390 mild upgrade, not 1000HP

[RSharpe]

I am going with a .030 over bore and stroke 390. Performer manifold, 750 cfm 4 barrel, headers with 3" collectors and Purple Hornies. What cam should be used? The engine will be run through a Toploader (wide range). I am think about a 4.11 out back. Am I on the right path to a fun truck?
It doesn't matter, but for shop talk, what would be a guess on Horse power?

[DuckRyder]

Off the top of my head, the performer seems a mismatch to a 4.11:1 gear with a manual transmission. A performer is a stock replacement intake might think about an RPM or Blue Thunder.

To the cam. Assuming you are running something close to typical size tires with a 4:11 gear I’d probably be looking at something along the lines of a Crane 343801 (For a kit on Crane change the last digit to a “2”).

A couple more random thoughts, if you want to take the guesswork out of it, the Edelbrock power packages will do what they say they will do. You could also build a clone of one of the factory performance motors. Crane makes a number of muscle car blueprint cams and Lunati makes a Cobra Jet blueprint as well.

Tell us more about the intended use and rest of the engine specs (compression ratio, heads, etc) perhaps we can help more.

[RSharpe]

Ducky, Thanks for the insight. The RPM never crossed my mind. Alright, let's set some visions.

The truck will be a daily driver with a little weekend naughty fun (burn some rubber, revving at stop lights, go to a show.)
So, the block (68-72 390) will be bored .030 just to clean up the bore. Since I'm boring, I know new piston will have to go in. Maybe find some 10:1 plugs. I also want to port and polish heads for flow. The Crane cam sounds good. Would it produce a lopey idle, you know, hey I'm not stock.
Maybe I'm wrong also on carb and should go down to 650 cfm. I have also thought about an inch spacer under the carb. I'd like to go to the largest headers available (1-3/4") if I can. I have my heart set on Purple Hornie Header mufflers ( yes I know it will be loud).
Wheels and tires: Torque Thrust 16x8 on all four with 315x60x16. BTW, the truck will be lower but not on the ground. LMC has a kit that does 4 rear/3 front.

Did I make my truck future a little clearer?

Thanks again for your input.

[DuckRyder]

...Wheels and tires: Torque Thrust 16x8 on all four with 315x60x16.

Is that right? I can’t find anything that size...

BTW ... I don’t know what is up with he quote button lately...

[RSharpe]

That was a guess. I'm still getting use to metric. Remember the letter sizes (L-60-15)?
Remember this ain't a street racer. I would like to fill up the wheel well. Any suggestions.

[DuckRyder]

The Crane has a slightly lopey idle, not radical at all and you can vary it a bit by where you set the idle speed. If you want something lopey Comp makes the “Thunpr” series. You’ll likely give up some power over a more conventional cam, but it will sound the business.

Thumpr™ Cams › Ford › 352-428 c.i. 8 Cyl ’63-'77

You also might have a look at this:

COMP Cams® Valve Timing Tutorial

For heads, I’ve said this before but I’ll repeat it again. Unless your heads are in pretty good shape, you’ll have more in them than in Edelbrock heads by the time it is over with, add in that a 10:1 iron head motor is probably going to be on the ragged edge of detonation and AL heads will help that and if I had it to do over again I’d do aftermarket heads.

I’d also build a 410 and not a 390... if I did not already have a 390 crank.

Speed Pro L2291F30 pistons will get you in the 10:1 range as long as your head machinist doesn’t get too enthusiastic with shaving the heads...

I only ask about the tire size to try to calculate your cruise RPM @ 60mph. if you assume a typical 28” tall tire it is going to put you 3000ish RPM @ 60. If you could find a 315/60/16 it would be about 31” tall, so it would drop your cruise RPM into the 2700 rpm range.

Maybe I’m not telling you anything that you don’t know but building a nice engine is a matter of the combination, get it right and you’ll be happy. That is one reason I always mention Edelbrocks “power package” even though I’m not a big fan of Edelbrock generally they make picking the combination easier.

Edelbrock Total Power Package Top-End Kits 2044

[cstoyer]

When I did mine I didn't get the package from Edelbrock but I used their heads and performer intake with a Comp Cam. The cam is a Comp Roller and I also changed out the springs for Comps Bee Hive ones.

cstoyer

[jjdeal79]

I might be too late, but powernation’s engine power did an episode of building a 390. They have a parts list, and also have 3 parts packages. They are listed on one of those internet sites who sells performance parts, that is based out of Ohio, that starts with an “S”.

[Stuntmonkee]

I might be too late, but powernation’s engine power did an episode of building a 390. They have a parts list, and also have 3 parts packages. They are listed on one of those internet sites who sells performance parts, that is based out of Ohio, that starts with an “S”.

That was a fun episode. . . .I’m wondering what the total cost of the build was. They mention “swap meet”, but I’m pretty sure that’s a $800 carb on there.

400+HP would be “fun” as a daily driver for sure though.