ifergusson: Sounds like you hit one of the rare dual bolt pattern 400 blocks there...
The 370 block is externally the same as a 429/460, If you really wanted to, you could make a 370 look like a 460 easily and vice versa.
Evan

 

Yes, 370's do exist. They are in older F-500's (70's models), F-600's, 700's and a few 800's. The 429 was available to '98 I think, in the F-700's. Never seen a 370 in a pickup though. From what I hear, they're pretty reliable engines.

 

I used to run a tow truck with a 370 propane engine in it. It was reliable but completely gutless. About 60MPH was all you were going to get and it wasn' revving too hard there either. I don't understand the whole converting to propane without raising the compression thing. Its kind of like putting race gas in a 7:1 smogger.

 

I am trying to put a 370 4v in my 78 f150 4x4. It was going fine untill I tried to install the 460 c6 torque converter and found the snowt diamiter is to big to fit in the 370 crank by about 3/8". Does anyone know if there is a converter that I can buy for this?

 

370 is an industrial engine. Front motor mount, lousy heads. Found strictly in big trucks. Gutless wonder. You don't want one in your pickup.

 

429/460 blocks all have 2 bellhousing patterns. They will also accept the Lincoln 462 tranny, which is the same pattern except at an angle so that it misses one of the top bolts, as iferguson said. Could be that his Cougar had an FMX in it using the 462 bell housing. Yes, it's strange, but then many other things that Ford did in that era are as well.

 

I already rebuilt the 370 and just need to know if there is a torque converter so I can finaly install the engine. LOTS of money to rebuild. so I dont want to hear about gutless now.Front motor mounts? PS it has 429 heads on it.

 

Gutless wonder?? Show me any gas mill in a 26,000 lb truck that's not a gutless wonder. In a pickup you may have more power at low rpm than you know what to do with. I just don't know anyone that has ever tried it. Keep us posted on how it works out.

Another option would be to find someone that needs a 370 in a truck and sell it. Use the funds to buy a 460 and have the best gas engine Ford NEVER put in a 70's 4X4

 

jimlj, I really doubt it. The torque specs for the 370 are nothing spectacular. The only way they got it to move a big truck like that was to make it rev 4500 - 5000 RPM at highway speeds. I drove one - I know. It took off like a slug, with the engine constantly revving at high RPMs no matter what gear you were in. It guzzled gasoline. The torque converter stall speed must have been 2000 RPM or more.

The 370 has the same stroke as a 429, so where is all this torque coming from? The 429 has more, to say nothing of gobs more HP, and the 460 is off the scale in comparison.

 

The 370, 429, and 460 were built on the same production lines in Lima Ohio. When I worked there the 370s and 429s were all industrial, marine, or RV motors and we didn't build that many.

I am told but don't know for sure that "385" was a series designation that related to a plan to put that size motor in the Edsel (which died about the time they put the Lima plant into production).

 

It couldn't have had anything to do with the Edsel. The last Edsel was 1960, and the 385 engines didn't arrive until 1968.

385 is a block family designation, just like 335 refers to the Cleveland/Modified family of blocks. There was never a 385 cubic inch engine.

 

We have replaced the modual, pickup coil, coil pac, coil wire, and ohmed out most of the wiring harness and still no fire through the plugs and replaced the distribter. Can you think of anything else that I might of missed? P.s. its an 370 industrial motor for a water truck.

 

Always thought it was the 385 series due to the 3.85 stroke of the 460. Makes some sense. But then the 335 series would make no sense, if it was the intent to name the series by stroke. As with many things from the era, one is left wondering.

 

Start at the battery and test for juice at every step of the way until you hit the gap. Or, start at the plug gap and work backwards to the battery till you find voltage. Best I can do from here.

 

Hey everyone,
I'm new to the forum. I have a 1974 crewcab F350 powered by a 370 with an allison automatic behind it. It has a flat bed with mini 5th wheel, gooseneck hitch and reciever hitch. It has all the pulling power you could ask for but only gets about 6 mpg. The way its geared, it is turning just under 4000 rpm at 75mph.