Can I get more from a 360?

[JEF199]

I have a 72 F250 2wd w/ a 360 2bl carb and dual exh. (stright pipes). I have a set of C6AE R big port heads, 4bl intake and set of long tube headers. Will these heads increase the compression? I will change the cam also but not sure which one yet. I would like to get the most low mid power I can. Has anyone made these changes?

[rjewkes]

Personally the 360 is a Turd to me. If i was to start with a 360 i'd find the guts from a 390 and build it up. UI think you have to keep the 360 pistons to make it all work though but maybe not someone with more experience will know that part for sure.

[willowbilly3]

360s have plenty of potential, I've seen a lot of them that you wouldn't know from a 390 by driving. I think we need a sticky for the 360 performance question, comes up several times a week it seems.

[averagef250]

Some people will disagree, but if you want a great recipe for killer low end with your engine leave the 360 heads and 2V intake there, run a Crane 901 cam and valvesprings and some longtube headers. You'll have neck snapping torque from idle to 3500 and great mileage.

[ToughOldFord]

360s are great engines, mine was tired and neglected and still managed to run and work fine.
352s are great too.

[My427stang]

Some people will disagree, but if you want a great recipe for killer low end with your engine leave the 360 heads and 2V intake there, run a Crane 901 cam and valvesprings and some longtube headers. You'll have neck snapping torque from idle to 3500 and great mileage.

I agree completely.

ANY FE.....#1 headers and good duals, then go up from there

A 360 is shorter stroke, so stay mellow with a cam choice and they run well. The only downside is the lack of compression, but they still do pretty well.

[sideoilerfe]

I have had lots of 360's and really disagree when someone states they are a turd. I've had several stocker 2V 360's that had more than plenty of go....
The early non-egr engines have plenty of go and make a great truck engine. If yours is a turd troubleshoot it and figure out what's wrong.

I agree 100% I have a 68 that is stock and it runs and tows great! I'd say from idle to 3500 it's a work horse. I had one about 10 years ago that was a bit tired, had one cylinder with low compression and with a C6 with 3.73 gears, it still had more torque than my friends 350 Chevy with 3.73 gears, dual exhaust and the quadrajet.

I've seen 360's that were quite impressive. They are in now way turds.

[Dragon]

I had one 360 and sometimes I wish I still had it my 390 is headed down hill and gets 2 mpg less. But torque of the 360 and the 390 are hardly different enough to bother. They both top out in the 4k range and climb the same hills just as easily.

[JEF199]

Do the heads on a 72 have hardend seats in them? I have a couple options I could leave the 360 in there and put a good 2v carb, headers and cam. Or I have a 66 390 4v w/ C6AE-R heads that needs rebuilding. I know I can mix and match the bottom end to get a 390 but waht about the top end can I put the 4v intake from 66 to the 72 ( port deference is what Im not sure about)? I notice that aftermarket intakes and headers fit all year FE's big and small ports. I have heddman headers and a elderbrock 600 4v carb to use along w/ above metioned engines. I guess what Im after is to use as much stuff that I already have to get a stronger engine that will run on todays fuel.

[Dragon]

If your head casting are D6TE or D6AE then you have a good chance at hardened seats. If the heads where rebuilt by a honest and good machine you will have hardened seats.

The C6AE heads will not have hardened seats by default. Any top end part from the family of 390/360/352/330/410/most 406s and some but few 427 and all 428s will fit.

Low riser heads and medium riser heads and manifolds are totally interchangeable most manifold are made for medium risers by default. High riser and tunnel port manifolds and heads must be matched together. We don't have small ports like you think low , high and medium are almost all identical in size. The High riser heads have the ports pointing up more for better flow(less curves). The tunnel ports are just city sewer main sized holes for the top end of the Ford racing line like LeMans and, Thunderbolts and NASCAR

On todays fuel a truck piston produces 8.4 to 1 for a 360 and 8.8 to 1 for a 390 1971 piston. My car engined truck pings unless I use premium.

[willowbilly3]

Don't some of the earlier 390 heads have raised ports? Maybe those were C3-C4. I think that's what Chris had on the CobraF100 truck and got some great flow numbers. Too bad he isn't still around.

[Dragon]

C3-C4 high riser heads came on a 406 but there are only the 4 recognized by Ford head designs listed above.