390 FE for my 76 F250

[ScnScn]

Hi All....

I recently purchased a 76 F250 highboy with a factory 360. My initial thoughts are to re-power this truck with stroked 390 crate engine. I'm not looking for anything high performance, but I want reliability and ease from this engine as she will be near daily driver...mostly on road. That said, I also want her to be fun to drive.

I'm struggling to find a crate engine builder that can supply an engine to fit this criteria...most are high performance motors....and expensive.

I sure would welcome any advice on engine choice and specs along with leads on who I could source a crate engine from....

Thanks in advance....

[Urgefor]

Are there issues with the engine that is in the truck?  360 and 390 cylinder bores are both 4.05 from the factory.  Would replacing the rotating assembly in your current engine be an option for you?  There are a number of vendors here that sell them as well as custom camshafts.

[CaptCobrajet]

We do many engines like you describe. blairpatrickfe at gmail dot com.

[MeanGene]

Best bang for the buck for a nice street or pickup engine is a 410/416, since the cheeep 390 pickup pistons are just repurposed 410 Mercury pistons with a 3.98 crank

[HarleyJack17]

Like previously asked.....if the motor is not shot that is in the truck, then a 360 can absolutely be made to run well. Especially if it is the OEM one. Long Tube Hedders, RPM intake, and a cam swap. I did it to mine and it went from turd to whipping the pants off my 2003 F250 V10. To top it off the motor was on her last leg. I can only imagine how it would have been with fresh heads, correct springs etc.
Nothing is cheap about a rebuild.

[TJ]

Sounds like you got an experienced builder willing to set you up.  It's worth spending time to research what you want.  I'd consider custom pistons and modern ring pack to get the bore size and compression you want.  Also consider a roller cam which allows you to use modern oil which I believe helps fuel economy.   Modern goodies help the FE in mpg.  My 482 gets about what the 352's used to get...around 12.5 mpg highway. 

The 360 often gets pooh-poohed and perhaps deservedly so in factory form.  It can be livened up like any other FE.  And if you're staying 360ish cubes and mid to low range rpms, consider a Edelbrock Performer 390 intake.  Much lighter (easier to install) than a cast iron and makes more power in lower rpm range and lower cube size than the Edelbrock RPM.   

[TJ]

Here's a little more food for thought. 

Considering fuel prices the past several years, with my mpg and if running on 87 octane, my 482 has often had the same dollar per mile fuel cost as my 2002 duramax  both running empty and towing our fifth wheel camper.  And the 482 will out run the duramax pulling our fiver up hills.   To be sure, for all day driving I prefer the 2002 over the 1965, but the point I'm trying to make is it's worth spending the time researching build options and determining what you want.  The FE can be a lot of fun when done right.

And I ain't saying you need a stroker kit...just match the parts to your goals.

[Joe-JDC]

Sounds like you got an experienced builder willing to set you up.  It's worth spending time to research what you want.  I'd consider custom pistons and modern ring pack to get the bore size and compression you want.  Also consider a roller cam which allows you to use modern oil which I believe helps fuel economy.   Modern goodies help the FE in mpg.  My 482 gets about what the 352's used to get...around 12.5 mpg highway. 

The 360 often gets pooh-poohed and perhaps deservedly so in factory form.  It can be livened up like any other FE.  And if you're staying 360ish cubes and mid to low range rpms, consider a Edelbrock Performer 390 intake.  Much lighter (easier to install) than a cast iron and makes more power in lower rpm range and lower cube size than the Edelbrock RPM.

I would like to know where you got your proof that the Performer 390 makes more power anywhere than the RPM??   There are a couple of runners on the Performer 390 that only flow ~210ish cfm.  Joe-JDC

[jayb]

Joe, see the graphs in my book on pages 75 and 77, and the dyno data in the appendix.  The Performer 390 outperformed the Performer RPM on my 410 HP 428CJ and 390 stroker engines, at the lower engine speeds up to about 3500 RPM.  Makes perfect sense to me, at the low speeds the engine doesn't use as much airflow, and the smaller runners of the Performer 390 will give better velocity, increasing cylinder filling - Jay

[HarleyJack17]

I have the book(great stuff) but for this purpose would still recommend the RPM over the Perf. 390. I ran both on my Highboy. D2 heads, long tubes, Comp Cam Xtreme Energy 218/224 Hydraulic Flat Tappet. I ran both 650 and 750 carbs on that rig, with both intakes. At initial tip in throttle, yes the smaller intake did better, the smaller carb...maybe even so marginally.  However, it fell flat quickly vs. comparing to the RPM intake. Granted those trucks run 4:10 gear and most of the time you are never under 2,000 RPM. Plus, more was done than stock engine.
My point being that drivability encompasses the whole set up and performance will vary depending on the entire picture. In this case I would say the gear ratio/operating range favor the RPM Intake. Pretty easy to tell and feel when we did our little 0-60 shoot outs.  Based on all of that it was RPM and 750VS.
Sad that a 1975  FE pulled a camper and ATV notably better than a 2003 F250 V10. Stopping, well that was a win to the 2003 model 

[FrozenMerc]

I wonder if the OP is ever going to come back???

I had this '76 F250 for quite a few years in the 2010's.  Factory 390 4bbl motor that the previous owner was kind enough to sell to me with a smoked head gasket.  Needless to say, the motor got a full rebuild. 

The recipe was fairly straight forward and budget minded:

Holley 600 cfm 4bbl
Howards' Dual pattern flat tappet cam
New flat tops for a 9:1 compression ratio
Long tube Headers
Stock Heads with a nice 3 angle valve job

Nothing exotic or expensive, and it would pull my 10,000 lb 24' Pace enclosed along at 65 mph all day, and roast the tires at a moments notice unloaded.  The biggest headache with the truck was the C6 and 4.11 rear gears.  I farted around with an AOD for a awhile, but could never get a tight enough stall on the small torque convertor dictated by the Quicktime bellhousing to run comfortably in OD without cooking the oil.  Hindsight being 20/20, I should have gone to a Gearvendors for the C6 or converted it to a manual OD.  Eventually sold it and the AOD setup, and replaced it with my '85 F350.

There is no reason you can't build your 360 to similar performance, just by following the basic hot rodding rules of getting air and fuel in and out more efficiently, and adding compression.  I.E. 4 bbl intake and carb, headers, new pistons to get in that 9 to 10:1 compression ratio range, performance cam, etc.