390 motor

[palmsprings]

I have a 390 4 speed 69 Torino & was wanting advise on a brand of head that would give more power & any other bolt on improvements. The motor is standard, thanks in advance for any help. I live in New Zealand got the car 6 years ago out of LA

[66FAIRLANE]

How far are you prepared to go? How much do want to spend? What condition is the engine in now and what are your goals?

[jayb]

It's hard to beat the out of the box Edelbrock aluminum heads; buy the ones with the cast chamber and the Cobra Jet exhaust bolt pattern.  If you are going to upgrade the heads, I'd also bolt on a set of headers and an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, along with a Holley 700 or 750 double pumper carb.  And, as long as I'm spending your money put some 3.91 gears and a Detroit locker in that thing.  Those changes will wake that motor right up.

[fe66comet]

Come on Jay go all out 500 cube SOHC with Webber IDAs LOL. Seriously though a stroker would benefit the most bang per buck I would say.

[JimNolan]

Palmsprings,
    I took Jay's advice and now I'm having to move to the Poor House. I'll get there fast though. LOL

[fe66comet]

You really do not need much I have driven bone stockers in work truck for a long time and are very torque oriented engines with good heads,can and manifold it will really wake up. If the bottom end is fresh than it will hold but keep in mind stock pistons sometimes were 8.0:1 compression so if that is the case do not expect too much in gains.

[palmsprings]

At the moment it is a rebuilt standard motor, some of your recomendations are great  but I haven't won the lottery yet. Looking at edelbrock heads & headers, any ideas on make.

[fe66comet]

A cam is cheap horsepower, just a good grind street cam from idle to 5500. It would help the heads breath.

[ScotiaFE]

Ah, the journey begins...lol
Headers will give the most power to dollar ratio.
As will a good gear selection.
Those two things will do more than a head swap and cost about as much.
When you say "standard motor" that is an S intake and C8 heads?
The S intake will hold you back, but you could very well have some other intake?
The C8 heads will take to porting and valve up sizing.
Headers are an issue with your car.
You will have to know which heads you have now to get an accurate recomendation.
Edelbrocks will take a set of hookers, but the Hookers do have a hang down factor.
Then there was the FPA saga on here recently. Entertaining, but not what he was hoping for.
NOT ALL headers will just slip in. Even if they say they will.
Before you get real serious with the engine I would have a good look at the flywheel.
If it is an old cast Ford wheel I would replace it with a rated steel wheel. For Safety.
It not expensive and is much safer.
Also this is the important part.
400 HP is pretty easy with 390 and will suprise most poeple who say they have 500 HP. LOL
500 HP is pretty easy with a stroked 390, but it's not cheap.
Keep in mined as the engine gets faster so should the rest of the car.
Brakes, trans, drive shaft, axle and if your going to start launching the car you want be up to grade.

[fe66comet]

I would say do it as money allows. For my rod it has been a part at a time over the last year. Since you have a running car no hurry. Mine was a worn out basket case so everything had to go and all needed to upgraded anyhow to handle the engine and track speeds. Hopefully I'll see it painted someday LOL it's a looong way off.

[palmsprings]

Thank you Scotia for that info

[palmsprings]

Hi again I am running edelbrock intake & cross bolted exhaust heads

[My427stang]

Palmsprings,

ScotiaFE pointed you in the right direction, need a little more info to help make it really run

- Which intake do you have now?
- Which "cross bolted" heads, I assume C8AE-H (can be seen near the two center spark plugs)
- Are you willing to run headers and aftermarket dual exhaust?
- What is the budget?

Odds are the heads are poor performing GT/unibody/truck heads, the intake is a Performer, and the car has manifolds, all of those things combined with a slow ignition advance curve makes the 390 cars very bland performers

Good thing is, a set of headers, alum heads, a good intake, matching cam, and a distributor recurve can turn a 390 into a very healthy engine, but it takes money

The good thing is, guys here can help you build mild to wild, focus on where you want to make power and be very honest about how you want to drive the car and we can steer you in the right direction

[palmsprings]

Thanks for the info will get back to you when I get the # off the heads