1969 F-100 Ford with a 390

[Carter]

Is this a motor worth rebuilding? I would really like to keep it, it has 455,000 miles on it. It's freaking shot. Smokes like a burnout at the drag strip. Burns oil like crazy, I'm pretty sure it either has a broken ring or three, or it could just be they are worn out so bad they don't even seal anymore. But yeah, I really want to keep the old FE motor for some reason. I got a 93 mustang with a 306 in it and I just rebuilt it with some go fast goodies for about 4000 dollars. Anybody have opinions on making the old 390 run like new again? I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM 4v intake for it and some old longtubes.. I may stick a little cam in it but not sure. Just looking for some direction on what to do here.

[Dragon]

Rebuild it stock with truck compression not car compression and drive it another 400000 miles.

[68muscletruck]

I've got a 390 who knows how many miles as it was swapped in from another truck, but in that process we put the EDELBROCK performer aluminum 390 4 barrel intake on it, edelbrock afb to match, got a set of BLACKJACK HEADERS and 2 1/4'' stainless behind it, she outruns my buddys' camaros, firebirds and torino, sounds meaner too 2 weeks, slammin in a COMP CAMS THUMPR F.T. Cam gonna be good

[fordman]

the 390 is the perfered engine over most others with the same block. so yes a 390 is worth keeping .

[hazelnut]

i would rebuild it if it was me, when you have your heads rebuilt be sure to have hardned exhaust seats put in.

[Skifu]

My cousin had a 69 SWB with a 351 Windsor,3.03 on the column,painted red wine color,I know its not a 390,but what im trying to say is that Id love to have that truck right now,man was it sweet.Id keep the 390,re-work it,and cruise!!!!

[Carter]

I might try to start taking it out this week sometime, my Mustang is getting a lot of attention right now. How much of a bore out will these 390 blocks hold? It will probably need at the very minimum a .030 overbore. Can a person get forged pistons and rods for these? What about cranks? I'm not going to hot rod around like many of us have but I just want a strong motor. Maybe some porting of the heads. I'm going to keep the heads stock, put a nice intake and carb on it and some stainless exhaust on it. I'm needing the tranny rebuilt probably. It's going to be a very slow process over the next several years of restoring this truck but I really want to keep as much of it stock as I can. After I get a new bed. Haha.

[Dragon]

060 max without being cast 100% correct but 040 is common with no problems. I bored several to 050 and some to 060 without a problem and no sonic testing. We did not have it back then. I doubt it will need 020.

Unless you are going to really spin that motor into the 7000 rpm and above range avoid the cost of Forged.

Get your stock rods trued and the crank trued. Put ARP rod bolts and ARP Main cap bolts in the engine and you could hit 7000 all season. http://www.summitracing.com/search/make ... Rank%7cAsc

For Rods crank and cams.
http://www.crower.com/misc/m_cat.shtml

Pistons:
http://www.ariaspistons.com/index.html You have to ask for 390 pistons any size hey only stock 427 pistons. And no you can't bore the 390 out that far it would need resleeved.
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/assets/auto ... atalog.pdf

http://www.summitracing.com/search/make ... Rank%7cAsc
http://www.summitracing.com/search/make ... Rank%7cAsc

[Carter]

Wow. I didn't think the old 390 would turn more than like 3500 or 4000 even. Ha. But no, I don't want to see 7000 in the old truck, that's what I dumped all the money into the Mustang for. But anyways about the truck...... I will definitely have ARP bolts all over this thing. I may try the Magnaflow, Dynomax or even Flowmaster exhaust when it comes time. Thanks Dragon, that was really helpful.

[Dragon]

I needed a replacement race motor in a real hurry I took eight straight rods good bolts and spare pistons used the cam and everything else from the broken bottom 410 went racing Sunday morning when I broke the 410 on Saturday on my last pass. Those stock rods ran for 3 weekends while I waited for forged rods, 8000 rpm 8.97 146 mph

[1982 flareside]

i would rebuild it and put all the upgrades in the heads

[Skifu]

A stock 300-6 is built with cast crank,and cast pistons,these motors average 300,000 miles unless your building a drag rod,I cant see spending the extra $ for
forged parts,get a good solid overhaul kit,and build it back to stock,a bigger cam wont hurt,just dont over cam it.do a clean up of the heads,touch up the casting flash,and you will have a good strong running 390,for another 400,000 miles.OH Yeah!

[Alvin in AZ]

x6 :)

I say, leave it up to the machine shop to say if the block can go another round. ;)

I've got a Comp 252/252 cam in my '75 360FE at it starts and idles and runs better and has
more power and gets better gas mileage over the -new factory retarded-cam- ever did! :)

Before it couldn't pull its own weight at below 31mph in 4th gear, now I'm not sure where
something would go wrong, so haven't found the -bottom end- to it's power band. LOL :)

---------

And oil mileage! :/

1k to 2k miles per quart -brand new- and never got better until the overhaul. :(
Since then, with 90k+ miles on it, it can still go 6k on 15w-50 without having to add
a quart. Holey-crap those Ford oil seals (and/or guides or what?) are junk. LOL :)

Also got an inherited 75k factory '91 351w that can't go past 3k on a quart. :/

Alvin in AZ

[Dragon]

Ford guidelines are 1 qt for 3000 miles but that is not leaking but consumption.