my 73 with a 360, has 135k miles on it and just made the drive from Tucson to Houston in 3 days. Tune up's, filters, and oil changes are all that have ever been done. Bout to do a rebuild and debating keepin it a 360 or going to 390.

 

get a 428 crank in it!!

 

My other 390 I owned was an animal (and so is my current) my other one had a 4bbl 750cfm Avenger, 4V heads, FULL MSD, Hooker Long tubers, Radical Cam and a full open air cleaner (no metal, all filter), never did a dyno, i regret it now. truck was wrecked while parked after a couple street racers had the smart idea of racing in the parking lot, truck fought till the end, still started up, just couldn't drive, when the truck started it REALLY rocked to the right, as soon as it did that, the drive line dropped, T case wouldn't shift, tranny was stuck in 2nd, pulled the motor, and sold it to buy my current.

My current one has just the radical cam, and scares the hell outta my wife, in 2nd, just rolling she said it's wasn't like my other one, romped it and listened to her scream, watching her tryin to grab for a handle that didn't exist.

as for how bullet proof the are, and don't quote me on this, but a former friend of mine had one, caught on fire 4 times (told him to stop patching the coil wire with non sealing butte connectors) finally it had a really bad fire, the other ones happened close to where we had access to a fire extinguisher, this one was on top of the underground tank fill ports at a gas station, and remarkably, they didn't have an extinguisher.

I towed it home with my old 390, after 3 weeks of cleanup, and replacing the obviously damaged components, i didn't get 2 full pumps outta the carb before it ripped up and started screaming, since we parted ways, i hear/see him driving every so often, we still push the clutch and hit 2k on the tach upon passing, it's just our way of showing appreciation for our old fords.

I'll never part with mine as long as I can manage.
I quit drinking just to fuel my monsters, if that don't tell you how much I love my truck idk what else will.

 

Personally I'd take a 390 over a 351m, 400 or 351c. And I'd take just about anything over a 351m or 400. I think I'd rather put the 2.0 from my Focus in my truck before a 400, probably makes more power too.

 

4barrel and a good set of duals helps alot, hp jumps from 143hp on up towards 200ish, not to mention the 360 factory torque rating was 375ftlbs in 68. my friend has a 155hp dodge d100 318 and my big supercab 360/c6/3.08 gear blows him off the road. fe was one of the most versitile ford v8s ever constructed ranging from 332,352.360 torque monsters to 390,427 side oiler,427 sohc ''cammers'',428cj an scj. no offence but a 390 it 3 times the motor a 400m is STOCK, i had one and it was a dog.but with tuning they can both be very good performers. all ford v8s were good just depends on your opinion and preference.

 

Hi Guys,
New here. I bought a '73 F100 4x4 a few years back. Runs good but has a fuel tank problem that needs to be resolved before I can drive it.

Very happy to hear some positive things about the 360. I remember driving a 1964 1/2 Galaxy with the performance 390 in it. Belonged to an uncle. Required about 75 pounds to depress the clutch. That thing was a screamer. I don't know what all was done to those engines...probably super high compression and other race type mods.

I'm just going to use my truck to haul a camper and I can't wait to get it operational...hopefully this summer.
Cheers,
J

 

for the 351 400m install a regualr dual roller timing chain and throw the stock one away, alumn 4 barrel intake, holley 650 carb, machine the rocker bases down to accept studs for adjustable roller rockers and put in a roller cam, well over 400 hp
Or 1970 460 365 hp stock, 10-1 comp 4v nothing done, all stock, oh and take that auto and throw it in the river
my 76 came with a 360 and b4 I bought it the guy said the best thing that happened to that truck was tearing it out of there and watching it go in the crusher!!!!
then install 460 nice build 450hp and thats the way its gona stay no 360-390 for me, if you guys have em and like em then ya can keep em

 

Just got off "FE engines" on the 'net". MUCH history avail... I have a 360 in my SC and a donor 390. The dif is the rotating assembly / much discussion on these engines in the past - My experience is brute bottom end and a LOT of power to be had with stock - even more if built right. MY build may (probably) be using the 360 block (matching nos.) and using the 390 crank with new 390 rods and 360 pistons. - bored 0.030 = about 411 cubes and ++ compression ratio - performance in an old farm truck > "Mopar Hunter". If a 350 Chubby can get 500 HP - what will a 360 Ford build too ? Much research + small $$ = "sleeper" loose-on-the-street. Start with a good exhaust / don't build power to let it get squeeze out.

 

A .030 over 390 is 395 cubic inches.

A .060 over 390 is 401 cubic inches.

An .080 over 390 is a 406 or with a 410/428 crank you'll have a 428.

Pretty fuzzy math to get 411 cubic inches from a 4.08 bore and 3.78 stroke.

Josh

 

Just to clarify...is this what you say, or is it what the PO said?

 

thats what I say, no PO

 

I just swapped in the 390 into my truck in place of the original 360...don't know how much HP/TQ is has but the difference is like night and day. I can also attest to the bulletproofness of the 360 as mine had the "Awesome" nylon timing gears and when i pulled the pan on 360 most of the teeth were in the pan...it still ran....rough and i had to mess with the timing every other day. So I stripped it down to the bare block and now i'm building a 406 for my 70 Galaxie.

 

Better have the block sonic-checked to verify if it can be bored .080 over for a 4.13 406 bore. For "352" DIF blocks it's about 1 in 40 can safely go .080 over.

For Reverse "105" MCC blocks it's about 1 in 12.

Also where are you getting 406 pistons? (hint hint)

Josh

 

Don't worry i'm gettin it sonic checked and if it can't go over that far i have a "105" 390 block sitting in storage that I also stripped down so i'll see if that one will go over. Also, whatever block i use will be converted to 4 bolt mains and possibly decked...not very far, .010 or less.

The pistons will probably have to be custom or maybe some 428 pistons. Flatlander Racing - High Performance Engine and Racing Parts

p.s. do you by any chance know the specs of the Bullitt 390 engine? I've looked with little success...all i heard was that they milled the heads 0.010.

 

I've read several diff magazine articles on the Bullitt mustang, and you know how factual those are. I've heard cam, milled head, carb and ignition modifications. Also read somewhere that there was significant headwork. Who knows?