Sport is getting a new engine, feel free to chime in

[magic bus]

I had to pull the engine to repair the broken exhaust manifold bolts. . The 360 ran good, had good oil pressure, but was caked in grease and oil as well as had a leaky rear main seal.

I plan to rebuild this engine, one way or another. Machine shop work around here seems to be all over the place pricewise.

If anybody has any suggestions for parts, assembly, tips, tricks or just a good joke, Im all ears.

Strangely enough I am helping my son in law replace the 360 in his 76 f 250 Saturday, nothing like a little engine swapping overload!

Below is a pic of my 71 with the hood off and the engine out!

[Busboy]

Nice shop. I've had my engine at the machine shop for a month now and he doesn't even have it in the hot tank yet!!!!

[magic bus]

I just rode Saturday to a rural small machine shop that I still haven't really figured out. We dropped a 360 off in April. The only thing they did to it was put it in the hot tank. We took it back home .

Apparently they have more work than they can handle and don't really care? Thats frustrating.

[Lee]

Hi,

I would at least convert to a 390. You will need a Crank, Rods and Pistons for that. This is what I did when rebuilding my 360. I found the parts off of Craigslist.

Also, best bang for the buck is replace the terrible factory exhaust manifolds with headers.

Tips:
When removing/installing the Rocker arms, it's very important to loosen/tighten the bolts a little at a time equally to prevent warping the shaft. Also, take note of the one bolt whose shaft is recessed. Make sure it goes back in the correct hole. The recess is for oil.

There's lots of opinions concerning the use or not use of the cork intake manifold end gaskets. Some say use them and some say toss them and use an RTV. These FE's intakes can be a real pain to seal and you end up with a leak running down the back of the engine that can easily be mistaken for a rear main oil leak.

Im sure there's more...

Lee

[Subzero]

In the same place as you with machine shops, I have a 302 that was sold to me with a "suprise" cracked piston. It's been at the machine shop for over a month and has yet to even be looked at. They do good work so it's worth the wait but I really wish I could finally drive the truck I bought

What I like to do is replace stuff while its out, anything that's just old or looks like I might need one soon I'll replace on assembly. I regretted it on my first rebuild- every month it seemed I had to go back in and replace a part that I had taken off already. So this time around I'm doing a clean sweep and I hope I'll have a very reliable truck in the end

[Delta Bob]

My advice is to try and get a rear main seal made of neoprene instead of a rope seal. Lasts much longer.

[magic bus]

Different bolt on rockers, check

Neopreme rear main, I'll check on that.

I am keeping my eyes and ears open for the 390 stuff. Kinda slim pickens around here on craigslist. I do have a lead on a supposed 390.

I do have a new set of headers in the bed of the truck and two new mufflers.

I checked on a rebuild kit today. Got a quote of $386 for an engine rebuild kit w/o pistons. Included the oil pump, timing chain, gaskets, mains, rod inserts , rings, cam and lifters. Enginepartswarehouse.com if anybody has any input on them?

This may be the greasiest, crustiest old engine Ive ever removed. It has some serious sludge/rust nasty stuff in the cooling passages. Photo below is the bypass hose from the pump to the intake, Ive never seen one completely blocked off! It should be good in the end, the only unknown right now is how much $$$$ I'll be missing once its back together?

[Ren]

The pic of the hose is seriously disturbing.
Since you've gone this far, I would seriously consider putting in a Windsor rather than deal with an FE. Although that will have additional expenses and complications. But worth it in the end.

[magic bus]

Been tinkering with the engine, found lots of worn/bad stuff. Original fiber timing gear with teeth missing. Camshaft did not want to come out. After persuading it out I found the #2 cam bearing damaged. Ive included a pic of a head gasket shot. This seems contrary to the other fe engines Ive torn down lately. Most of you know that the front coolant passage should be mostly restricted, this one however was open on both ends, on both banks.

The cylinder walls look a little sketchy, rust tattoos and some minor scratching. The taper however seems to only be .004 thousandths, which does not seem too bad? The oil rings were stuck, the pistons are scuffed, this poor thing surely needed more than a exhaust makeover!

