ford 360 heads

[hadmtrst8]

any good tips on reviving an old set of ford 360 stock heads?ei ; stainless valves, try ing to avoid installing exh seats hardened on all 8 cyls?brands recomended ?thanks

[PackardV8]

All Ford heads need hard exhaust seats.

Most all the rebuilder exhaust valves today are stainless and use .015" oversize stems.

Most all the 360" heads will have a few exhaust bolts broken off in the head. Fix those first.

All 360" heads will require surfacing the deck and exhaust manifold side.

The valve stem height must be measured off the rocker towers.

[Walter R. Malik]

All Ford heads need hard exhaust seats.

Not true ... the later Light Truck FE heads, (late 1973 through 1976), have induction hardened exhaust seats.

[PackardV8]

All Ford heads need hard exhaust seats.

Not true ... the later Light Truck FE heads, (late 1973 through 1976), have induction hardened exhaust seats.

My bad, Walter for not clarifying. "All Ford heads which do not have hard exhaust seats will need them installed."

We see some engines which have been rebuilt once already come in with hard seats installed.

[mag2555]

If you go with a Ferrea F6216 1.75" valve you can forgo installing Exh seats since you have fresh metal to work with and will end up with a .100" wide durable seat and also beable to put in place a nice 30 degree top cut and 60 degree bottom cut to inhance low lift flow at blow down.

If you keep the open spring pressure at no more then 280 to 290 lbs then that wide .100" seat will live a long life and the motor will spin easily to 5500 rpm with that spring pressure!

[pdq67]

Don't know so am asking??

Are these the old 360 FE Ford V-8 engine heads?

Like what we had in one of our old gunning trucks back when I worked for AP Green Refractories, Mexico, MO.

I drove a 361 4-speed, 2-speed as well as a 391 5-speed 2-speed truck back then. Both straight trucks with boxes to carry our gunning equipment.

SOB's got like 4 mpg over the road. I would get in one of them and run flat out for 8 to 12 hours before I would stop! Gov'd at 72 mph sorta deal...

We got a new Ford LN-7000 diesel 5-speed that got like 8 mpg, what a deal it was, but it was what I would call a, "big 6-wheeler truck"!!

pdq67

[MotionMachine]

"The valve stem height must be measured off the rocker towers."

I second that. FE heads are bad about differing spring pocket depths, so installed heights are all over the place. I'll measure the pocket depths, find the deepest one, then cut the rest to match it. Then the installed heights will be consistent.

[Tuner]

any good tips on reviving an old set of ford 360 stock heads?ei ; stainless valves, try ing to avoid installing exh seats hardened on all 8 cyls?brands recomended ?thanks

A pal of mine recently freshened up a 390 with a cleanup bore (.030"?) using pistons that gave zero deck, Edelbrock Performer heads, Ede Performer (not RPM) intake, 750 Holley DP, Comp 270H 224 @.050 x .519", 471 HP & 511 TQ on a stingy engine dyno.

Motorcraft electronic distributor and the stock Ford ignition box, 18 initial, 30 @ 2500, slope to 35 at 6000, gave best low RPM torque and high RPM power at each end of the RPM range.

$1600 for a pair of heads ain't cheap, but if you want some power they are a good deal.

[n2omike]

A pal of mine recently freshened up a 390 with a cleanup bore (.030"?) using pistons that gave zero deck, Edelbrock Performer heads, Ede Performer (not RPM) intake, 750 Holley DP, Comp 270H 224 @.050 x .519", 471 HP & 511 TQ on a stingy engine dyno.

Motorcraft electronic distributor and the stock Ford ignition box, 18 initial, 30 @ 2500, slope to 35 at 6000, gave best low RPM torque and high RPM power at each end of the RPM range.

$1600 for a pair of heads ain't cheap, but if you want some power they are a good deal.

Agreed. If you're not doing the work yourself, or maybe even if you are... By the time every single part on the head is purchased new and all the machine work is done, you're reasonably close to the cost of a brand new aluminum head that will run circles around the stocker. Plus, you can choose a different combustion chamber size.

As for building a 360 FE... The pistons are around 1/8" down in the bore at TDC. The quench and compression are in the toilet on a 360! The ABSOLUTE BEST thing you can do for ANY 360 is to convert it to a 390! Both engines are internally balanced, so there is no funny business with dampners and flywheels. The ONLY parts you need for the conversion are the crank and connecting rods. Every other part in the engine, pistons included, is the same. As a bonus, the pistons will now be up close to the top of the deck at TDC, so compression and quench will be where they need to be. The 390 will run circles around the 360, and get better fuel mileage while doing it.

The conversion is a ZERO loss game! The ONLY parts you need are a 390 crank and ANY FE connecting rod beside the old 360 units... as the 360 rods are an oddball size. All the other factory FE rods are the same length.

