390 Rebuild on a $2,000 Budget

Ok guys, I need some advice.
I'm a Chevy guy as far as recomendations for HP and I don't know where to spend his bucks on a Ford 390.

Got a job to do a 390 for a pick-up.
Budget is $2,000.oo for parts and machine work.

Customer wants Red light to Red light seat of the pants kick.

Figure about $150.00 for a bath and Magnaflux all parts that need it.
Heads-Valve job, dress surface, $150.00, porting I can do.

Basic block stuff, hone cyl walls, etc.

Parts......?

Intake, single or dual plane?

Carb? He wants an Edlebrock Performer series.. (Weber).. it's pretty I guess.

Headers?

Cam grind for a real nice lope.

He is NOT going to balance the thing...why I don't know.

Pistons? wanna boost the comppression a bit but don't wanna go past pumped gas.

Aluminum Heads?

Can we get 480 HP Plus out of it for $2,000.00?

Guys I have posted this question once already..
Sorry for the double post...
Got some good ideas. and Thanks very much.
But if someone has something new I would apreciate it.

I used to work for a per parts wholesale. If you want to stay under $2k you need to put aluminium anything ouit of you head! FE Edlebrock is way out there!!! you yeads alone, would cost that much! find a good machine shop and flow what you have. Oversize the valves. all you HP is ine the top end. Try going for a good set of hyperutectic pistons. enexpensive and durable. Lat year Street Rodder Magazine did a really goo build up on FE plants. They may have tha naswers you ar looking for.

Cast iron makes more power than aluminum, especially when you're dealing in low compression engines. The primary advantage of alumium is it lets you run a lower octane than the same engine with iron heads.

A 460 swap?
Whose gonna swap a tired old 390 for a 460?
And free for that matter!
PLEEEZE!!

If Free Dollars was the price just rebuild what you have. I though that was the #1 rule of street rods. Use what you can out od what is given to you and scavange for the rest.
Honestly I think you should be able to flow the cast irons ok and through on a nice Edlebrock 1901 carb. You can get those remanned as well. If you need exhaust hook ups, Hedman makes an nice, but inexpensive hedder.

Agree Bowtie!

Gonna build what he has, stupidity is not one of my goals!
460 my ass.
I have a good die grinder that has been inside many a head.

In my part of the country they took old Hudsons, Fords and Chevy's and made world beaters out of nothing.
Where would the Moonshine business be today if it wasn't for Johnson, Yarbough, and Moore?

I am not saying thet the 460 swap is not a good ideal, by no means. I don't know what you have been told, but sizes does matter! I am just saying if that is what you have , go for it!!! I could have a 305 for free that my dad gave me for my 48 chevy. I don't want a typical small block street rod. I did my readding and found, in my opinion that the 500 cid caddy motor with a few minor enhancemance is the best GM HP producer pound for pund and on top of that it is different!. An FE definately has plenty of torque fo a truck. Good work engine. So make the most of it!!

For real?

In what way dude?

Explain please.
I seem to be missing the connection here.

I am currently in the process of building a 390 for a 65 T-Bird. I know you said your application was for a pick-up. I am looking for about 400 hp. I started with a lot of questions too! Here's where I'm at. The block has been bored .030 over, line bored, decked, balanced, heads done (no porting yet), 9.5 to 1 pistons. With parts and machine work I'm in about 1800.00. Competition Cams recomends cam 33-238-4 for this application. I wanted more compression but after reading and talking to CC they and the info I had been checking into seemed to agree that 9.5 to 1 was the best for running on the street and for power. I will initially be using the stock intake mainifold with a holley DP 650. The 460 will fit. It is same hieght and width and two inches longer but the existing tranny won't bolt up without an adapter plate. Chevy's can bolt any tanny/engine together but not with Fords. There are a number of aluminum parts that can be found at swap meets but you definately won't come in at under 2 grand, if you start adding that stuff! The Fe I am building was an original 4v engine and the numbers verified it to be a police intercepter engine. If your numbers ck out, you may already have some good pieces to work with. There are three different heads Ford built for these engines, I believe, and looking around you may be able to find some theat lend themselves to more high performance. There was the low riser, medium rise and high riser heads. I believe the high riser head is the most desirable. They tell me the stock bottom end when put together properly is good for 6000 rpm.:whacked:

Craig;I agree with Sevenson Totaly!!! Man your gonna have to make a lot of phone calls Trying to get the best prices and even then it's gonna be hard to get the job done for that.I think It would be plain silly to not balance that engine.They run smoother and last twice as long, He will be sorry in the long run. Better start looking for parts at swap meets and your not always going to find what you want. I would tell him to save some more money and do it when he can afford to do it right. Short cuts are always a bad idea.


Vegas

Performer or Performer RPM manifold and headers (whatever fits), depends on the steering box on how they fit. What kind of tranny? Stall converter? What kind of rear, Traction loc or one wheel drive? What kinda gears?

You can get a stock 4 bbl manifold for about $25 but they are heavy. I have been told that they are equivelant to a Performer in flow.

Really watch pushrods as everywhere you read about FE engines being rebuilt, if they are not adjusted properly you will bend pushrods.

There are oil passage modifications that should be done as well, if you search around on the net you can find them pretty easy.

I think he is going to run over $2000 in the end.

Is it OK to mention other urls on this site?

Ok,
I have decided on
Performer RPM # 7105 Edelbrock Intake
A 7106 Edelbrock Cam (could be changed to Comp)
A 1806 Edelbrock 650 carb.
We will need to change to adjustable rockers with this cam.
But that's ok.

