I measured my stroke on my engine and it wound up being a 360 but I did lean down and look at the casting number on the right side of the block and it says C7ME-A I thought this was wierd, isn't the "M" soposed to mean Mercury? this is in a 1968 ford pickup and all the other stuff is truck stuff I think. heads are C8AE-H and the intake is a '68 model the giant T on it.

did they just use Mercury blocks for the trucks or what? any ideas?

 

Not even pretending to be a FE expert, but, according to High Performance Ford by George Reid:

428ci 1967-68 c7me-a

c8ae-h 360/390/428 ci 1968 (w/thermactor)

I would think your 360 is really a 428!
Now that is an upgrade

 

thats interesting! cause it has a funny bracket for what I don't know just above the alt. bracket. I have never seen a bracket like this one on a 390 or 360 before. I geuss it is for a air pump? I didn't think they had them on the older engines. the engine tag is missing from the top of the engine so I can't give you those numbers. the truck door tag says its a 360 but now I am not sure. the engine does not apear ever to be rebuilt the best I can tell. I assume its just a 360 like the door said but that number is puzzling.
I didn't actually drive this truck because the brakes are not good and it had not run in ten years. got it from my neighbor down the road where it had been sitting under a shed. the other thing I did notice when I got it running is that it didn't sound like a boat because of lack of mufler it was quite healthy sounding with open pipe and no blurble.

man if this does turn out to be a 428 its got to be the cheapest one in history! only gave 100 for the whole truck! wanted it mostly just for the body.

sorry to go on like this I just got carried away!

 

Don't trust the Reid book, it's got a lot of problems.

Yes, C7ME-A blocks were 428's but...

they were also 410's, 390's, 360's and 352's in pickups.

You can't go by the block numbers after '65, they don't tell much.

Barry

 

Billy, Guys will swap all kinds of engines in for all kinds of reasons. A friend of mine was looking for a 390 block to rebuild and bought a 73 parked truck that turned out to have a running 410 in it for $200.00. Some guys have all of the luck. 428 not impossiable, while highly unlikely.
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thanks lots guys, its probably just a plain ole 360, I just saw that number on the side and got excited.

 

Billy:
A few id points for the 428... If you remove the center freeze plug, you should be able to see a 428 cast onto the floor of the water jacket. Also, if a 1/4 innch drill bit shank will not fit between the cylinder sleeves when going at them through the freeze plug hole. Lastly, a large "A" or "C" (sometime a "X" also)would be cast into the back of the motor or the flywheel face as it is called on the block indicate a 428.
Just more info.

 

I have personally seen original 360s from 1968 and 69 trucks with the C7ME-A code.

 

thanks Mike,

I am actually changing the freeze plugs anyway cause the left side center is seeping or had in the past and they look really rusty. some good ole brass marine plugs will do the trick. I am kinda sure it isn't a 428 because it apears to be internally balanced the damper on the front is even without any specific weight or lack there of anywhere, just round and about 1.5" thick.

I think Karl hit the nail on the head

the only other possibilty is its a 428 block with 360 crank but nobody I know whould go to that much trouble just to have a 360 anyway.

I will check the space between the cyclinders and let you know later.

so what year did they start puting air pumps on these trucks? or is that even what that goofy adjustible bracket to hold somethig above the alternator is?

 

Yeah that bracket is for the air pump, they started to appear in '66.

The 428 uses the same damper as the 360/390. It's the flywheel/flexplate that has the offset weight.

Only the 428 SCJ used an additional weight on the front snout. It was a separate piece, not part of the damper.

Barry

 

Mike,

there is no way a 1/4 bit would ever go between these. It has at most a 3/16 crack maybe, and thats after scraping the scale off.
I did manage to get a 3/16 bit wedged into the crack on the left side.

didn't look for a number on the floor of the water jacket its still to gross in there gotta give it a good hoseing out tomarrow.

I did rotate the engine around and looking thru the starter hole I did see that the flywheel has quite a few holes drilled into it on just one side.

thank you all for your input

 

Stargazer You state that you have a 352 stroke?? I am wondering if you might have a 330MD FT engine?? It has the same stroke as the 352, and was available in that casting. Might be something to look in to. It could also explain the thick wall casting you have between cylinder walls. I realize this is more MAYBE crap, but it could help explain a few things. But, chances are pretty good that until you pull heads and measure bores you will never know what you really have.

Scotty

 

I have a 360 in my F350 that has C7ME-A code. Don't under-rate the 360 the one in my one ton runs as well as my 390. I haven't had it that long and have only put new plugs in it, but it will run 70 mph in the quarter.


>I have personally seen original 360s from 1968 and 69 trucks
>with the C7ME-A code.

 

 

I just bought a 68 F100 with exactly the same code on the block, heads and intake as you have. Mine is a 390, according to
A) the vin code
B) the previous owner and
C) the cool badges on the fenders.

I also looked in Reid's book and had the same thought as you, but I went back and noticed that he states that casting numbers aren't always the same as part numbers. if you look at his block tables there are casting numbers and part numbers for the small blocks, but there are only part numbers for the big blocks.

What's really weirding me out is that my passenger side exhaust manifold casting is C5TE and the driver side log is C8AE.