I have a 69 F-100 that came with a 360 in it. The 360 has seen better days and I was planning to build it up to a 390, but figured what the heck, I need to change a bunch of stuff anyways so why not go to a 410. I know I need a 428 crank, new flywheel, 390 rods, and some pistons. What I am wondering about is, what would you choose for the rest of the engine: cam, intake, heads, ingnition, carb, and headers. The truck will be driven on the street, light to moderate hauling from time to time, and will go to the drag strip occasionally to battle Chevys and those blasted imports (they just don't look or sound right as a drag car). Plan to put a Tremec TKO in it, no plans for the rear end yet. Also thinking of putting an aftermarket aluminum crossflow radiator in along with an electric fan if there is one that can pull enough air. As far as compression ratio goes I would like to keep it low due to the price of premium gas. I do not know of this is possible or not. Thanks for your thoughts, Anthony

 

Well it looks like you are going after the same thing as I did with my truck with the exception of compression. If you can afford it go with the edelbrock RPM package with the exception of the cam. It is a little too hot for a heavy street vehicle. I like the 343801 cam from crane as do many others here. You should be able to run 9.5:1 on low octane gas with the aluminum heads. Otherwise I would say 9:1 is about all you want. Make sure to use ARP rod bolts & oil pump driveshaft and modify the oiling system as described in earlier posts. For ignition many people use and recommend the pertronix deal that replaces your points with a hotter coil. I am going MSD all around. A 750cfm carb will be about right for ya. As for headers I use the flowtech headers for the 67 - 72 f-100s. They aren't pretty but I have had no leaking problems and they port match perfectly to my heads. There are much better headers out there but of course $$$ is involved. If you decide to go with the tremec please consider making a spot in the tech articles describing what you did to make it work. Many of us would greatly appreciate it.

 

I tried to post this last nite, but it apparently got lost, so here goes again.
I'm in the midst of re-assembling the 410 that I acquired recently. It has been a real educational process, and maybe you can benefit by my mistakes and do your research AHEAD OF TIME, rather than afterwards like I did.
The 410 that I got was out of a '66 Merc, and supposedly in good running condition, so I figured to drop it into my Hi-Boy and drive happily-ever-after. LOL! When I took a close look, it turned out to be pretty much a basket-case, needed boring, crank turned. Plus, I reluctantly became convinced that running 10.5:1 in a heavily loaded truck probably wouldn't be ideal anyway.
So, I took all my pieces to my friendly machinist, and started gathering up the parts to make it work. Had it bored to +.040, crank turned to .020 under, hardened exhaust valve seats, new exhaust valves, guides, rocker arm shafts, Silvolite 1139 pistons, Crane 343941 cam, lifters, and springs, McCleod flywheel(ouch!), etc., etc. Anyway, you get the picture!?!
About the time my machinist finished the heads, I finally decided to peek thru the hands covering my eyes, and figure out for sure where all this was heading. TOO LATE!
According to the KB-Silvolite website calculator, the quench distance using 1139 pistons with Permatorque head gaskets was going to be at .073"(.032+.041), which could be prone to detonation. The CR was going to wind up at 9.7 - 9.9 depending on the head combustion chamber size. NOT GOOD for the heavy hauler that I am trying to assemble. To check this, we mocked up one cylinder, and sure enough, the deck clearance measured at .035", even WORSE than calculated.
So, no problem, let's just use steel shim head gaskets and then dish the pistons to get the CR back down to a little more livable number. Oops, the piston decks are too thin!
OK, then we'll just round up some other pistons that will allow more dishing? Well, if you want to pay Ross to custom forge a set to the tune of $650+, fine.
This is starting to get really scary, kind of like being on top of a runaway train moving too fast to jump off!
To shorten my story considerably, after much contemplation and soul-searching, I decided to get Edelbrock 427 heads with 76cc chambers, deck the block .020", and stick with the Permatorque gaskets that Edel recommends. This gets the quench down to a hopefully livable .055" and the CR winds up at about 9.8:1. From what I understand, using aluminum heads allows you to push the CR by up to "1" and still get away with minimal pinging. You can be sure that I have my fingers crossed REAL TIGHT about this bit!
FWIW, another reason that I decided to go with the Edelbrock heads rather than custom pistons was that I can re-use the heads on another project if I ever decide to, but what do you do with custom screwball pistons? Anybody want to buy some reconditioned C6AE-R heads?
Hopefully this sad story will give you enough of a nudge to check things out BEFORE you start, and not get caught with your guard down like I was. It's been a really expensive lesson. I'm just hoping that it turns out to be one torquey machine when I get it done so I can sleep at night again without waking up feeling dumb.
I'm sure that there are applications in a lighter vehicle that would not be adversely affected by a high CR, but I figured that I'd rather have a package that would last for sure and not take the chance.
Good Luck, Steve

 

If you buy stock pistons for a 76 390 you will have 410 pistons. I don't remember what the stock C.R. was though.

 

The pistons seem to be the trickiest thing. I am new to rebuilding engines and this is the one thing that really has me worried. The last thing I want to do is have the pistons sticking above the deck. I saw on some older posts that any piston that has a compression height less than 1.692" should be OK in a 410. Is this correct?? I have found some 390 truck pistons by Sterling in the Summitt catalog. It says that they are 8.2:1 compression, but with what size chamber it does not say. It also does not give the compression height of these pistons. Where might I be able to find it as I have looked in quiet a few places with no luck. If they would work it would be great as they are $11 each. Sure beats having to buy a set of customs. Thanks again, Anthony

 

The 410 had a compression height of 1.687" which put the piston .005 down the hole. The '76 390 had a compression height of 1.680" which put the piston .112" down the hole. This means that stock '76 390 pistons in a 410 would put the piston .012 down the hole. Not too bad. Now all we need to do is figure out how much of a dish the '76 390 pistons have to them and we can figure out compression.

 

i'd be interested in those c6aer heads. tomatoes@alltel.net. thanks. jim.

 

I don't know Rat. It looks to me like the compression height on 390 pistons is 1.760", unless you've got a line on something that I haven't found?!? The pistons are definitely the crux of this whole thing, so if you have a line on some workable pistons, I think the world is waiting for the word! Steve

 

Well all my information was from steve christs book. The sealed power pistons from parts america for the '76 390 claim a 1.66" height. I do know that these pistons have been used several times to make a 410 but I do not know the compression. Now most 390's prior to 1970 have a 1.77 - 1.78" height. Ford did not dish the pistons more to finish out the later low compression years like they should have. They just stuck them down the hole farther.