What do you Old Salts think about this?

let me see if i can dig up the specs of my dads 427 that might help

I got a 390!
If I had other options I would use them but I GOT A 390!
PERIOD!
I built a 383 Stroker that would probably wup most 427's flat out.
But I got a 390.
He likes the 390.
390
390

I agree. Techinspector1 knows what he is talking about and I would listen to him if I were u. If he's questioning the 390 I know he has a GOOD reason for doing so. and if i'm thinking right you can disguise the 460 for a 390 just by the air cleaner sticker so your customer would never know unless he really took the time to check.

Repetition: the repeating of words or phrases or numbers in a line or sentence.

I didn't mean to sound all bad and stuff.
I got this customer that is driving me absolutly nuts over this rusted POS!
Help me a bit and give me a model and year to go to the junk yard with for the 460.
Please understand I don't mean any disrespect but this guy is driving me crazy!
I can't bitch at the wife about this, so you guys are the best I got!

The real bitch about this is, I'm not charging the guy real dollars for the work. It's a "favor" for helping me with another project.
It's a bitch being honest!

I do belive that Galaxies had 460's many Big block trucks had 460's. I do think that both should be readily availible at the junkers for the pickins. the Big block trucks are the F 350's from 1970 ( i think ) to 1987 ( with carb ) 1988 was the first year for FI Big block fords in trucks. Hope this helps but vulgairity is highly frowned upon on this site because there are youngsters on here to so, if you could please hold of on using the swearing, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Matt,
Didn't mean to be crude, Momma would have had a fit if she would have read what I sent.
She's 76 now but she could still spank my butt!
Us Southern folk get all upset over nothing!

Craig; I'm showing 1970 is the best year for the ford 460, it was 375HP with 10.5 to 1 compression. 1971 dropped by 10HP and 1972 the HP dropped to 212HP. So any 460 from 1968 to 1971 are good. The dove heads are the best, and the letters DO will be on the cast for 1970. Hope this helps you.


Vegas ;)

vaRA4,
Was this a Galaxy or a truck for a 11970?

Also 75-76 Mercury Grand Marquis, I'm not sure of other years.

Craig; I would look in the trucks and the Lincolns cont.


Vegas ;)

Call the local junkers for a ford 460, chances are they have one. Disguise it with aftermarket valve covers and air cleaner. Just go to www.motorchrome.com to get the valve covers that say Ford High Performance or, u can get plain covers and get a 14" cleaner that says the same thing, then build the 460 up with Tech's specs and tell him it's the 390.

I might be able to get him to look at the 460 if I mention the Lincoln thing.
He has money, the truck, and the need.
I'll make him anything he wants, I just don't want to make something that he maay be dissapointed with. Plus I would rather build something more "normal" than a 390.

Matt don't get me wrong but I personally would rather spend the bucks on HP rather than the chrome. I looks really nice, the site is really good but for the price of some of that chrome I could get some Keith Black stuff, Dart heads and make HP.
No offense!

Craig; I like the 390's and I'm sure you can get a 460 to stomp it but I've seen some 390's that would really run. I used them in ambulance, but these were all balanced and built to run the long open highways in michigan. we had a lot of problems with the 460's over heating. We found out of all the gas engines we put in to them the 454chevy to be the best or the least problem, We should have tryed the 1970 500 caddy engine. HE!HE!


Vegas:LOL: :LOL: ;) :LOL: :LOL:

yeah, I know what ur saying. I just figured that u could do that if he said no you could streach the truth when u tell him it's a 390. That site did not have the ones that said 390 on them but I know there out there and, I would almost bet that he would never look past the lable on the Valve cover or air cleaner. But ur right even at 54.99 that could get u 2 or 3 of the 8 pistions needed.

See, know that's what I'm talking about.
Talk to me about the push rods.
FE's are known to bend pushrods if you change the cam, do I go with the adjustable rockers?

Craig; Go with harden push rods and soak the lifters over night in oil, so they are already pumped up. This will help you to keep from bending a push rod. One other thing that I can think of that may be a concern is the oil pump driveshaft. The FE's have been known to break the oil pump driveshafts and if the thin hexagonal shaft flexes against the load of the oil pump it can cause spark scatter in the distributor. Ford power parts offer a more strong 7/16 chrome-moly steel shaft center one. Also you might look around the junk yard for some 352 heads,58 thru 66 ID for the years would be [B8-B9 then C0 thru C6. The letter is for the decade, if you didn't know? Some of these heads had the adjustable push rod set up and can be used on the 390 heads. The heads them self are interchangable.You will have to watch you valve to piston clearance though because some of these came with longer valves. Hope this helps you some.

Vegas ;)

Thanks for all the help guys!

480 HP for under 2K is asking a lot unless he is willing to ignore some pretty important stuff during the basic build - like balancing - bad idea. I would start with a 428 crank and rods, more cubes and more torque right up front. With a .030 overbore that will bring him in around 416 C.U. My next choice would be a solid lifter valve train. The lumpy idle always sounds cool but for stoplight light to stop light it's not really best to go with big lift, long duration profiles. Something around 280 would be more reasonable. As for exhaust, well, there is no such thing as a free lunch. He could spend 4K but if he uses the stock manifold it will still be a dog. Sandersonson makes a nice set of shorty headers at a reasonable price. Most all of the upgrades can be acheived with OEM stuff if you are willing to do the leg work. Stick with the cast iron stuff and break out that die grinder. With those mods if you can make the engine breath you will almost be there, but 450 H.P. and around 470 to 480 ft lbs of torque is more realistic. You didn't say what he has for a tranny or rear end gears - big part of the equation.