considering a few things like the cost of getting another motor swaping engine mounts and anything else that he would have to do to change engines, i would honestly stay with the 390. with the low gears in the NP435 I have never hooked on to any load that i wasnt able to pull easily. i live at the foot of the rockies in Wyoming i routinely towed a 20' gooseneck loaded with 4- 5 cord of firewood off of those mountains my 1/2 ton with a 360 never had a problem. these are some strong torquey motors they love to pull and work. yes the 460 is bigger and can put out a lot of torque but honestly unless he is hooking up to a semi trailer the 390 will handle it fine.

 

Yeh Id have to agree with you Fritolay. The 390 is very good an should get the job done. No question about it. For pure aftermarket the 460 would wins hands down. 25 years production for the 460 vs less then 10 years for the 390.. There are lots off add on performance goodies for the 460 by several diffferent companies. Other then Fords famous 300 six . The 390 an 460s had tons off torque down low which makes a great truck motor for sure. Either way you should be satisfied with the performance.

 

The 390 produce for less than 10 years??? Either you can't count or you are grossly misinformed or are smokin' dope. The 390 came on the scene in 1961 and lasted until 1976. Anyway you count it, that is more than 10 years. Besides the FE series, of which the 390 is a member lasted from 1958 thru 1976. Oh yeah, and the 390 lasted the longest of any CID in the FE engine family. None other in the FE series lasted 15 years, like the 390 did. Some only made it for a couple of years. In any case you are totally wrong about the 390, it is one of the best engines Ford ever built and is probably why there are still so many of them around. The only reason the 460 lasted as long as it did was the need for big CIDs for trucks and all the new engine series just weren't gonna have enough CIDs for the true heavy haulin'.

 

332 = 1958/59352 = 1958/67360 = 1968/76361 = 1958 Edsel only390 = 1961/76406 = 1962/63410 = 1966/67 Mercury Parklane427 = 1963/68428 = 1966/70

 

Damn FTE off/again on/again GLITCH caused that ^^ unreadable fiasco! ///

332 = 1958/59 // 352 = 1958/67 // 360 = 1968/76 // 361 = 1958 Edsel only // 390 = 1961/76 // 406 = 1962/63 // 410 = 1966/67 Mercury Parklane // 427 = 1963/68 // 428 = 1966/70.

 

Sorry glad everyone corrected me. The 390 was only in pickup trucks for less then 10 years. But definitlyl was around longer then that. The 460 was in pickups for close to twenty years. Although in cars before that. Sorry for the misinfo.

 

150, 'for pure aftermarket, the 460 wins hands down'......what would make you think such a thing ? What do you think is available for the 385 series that you can't get for an FE ? You can get new iron and aluminum blocks and heads for both, single and double 4 barrel intakes for both, blower intakes for both, cast and forged stroker cranks for both, any cam grind you can think of for both.......... The 460 is a fine engine, but I wouldn't remove an FE in order to use one. Think about what a trailer puller you could build with a 360 block and a 4.375 crank ( ~470 inches ) . Run ported iron heads, a Blue Thunder intake painted blue, tell folks its a 352. You, and your trailer, could show them nuthin' but tailights. DinosaurFan

 

If you are going to use your truck as a daily driver, then another concern is the price of fuel. The average 390 will get better mpg than an average 460 and still have the power that you need. For a limited use, high horsepower race engine, the 460 type engine can make more power. I chose to use 428 and 427 engines for my race application because I have a few of them. If I did not have so many FE engines, I would have built a 385 series engine, probably the 514.
For a daily pickup to pull trailers and 5th wheels, we have a PSD Diesel that gets 18.5 mpg at 70 mph empty. A 390 will get around 12 mpg, and a 460 will struggle to get 10 mpg. You can get better mpg if you drive slow or use other fuel saving techniques, but those are average mpgs. We average 13.3 mpg pulling our 5th wheel which is better than we averaged using the 390 or 460 engines empty.

 

390: 1961/71 passenger cars / 1968/76 F100/350's.

