I have a 78 F350 that was custom built for U-Haul. It has a 330 with a NP435 trans. I would like to boost the power by swapping the engine. I would also like to keep it simple...without having to change a lot of things like bell housings, etc. Do you have any suggestions? Also, is the 330 an FE or an FT engine? I'm new to this stuff and have quite a bit to learn. Thanks for any help you may have to offer.

Arlian

 

I belive the 330 is an FE. Even if it is an FT, it should still bolt to the same tranny and motor mounts. A 390 is probably the most readily available and affordable engine with a substantial power boost. You can go from there to the variations of 406, 410, 427 and 428 FE motors. It depends on how much power you want and how much you want to spend. The 390 is usually the the best power for your $ in the FE series.

 

330 is an FT.
332 is an FE.

 

Gtex has givin you very good info.

Also you Might look into rebuilding the 330 that is in the truck now. It MAY bore to the 390 4.05" size. The only real way to know is a sonic check. The bigger bore with a 390 crank you could be in business. But there may be other factors you need to deal with also. It wouls be easiest if you could get a complete 390 engine.


If I were looking for a new motor I would look for a 390 out of a car. They had Higher compression from the factory. which gives a little more power and gas mileage.

Hope this info helps.

Scotty

 

I forgot to mention one thing. I use the truck to tow a boat/trailer package weighing in around 8500 lbs. I NEED more torque/power.

Thanks for the feedback.

Arlian

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 01-Nov-02 AT 07:44 AM (EST)]Whoa!!!! You through a wrench in the program there!

428 FE or start thinking about a 460 conversion. 8500lbs is a good haul. You need torque and lots of it: Starting at low RPM and holding through the powerband.

You could probably do this with a 390. But, If you are going to change motors anyway, get some oomph, lot's of oomph!!

 

Arlian, is your 330 a Medium duty or a Heavy duty ? I've seen them both ways....what ford put together for a U-haul is anyones guess. If you are trying to get more power, switching to a 390 or a 391 would be a big improvement. Look at the front of the crank shaft and try and see if you can tell if you have a small snout cast crank or a large snout forged crank. At any rate, your 330 has, IIRC, a 3.50 stroke and a 3.875 bore- not enough inches ! Any 390 or 360 block will be fine. The passenger car/light truck heads breathe alot better than the FT heads, you'll gain some power here as well. Anyway, the FE and the FT have the same bolt patterns all over, so this won't be to hard. Is your engine bolted in with side motor mounts like a pickup or is it mounted with ears on the bell and big mount across the front ? DF

 

I just took a look at it. There's a wide beam over the front suspension components and there are pads on either side of the block that attach to 'teapot' handle-shaped steel stampings. That's the best way I know to describe it. The beam I mentioned goes right underneath the oil pan.

When I first got the truck, there was a decal on the valve cover that said 330XD. I read somewhere that there were 3 versions; a medium duty, an extra duty and a heavy duty. I would guess they would be MD, XD, and HD??

Does any of this sound familiar?

THanks for your help.

Arlian

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 02-Nov-02 AT 05:28 PM (EST)] Arlian, sounds like pickup truck style mounts to me. Those are a little easier to deal with. A 390 with car style pistons ( Silvolite 1130s ) will be a big improvemant. D2TE-AA cylinder heads would work great. The only snag I can see is how the water pump and alternator and P/S pump is hooked up. If your 330 has the forged crank, you'll need to get some car/pickup style front dress. If you use a 391FT short block, the 330 front dress will fit. DF

 

Before you guys get too carried away, let me remind you that the as far as cranks are concerned, I think two were used on the 330 FT. The light duty version used a standard cast iron 352 FE crank. This crank is internally balanced. If you have this crank (remove pullies and balancer and measure the diameter of the snout), you can simply swap in any 360/390. The medium and heavy duty 330's used a forged steel crank with larger counterweights, a larger snout(1.75" vs 1.375"), a thicker flywheel flange and a deeper pilot bushing bore. These cranks are externally balanced.
Now if you have the MD or HD 330FT and you want to swap in a 390FE, then you'd better get an engine complete with the timing cover/fuel pump and all associated brackets for ps, ac, and alternator. In addition, if you replace an FT with an FE, you may need to add a 3/16" shim to the crankshaft to account for the thinner flywheel flange of the FE's. I'm not positive about this, though. This will just be one of those deals where you'll have to compare and measure everything before cranking the bolts down.
If you do have the MD or HD 330FT and you want more power, why not just swap in a 361 or 391FT? Look in F500's and F600's for these engines. Should be a straight forward swap, providing your truck actually has an FT and the motor mounts are the same.
Sorry for the book.

 

Jason, what is this about a 3/16ths shim ? If you measure the flywheel flange on the cast and on the forged crank, the forged crank actually has the thinner flange, but only by .001. The confusion stems from the fact that the protrusion in the center of the flange sticks farther back for the big pilot bearing on the FT cranks. You have to choose the right pilot bearing, but the crank flanges pose no problems in the interchangeablity. DF

 

I'm pretty certain it is either a medium duty or heavy duty. As for the replacement engine, I am in luck. A guy is giving me a (73 or 74?) camper special with dual wheels. It ran until about 4 years ago when the c-6 went. He said the engine was still running then. I haven't seen the truck yet, but he says that it has everything on it that it did when he parked it. It has a 390 in it. This way I will have all of the front engine dressing to complete the package.

As for the shim discussion, I'm slightly out of my league. Are you talking about a difference in crank length (protrusion) on the rear of the engine where the bell housing would be affected?

Since the engine that is in this truck is already married to a C-6, would it be in my best interest to rebuild that tranny and use it instead of the np435? So far, I see one definite problem. My emergency brake is on the rear end of my current transmission. I'm not sure what would be involved in updating the backplate for my Dana 70 rear axle so that I could install regular emergency brake cables? Any suggestions, or should I just swap engines and avoid the hassle? Also, I'm not sure if the engine/tranny supports would be the same or if the ones with the C6 would fit my chassis (73/4 to a 78)? Lots of unknowns until I tear into it.

Thanks again for all of the information and help. This is really beneficial to us inexperienced folks.

Arlian

 

Cal, your post rings a bell... yeah, your right. I'm going to have to write this down in the book.