Customs 352 Ford questions

hey guys, i cant seem to find answers for my questions, so ill ask them in a new post.

I was given a 352 ford motor. I'm not sure if it is a 352 or not. It has 352 cast on the front of the block.
Question 1: Besides pulling a head, is there any other way to find out what the engine actually is? (ie: casting numbers etc.)
Question 2: How can I identify the heads?
As far as I know the motor is stock.
Question 3: I have access to a 5 speed transmission out of a 1996-7 ford ranger. V-6. I know the bell housing will not work. If I get a manual transmission bell housing for the 352, Will the transmission work, physically? Input shaft length, clutch, flywheel etc.
Question 4: If I can make the trans work, what exactly am I looking for with the bell housing? Is there a certain dimension, or casting mark, or some sort of identification?

The transmission will be free to me if I can use it. I am assembling parts to build a hot rod. I'm not looking for performance, just a cruiser.

Please don't hate me, I have very limited knowledge of ford anything. I was raised Chevrolet, and came to my senses for Mopar.(Daily driver is a Mega cab Dodge Ram, wifes daily driver is a Dodge Durango. Work truck is a Cummins dually Ram. All great vehicles)

Any and all thoughts will be appreciated.

 

Here are some pics

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I can't answer all your questions, but you have to physically measure a FE Ford engine because the casting numbers tell you next to nothing. Even some 427s have the 352 cast into them, it means nothing. Pull a plug and measure the stroke. That will let you know something. But an engine that old may have been rebuilt many times. Pull a head and measure the bore then you will know both dimensions. As for the head castings, a C denotes a 1960s head, a 4 is 1964, a C5 is 1965,etc.
Check out this site for more info, its full of FE gurus:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/

 

Correct orientation.... Sorry

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Ugggg. I was told it was just rebuilt. I didn't really wanna pull it apart. Thanks for that link. I got a lot of reading to do.

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There's a book by Steve Christ called Big-Block Ford Engines. It's put out by HPbooks


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Sry I hit the reply button before I was done. Anyway he goes into pretty good detail on deciphering what you have using several different methods. Including ways that don't make you pull the motor apart. There's lots of good info on all the FE engines. I have a 390 I wasn't sure about and was able to figure out its a 1968 390. I highly recommend the book. You can find it on amazon for about 15-20 bucks. For me it was money well spent.


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I was just about to ask if it was worth it. I'll take a look into it. Thanks

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Is it the "how to rebuild big block ford" book?

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Random guess that is either a 360 or a 390 from a truck, as those valve covers look like the ones that they put on the 70's trucks.

Don't think their is an easy way to adapt an M5OD to an FE without a bunch of work, and I don't think it would handle the torque of an FE

 

Yeah that's the one.


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I just ordered it from eBay for $11.99. Free shipping

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So if I have read the forums correctly, if it is a 360/390 its a better candidate for building up?

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360s are turds in stock form. They were poorly designed emission motors which killed both performance and mileage. If it's a 360 expect to drop a 390 crank and rods in it and start over.

Devin

 

A 360 is just a .050 0ver 352. It was used in the years when GMs 455s were making 200 HP. A good cam and carburation will realy wake them up.

 

I think the problem with the 360 is that the stock piston has loads of piston/head clearance, i.e. is too far down the bore so the quench is bad. 390 truck engines have the same issue.

The 352 and 360 have a 3.5" stroke. pull a spark plug and get a wire coat hanger to measure piston travel while barring the engine over.

 

The "352"cast on the front of the block is the engine series for the FE.
FT medium duty truck blocks typically have a mirror image 105 cast in the same spot.
without pulling the heads do as finn says above a 390 has a 3.78 stroke as against the 3.5 stroke of the 352 and 3.3 for the 332

 

It appears to have the "Truck" oil filter block on it so I would say it would be either a 360 or a 390? If it is just going to be a cruiser and the engine has a fresh rebuild then why not jus run it the way it is?
Scott...

 

If you can come up with an accurate way to measure, you can pull a plug and see how much oil it take to fill the cylinder (just to the top of the cylinder, not to the spark plug hole). This would give you the volume of one cylinder, take that times 8 for an estimate of the cubic inches for the engine. But sure to clear the oil out of the cylinder before you replace the plug! Don't want to bend a rod.

 

Buy this book check out the preview pages: http://www.mre-books.com/interchange/interchange11.html

 

Head gaskets are cheap. .. pull the head!

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I was/am planning to just run it. I need to get all the pullys harmonic balancer flywheel etc. That's why I am trying to find out what it is. The motor was in a barn in the middle of farm country, so I can only assume it is a truck motor.

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Thanks for that link. I got a lot of reading to do.

 

That's some useful info. I'm gonna go check the castings sometime today.

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My guess is that it is a 360 out of a truck. Not a performance engine by any means. I don't believe there is any reasonable way to make that Ranger transmission work. There is a reason someone is giving it away and it's not because it is a beefy trans. A regular Ford all-synchro 3-speed would be a better choice IMHO.

I had a '71 F-100 with a 360 in it and it wouldn't pull the hat off your head.

 

I want a manual trans. Can anyone recommend a vehicle to pull one from to go behind this motor?

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I like T5 because of the overdrive among other things. Light weight, easy to work on, lots of them around, a lot of information on adapting them, cheap, etc.

 

I assume the T5 would be found in a mustang?


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That looks like a truck engine to me too.

IIRC, Ford made a smaller CI engine that was possibly a 320 and it came in trucks made for the rental biz, like Hertz. Anyone else hear of it? It looked externally like the 360.