Upon hearing the word SALE, they are able to somehow transmogrify themselves into a radiant and powerful 390. However, the effect wears off during the first night after the SALE is completed, and they revert to their former dull selves. (Research to capture this process to make it permanent without having to rebuild the sorry things is ongoing, but efforts to date have been fruitless. It is rumored that the Mechanics' Engine Rebuilders Cooperative "MERCs" has interfered with the testing laboratories, believing the discovery will cost jobs, but no proof is yet forthcoming. Details at 11.)

Of course their powers have only the 30-30 guarantee: 30 feet or 30 seconds, whichever comes first! Unfortunately, once you get it home your MIGHTY SUPER HERO 390 deflates to an underdog. ppptthhpphptphpptphpthphtpthh. ppth.

Hopefully, you have a real 390, but this will help you tell for sure.
Let us know what you find out!

 

Dear Banjopicker66,

Thanks so much for your entertaining as well as informative response. I will try this week to measure the old beast and set my mind at rest. I will let you know then, or you will hear my shriek the world over.
Weezer65