Hello, I am starting a restoration of a 1971 Ford F-100 and am not sure exactly what engine would be good.

I have been talking with people in the 1967-72 forum and a lot of them love 360's and 390's, as well they should, that's the engine the trucks were built with at manufacturer.

But, this is my question. Let me first say that I in no way, shape, or form am an expert at anything. I want to know what the member of this forum think. What engine, in your opinion, would be the best to get from a junk yard and have redone for this truck.

You say, what do you want out of the engine. Well, I would like to get good torque and about 450 hp. I will eventually be pulling a trailor with the truck, so need good torque. These are my concerns:

1. What Ford engine is easiest to rebuild?
2. What Ford engine is least expensive to rebuild.
3. What Ford engine produces the most power, with the least expense on rebuild.
4. What engine, considering 1,2, & 3 will give the most performance for the longest time.

The Truck has a 360 in it right now (bad piston rings) and I was going to turn it into a 390 and try and beef it up a little. Money is a factor, so that's why I am asking for opinions. Excuse the long post and I apprecitate your input in advance. Doc.

 

I really don't recommed any engine that puts out 450HP that fits in your engine bay to use for pulling trailers. I would shoot for a lot of torque. You could build a 350HP 390 and slide it right in with no modifications and still have plenty of grunt to pull a trailer. An engine as wild as you are describing will have cooling and durability problems not to mention using tons of fuel. When using stock parts money isn't too much of an issue. You can do a good solid rebuild on a 390 for about the same price as a 460 or 400.

 

He's right Dream. Build it into a 390 with a few extras maybe. 4bbl aftermarket intake. A 390 is a great engine can do lots to them. Just my opinion tho.

 

I would recomend leaving it as a 360. They have a much flatter torque curve, and it would be less expensive. A 390 will gain you a few ponies, but it also moves everything higher up in the rpm band, which is not good for a truck, especially for towing. The other thing is that that is the bellhousing already on the transmission, so you will save more money there. Really, you are looking for two different things. If you want a dedicated towing truck, use a small-port 360. Chas1234 has one, I have seen that truck go, and it moves along quite nicely. The torque is awesome. Pop the clutch at idle in first, and it chirps the tires and moves. Oh yeah, there is quite a bit of junk sitting in the back of the truck as well. If you want a dedicated go-fast truck, bore it out, drop in a 390 crank, and have a 410. It will be able to go fast, but everything will be too high up to use reliably for towing. Sorry, buddy, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

Adding cubes never in any case will move power up in the RPM range. A 360's torque curve will possibly be flatter but much below the level of a 390's peak. The 390 will produce more torque from idle up to well past 4,000rpm in stock form. As performance increases the difference will even become more significant. I will post a DDyno graph of the two built with accurately entered stock components.


You would have to bore the 390 about .090 over to get 410 cubes. Not a safe move. A 410 is made from adding a 410/428 crank to a 360/390 block. Again bigger means more bottom end and in the smaller engine will only make more torque at high rpms where there is little torque anyway.

 

Only difference here is stroke. Bone stock

 

As far as I am concerned there is not that much of a difference between the two motors...What size carb are you using ratsmoker? stock motorcraft flows 312 cfm ....keep the 360 ...it is a truck engine and it will keep costs down during the rebuild,
Jon

 

I used a 500 cfm 2bbl, stock cam and stock c8AE-H heads. 8:1 compression. There is a good 30 foot lbs difference at 2,000 rpm below this there would be even more difference. My point was that adding more cubes does not move power higher up in the power band. That was all. The 360 is not junk. That is not the conversation. This guy is trying to get as much HP as possible while still having a good towing engine. This is done with cubic inches. The recommendation to use a smaller cube engine was just plain incorrect.

 

Here is another comparison of a more souped up version. Again all specs are the same except for stroke.



Notice the 360 starts to pull harder (more torque) at 5,500rpm but guess what..... almost time to grab another gear.

 

Go get yourself a nice new C6 tranny set up for towing and a new 460 form ford motorsports you will love the hp an tq ...thats really the only way your going to get 450hp out of a reliable engine....remember cubes = power

Jon

 

Chas the 460 would be good but it would also be heavier and he would have to change motormounts too wouldn't he? The 460 would be a gas drinker too. The 390 is still his best bet. Easiest and simplier.

 

For the ease of installation I will have to agree on the 390 ( there I said it )

Jon

 

The rebuild between the 360 and 390 is going to cost about the same with the exception of having to get a 390 crank. I think that the 360 and 390 used the same rods with different pistons.

Going up in cubes defently has no effect on the the powerband, if anything a 390 has more low-end torque due to the longer stroke.

If I was building that motor for towing I would use a 428 crank which will make it 410, and that motor would have even more lowend torque than the 390, given that the other variables are kept the same (carb, intake, cam and heads)

How heavy is your trailer and how often are you going to have to pull it and how far.

 

The 390 uses a slightly shorter rod which is much beefier.

 

Short rods fail under high rpm use. That is the weakness of long stroke motors. The closer the rod ratio is to 2.0:1, the happier the motor is, i.e.: A motor with a 4"stroke, using 8" long rods, will perform better, last longer, and have a stronger, flatter torque curve than the same size motor with 6" rods. Also, a longer rod can flex more without fatigueing. Short rods fatigue quickly when asked to flex. For info on long versus short rods, check out
http://www.grapeaperacing.com/grapea...rodslength.cfm