I have located two different 390 cranks and rods. One has one journal damaged but may be able to be repaired. The other I have not cracked out of the block yet but Im hopeful that it is a good crank. I have 3 sets of heads to choose from. More to follow on that.

head gasket (2).JPG

head gasket 3 (2).JPG

[My427stang]

The most important thing for your head choice is matching to the headers. There are low port and high port FE heads. All trucks after 67 had low port. Most cars after 66 had low port, except for the Cobrajet. So, if you have headers for your truck, likely the only heads that will fit them are C7AE-A, C6AE-R (if not masagged), D2TE-AA, C8AE-H. Anything C3 or C4 won't easily hold a header gasket.

Lots of tricks on FEs when you go to assemble, nothing really tough, but some quirks.

I also agree a 390 would be better than a 360, but if built right, 360s can run pretty decent, they just need a real set of pistons that make some compression

[rollercam1]

The pic of the hose is seriously disturbing.
Since you've gone this far, I would seriously consider putting in a Windsor rather than deal with an FE. Although that will have additional expenses and complications. But worth it in the end.

351W and don't look back. Look at the roller cammed versions that came in F250 /F350 . They made something like 345hp at 395ft tq. One piece rear mains, priority main oiling, headers are easy, so much better than messing with the FE stuff. Plus a huge weight savings for performance and fuel economy.

[RangerRat]

I was almost ready to give up on the machine shop EVER getting my 390 rebuilt. But they do good work. Took 5 months start to finish to have a running motor back in. Sadly I have have a rear freeze plug leaking though. I had them put 360 truck pistons in my 390. He set them just a tad below deck. He said compression calculated to 9.7 and they were much more affordable than forged flat tops. About half the price. I put Sanderson shorty headers on mine. No leaks (yet) and fit great.

[dv7508]

I would disregard any suggestion to change to a Windsor, obviously you would have to change transmission as well. 360's get a bad rap. 390 would be optimal, but not necessary. Ford used a 360 for a reason, stump puller. Ditch nylon timing set for a pre 1970 set. Some of the later ones retarded valve timing for emissions. I know many like the blue fel-pro head gaskets, but they lower compression considerably. .040-.050" crushed thickness. NOS OEM steel shim gaskets can be found reasonable. .017-.020 compressed. Adds about .3 to static compression. Speed pro H395P pistons are cheap, but nothing will get you decent quench without milling the block; however, with heads with 72cc ish combustion chambers, steel shim gaskets, and flat top H395p pistons, you will have a true static comp of around 8.5:1. Will run fine on 87, but you need to set initial timing 16-22° to help compensate for lack of quench. You can go higher if you limit your total timing to 42°. Many will disagree, but it works fine. No detonation. Use a Comp XE268h, or preferably XE262h and dynamic compression will be 7.1-7.3:1. Headers are a must. 600-750cfm carb. No a 750 is not too big. You'll have to increase jets in most 600's. Gas milage will still suck, but a 360 with headers will sound like a 427 with straight pipes and headers. A Windsor will not.

[magic bus]

For your viewing pleasure a very greasy block.

360 ford.JPG

For your viewing pleasure a very rusty cooling passage inside the freeze plug, yuck.

360 ford3.JPG

Thanks for all the input everybody. This has been a slooowwww project. I did did find a good 390 crank and rods out of a donor block. I'm reluctant to switch over to the 351 because of the tranny and other issues.
I also am kind of fond of this fe paperweight. Plus I like the fact that its the original block/style engine. At least it retains the spirit of the truck from the day it was manufactured.

I'm gonna try to get the block to the machine shop this week. Along with the heads

I am gonna be running headers a 600 Holley and the cam is yet to be decided. I do like the 262 cam though

Those pistons look like viable options indeed.

I tried contacting survival about a rebuild kit but he did not return my call? Maybe it's the holidays?

[cep62]

That'll clean up just fine.
I've seen rustier and greasier.