books with casting number identifications

Are books available that can identify motor parts from casting numbers,the reason I ask is I am wanting to research cylinder heads for the FE motors. I have a 66 390 in my 65 country squire that was originally a 2bbl motor that has too much compression to run any gas less than premium,I have richened the carb and lowered the temp of the thermostat and it will run great on premium but since the gas prices fluctuate wildly I would like to get this motor to run on mid range gas and possibly regular without sacrificing too much of its power. I am tring to find a set of heads that have a little more of a combustion chamber to slightly lower the compression but not run as poorly as the 360 I have in a 70 F250 that will run on any gas. I am not worried about finding heads that are already setup for hardened seats as I will have them installed and those heads probably will lower the compression too much like on the 360.:confused:

I just remembered reading in I think hot rod magazine about installing a EGR valve to reduce the octane requirement of a motor. I think it supposed to reduce the combustion temp some how,if I cant install a EGR valve without changing the intake I will look into the water injection. Who sell a water injection system or can one be made?.

Thanks for the info

high performance ford engine parts interchange book has casting listings. Bought mine from summit.

I went to a swapmeet in indy today and looked at the high performance ford engine parts interchange book,its a good book but does not cover all the motors. In the book it says not to use truck heads as they are not for high rpm but what I want is a torque motor not a high reving motor and I want to check out the truck heads too,is there a book that covers all motors?. I allways heard that small valve heads produce more torque than big valve heads.is that correct?,i should of bought that book but want to find one that covers all FEs if possible.

that is the best book. There is the ford performance book. Its not better but has some info on sb,bb,fe,335. It doesn't list casting like the interchange book.

Did you try using Shell gas? It worked for my '65 390.
And no, I'm not affiliated with the Company, I was a diehard Chevron customer till one day I had to use a Shell Station...

I will try different gas when I run the tank almost dry,I had a bad brake booster and since had it rebuilt but have not driven it after installing it to see if that was causing the pinging. I had to readjust the idle speed and mixture since installing the rebuilt booster.