460: 1968/78 passenger cars / 1973/79 F100/350's & 1983/97 F250/350's, F(Super Duty) / 1975/79 E150/350's & 1983/97 E250/350 & E(Super Duty).

 

i got a 390 in my 66 and my dad has a 460 in a bronco i would rather have the 390 less promatic

 

I too have thought about this conversion but from reading i have learned alot of guys still hold a soft spot in their hearts for the ole 390, probably cause of its longevity. But alot of older fella's just plain like them so for me i am just gonna stick with what i have price of gas effecting my decision too. Just like the idea of a numbers matching vehicle. Hell my 390 in mine has never been touched and yet it still runs 40 years later. The driver has slowed down just a little but still has enough **** and vinegar to irritate the neighbors when i feel like it. Like what Dinosaur said, tell them its something much less then walk away from them. Guys on here are pretty knowlegable (sp) on every aspect so i would take their words as gospel. Ford guys knew what they were doing when they designed the 390 just my .02

 

I here yah. That what I love about Ford motors. Tough as nails can take abuse an keep on keepin on. Love your signature man. Awesome

 

Boy oh Boy !! If I had a dollar for everytime I had this convesation about the 390 vs the 460... Geesh ! LOL.. with what he's going to do with the truck pulling trailers from farm to farm and not looking to set any land speed records with it...Just use your 390 and call it good..

But when it comes to all out HP and TQ the 385 series motor win hands down is right...when you start comparing prices of the aftermarket parts for each...For every dollar spent you can get 2 to 1 Hp and Tq numbers out of the 385 series motors !

Anyway ! getting a realable FE to run a good 700hp alot of Ching Ching has to be dumped into them...and the 385 series can pretty much do that loafing and not stressing every part doing it... Thats just a plain "Fact"

Dont get me wrong.....I love my FE's...But I also know there's a hole other world out there that makes a damn near bullit proof build also.. But for a farm truck and you want it to sound sporty...Bump the CR up where it should be..Run an early timing set on it , So the cam isnt 4* retarded.. a small aftermarket cam, some cheap heddman headers and some cheap turbo mufflers and drive the **** out of it..

Then if you ever get seriuos and want to enter into some type of stock class Truck pulling... Find a D9 460 block throw a stroker kit in it, and a set of early 429 or 460 heads C8's C9's or if you can find em the D0VE with a nice port job...And go pull someones house down !! LOL

~RJ

 

Some old trivia;


Back in the early 70's, a stock 428 was a tenth quicker than a stock 429 with the same vehicle in the quarter mile.
Modern Ford and aftermarket parts has but the 385 series engine way ahead of our FE engines in the cubic inch and power department. Before starting building our race engines, I had five 428 and one 427 engine. If I did not have the FE engines, I would have built a stroked 460 and put it into a mustang body and it would have gone much faster than our FE in our Falcon, for a lot less money. But I love the FE.

 

Oh Yeah Lloyd I agree 100%..... But the story knowone knows about is even tho the 429 in the Stangs were only rated at 370hp underated, the 428 was faster..But what they didnt tell you all were run with factory stock rubber!! and trying to plant the stock rubber with the TQ the 429 had was next to impossible with the tire compounds of the day!

the two quickest Stangs in SS that "I" know of with 428 in both are the father and son team...I dont recall there names off hand? But there pushing the MAX limits of the semi stock blocks and with all top of the line parts available @ 750hp

I have Buds in the NMRA santioned races that run the fox bodied cars..and with a Eliminator, or A460 blocks these guys are running some 1200+hp and high 7 sec. ET slips on N/A motors....No power adders there.. All motor...

I have driven My Buds Stang at the local 1/8th mile track a couple years ago to keep him in the points run... and if you have even driven a car @ 2800lbs with driver and only 800hp and 650ft lbs of Tq.... You have your damn hands full and then some ...LOL..and its REAL Crazy on the street ..I think the word "INSANE" comes to mind.. LOL

~Russ