As for hardened seats, if you're set on factory heads... using oversize valves will give you brand new seat material. Unless the engine will be under hard load for an extended period of time, hardened seats are not required.

Good Luck!

[Walter R. Malik]

The conversion is a ZERO loss game! The ONLY parts you need are a 390 crank and ANY FE connecting rod beside the old 360 units... as the 360 rods are an oddball size. All the other factory FE rods are the same length.

Good Luck!

I think you must be confusing those 360 connecting rods with some past 352 rods.

[ProPower engines]

While they newer heads exhaust seats were induction hardened they wear badly as they were never intended for unleaded fuel in the days when they were built unlike heads are made currently. At least up here we never had unleaded till later in the 80's.
But they will need hard seats installed regardless unless you can get a larger valve set to get the installed heights corrected and not bury the valve seats into the head castings.
As Walter and Motion mentioned the installed heights need to be corrected correctly not off the spring pads.
The 360 was a low revving light truck engine and depending on the head casting numbers they may be the later
Ford service replacement head we seen lots up here as the valve sunk bad and they used a head that had the GT exh.
bolt pattern locations but not always drilled but they could be.They had a longer rod at 6.540" compared to a 390 which is 6.485" long. but it helps get the quench corrected when used in a 390 with a deep deck height where it can be almost.100''
in light duty truck stuff so a ton don't have to get removed from the block to get a 0 or -.005" deck
30deg. seats on the intake and 45 on the exh. so watch the valves when buying new as some are 45deg. for intakes unless
you want to do some bowl grinding.

[frnkeore]

Regarding 352/360 rods, they are all 6.54 c/c. The Ford truck (FT), 361 uses the nominal 6.488 (6.486/6.490, same length as 390 - 428) length rod. The 361 uses a taller CH than the 360. 1.902 (.188 dish) vs 1.776

I wouldn't use any head w/o hardened seats, with unleaded. I had a '71 Ford PU, with a 240-6. I put 1.6 SS valves in it, in '85 and 2 years later, the valves sank, at least 1/8", into the cast iron seat. I still have that head, just as I pulled it, if anyone would like a picture.

[ProPower engines]

Regarding 352/360 rods, they are all 6.54 c/c. The Ford truck (FT), 361 uses the nominal 6.488 (6.486/6.490, same length as 390 - 428) length rod. The 361 uses a taller CH than the 360. 1.902 (.188 dish) vs 1.776

I wouldn't use any head w/o hardened seats, with unleaded. I had a '71 Ford PU, with a 240-6. I put 1.6 SS valves in it, in '85 and 2 years later, the valves sank, at least 1/8", into the cast iron seat. I still have that head, just as I pulled it, if anyone would like a picture.

The 331 361 391 are also 4 ring pistons but from memory they all use the 6.485" rods as well.
But yes you are not kidding on the valve seats on the older heads. They all need to be done regardless if longevity is
what your after out of the build.

[n2omike]

I think you must be confusing those 360 connecting rods with some past 352 rods.

The 352 and 360 both use the same longer connecting rod. All other FE's use the shorter rod.

To convert a 360 to a 390, all that is needed is a 390 crank and rods. Both use the same pistons, are internally balanced. Literally the only parts functionally different in the engines are the crank and rods. Those are the only parts needed for the conversion. Doing so picks up 30ci, cures the massive quench problem, puts the compression ratio back where it needs to be, and even picks up fuel mileage. It is literally a win, win, win, win! Plus, it's CHEAP, so add another win!

As for hardened seats, I've ran oversize valves in SBF heads and no hardened seats with zero issue. Is the iron in FE heads that much softer? If not, I can see using hardened seats in an application that is going to do significant towing, see a bunch of miles, etc... But, most of these engines built today are lucky to see 1000 miles per year, and that's mostly just cruising. Plus, I've seen heads ruined by the machinist cutting into water. A good buddy lost a set of SBC 292 'turbo' heads back in the day when they were really desirable. If they are made of inferior material, I retract my statement, and they may be worth the expense/risk. This being said, there's no way I would replace every single part in those heads with new and do all that machine work. Unless you own your own machine shop, the cost is too close to a brand new set of aluminum Edelbrocks.

Good Luck!

[PackardV8]

If not, I can see using hardened seats in an application that is going to do significant towing, see a bunch of miles, etc... But, most of these engines built today are lucky to see 1000 miles per year, and that's mostly just cruising.

Maybe most 390"s go into cruising cars, but the 360", 361", 391" are still in older working trucks. We see drill rigs, cement contractor form trucks, farm grain haulers; all kinds of trucks which will run overloaded and against the governor their next life. So yes, they absolutely, positively need hard exhaust seats.