I've got a very clean 352 for my Galaxie and all cylinders read at 140-142 on my compression check. The car is kinda a slouch though and I've got a cam kit (Comp XE262H) and dual intake/with carbs. Should I try seeing if the cam and duals wake this motor up or wait and put it all on a 390? I figure it can't hurt, but I've heard the heads on the 352 are pretty restrictive. Eventually I'm gonna make it a 390-411 anyway, but don't have the $$ to bore out the (perfectly good running) motor now. Oh, and I've already got to pull the motor out as I'm tossing the CruiseOmatic and installing a C6 so this is as good as time as any to try out some things to get her up and going. Thanks, Aaron
The 352 is a good strong engine to work with. Dual carbs is a bit much though. I wouldn't go there. AND, I just happen to have a good used Edelbrock Performer with Edelbrock carb for the 352 if your interested.
If your exhaust manifolds look half as bad as the ones on my Edsel, there's got to be some power hidden in there. I shake my head every time I look at those monstrosities. I've seen crites makes long tubes and Ford Power Train makes shorties. Maybe some other hambers can give firsthand experience with one or the other.
Do you have any idea of what that thing looked like to us in '58? Mega inches (except for the MELs which were unreal) giant ports. rugged bottom end. Today it isn't quite so racey looking but it will still run as good as ever.
It's already got a 4bbl intake (stock, heavy SOB) and basic Edelbrock...but no matter how much I tune on this older carb it runs very rich. Was going to try replacing the metering rods but figured with the cam swap why not try out the dual set up...
I have a 352 and my Galaxie and it has HUGE intake ports. They are bigger that the later model 390 heads I have. Factory manifolds are really bad. Need to replace them before trying to get much power out of it. I tripped across a 428 and it is getting factory type shorty headers and 2 450 carbs. http://www.popsperformancecenter.com/OrderForm1.html
let me know how the dual 4 goes. i would love one for my build, but cant afford the setup right now, cant even afford a streetmaster, and lots of people thought they were junk but want killer for them now.
It has a very small exhaust leak on the pass side, but I plan on trying to fix that as well. I've seen the Crites stuff too. Nice looking and I'll probably end up with their headers once I go to the bigger bore. Believe it or not the car only has 90,000 original miles and everything's stock, just the trans is a POS and has this weird problem of spitting fluid up out of the vent whenever it decides to (very irregular pattern). C6 is on the way so time to do some upgrades while the motor is out.
Nothing crazy about it. Ford got 360 horsepower out of the 352 HiPo, and there was nothing exotic about the parts used (high flow exhaust manifolds, 4V carb, and solid lifter cam was about the extent of it). I think that you could easily match that with headers, cam, and intake.
I would look at three things to start. 1) Make certain the existing carburetor & ignition system are in good shape & adjusted correctly. Not saying this is an issue for your particular case, but it constantly amazes me that guys will toss money at new parts when the old ones aren't adjusted correctly. A mechanic tunes & adjusts....a parts replacer...well... edit: typed this over a long period of time & there was a ton of posts by the time I'd finished, so don't take it as an insult if you feel that you've already flogged this carb & gotten no better results. I'm not a fan of E-brock carbs, but they can be made to work. 2) If you still have exhaust manifolds, and/or a single factory-style exhaust, look for a better option. Most of the factory manifolds are restrictive as hell. 3) If you still have the original factory points ignition, I would consider having the distributor recurved, on a machine, by someone who knows what they are doing. The FE factory curves are typically both limited in advance amount and slow in advance rate. This is something you can experiment with by yourself without a distributor machine, IF you have patience. It's up to you as to whether you want to replace the points with electronics...if the points work, you won't gain performance per se, though it will be more consistent, as points wear down over time/use. Great gains can be made here with minimal expense... 4) Repeat step #1 after you have made the changes in 2 & 3. After that, the Performer intake will help from 2600-2800 rpm on up over a stock FE 4bbl. intake.
Nothing wrong with a 352. Go ahead with the two fours if that is two much you dont have to open them all the way. A 600 CFM carb is only 300CFM at half throttle. There are plenty of 327 and 350 chev running twp fours. The exhaust and dizzy are the biggest items that could use improving. Put a stick behind it and a 352 is a different animal. OldWolf
I have thought about doing a 352FE with nothing more than a cam, rockers and a 2x4 intake with a pair of small 390 or 450ish carbs. Maybe a pair of Ford small four barrel carbs. My only question is what about the cast pistons? Nobody seems to make even hypereutectic, let alone forged, 352 pistons. The cast is an option. In the above kind of engine above are cast pistons safe. Always wondered why cast are not good for a powerful street engine? Or why people think that they are not good.
No, your not crazy, because if you were I would be also. I got a new cam from a 390. Edelbrock Performer Intake, Edelbrock 750 Carb, MSD ignition, 5sp trans. Flattop pistons and I hope to have headers.
checked the floats, cleaned the needles, adjusted the idle mixture. Pulls 20" of vacuum at idle (800RPM) and compression is strong. Whenever I start her she spits out a ton of soot and sometimes bogs on acceleration. Plugs look like it's running rich as well...
Cool replies so far. I thought I would get a bunch of "just make it a 390" replies...easier said then done. Besides, this motor seems very healthy and I'd like to see what I can get out of it without tearing into the bottom end.
Ok i know i will probably get flamed for this but this is very true! At 18 years old i bought my first Ford F100 it was a 66 with a stock 352 and a 4 speed.I liked the way it ran and had a buddy wanting to sell his 352 that was in his 65 ford drag truck he wanted to go to a 429 cause parts were more readily available he was pulling 500 horse from it .I bought the engine for 500 bucks and took it to the college i was enrolled in for automechanics and started to pull it down to freshen it up and detune it for the street. The heads had been hogged out and It was bored .040 with flat top pistons and a pretty beefy bottom end and had a single plain intake that i swapped out for a daul plane to make it streetable and ran a 750 Edelbrock carb and MSD full ignition, wires,billet dist.,and blaster 2 coil. I put headers on it and full 3 inch exhaust with 2 chamber Flowmasters and got her back on the street! You could hear me coming from 3 blocks away! I still miss that truck and that engine! I say build it. You will never be more happy with another engine in your life as you will be tha FE!
FE's are very expensive to build, but if it's in good shape I'd use it. The exhaust manifolds SUCK on these engines. I'd definately use the 2X4 setup with a couple small CFM carbs, good set of headers and a cam that was big on the exhaust side. This thing should easily make 350hp with a hydraulic cam. You see 2X4 intakes on 283 Chevy's all the time and the run great. Surely you can tune it in on 352 cubic inches... Right? Yes you can! Here's a pic to drool on.... Kevin Ooltewah Speed Shop
Excellent engine I must say (from experience)! Mine is a 64 motor, original to one of my Galaxies. I tore it down at 137,XXX miles for a minor rebuild only because it leaked so much oil. Cleaned up the cylinder walls with a ball hone to break the glaze and get the cris-cross pattern on the cylinder walls, in addition to a ridge reamer to get rid of the ridge that had formed at the top of each cylinder. Anyway, upon hot tanking the block/heads, I ordered a kit from PAW with main/rod/cam bearings, ring set with the moly top ring, hi-vol. oil pump, double roller t-chain set, and Comp Cams 260H cam & spring kit. Even with this mild cam I still had to swap to adjustable rocker arms because of the extra cam lobe lift. Never even disassembled the pistons from the rods or touched the crank, just gave them a major cleaning with a strong degreaser then dipped the pistons, with rings installed, in a coffee can of oil before inserting in engine. Okay enough rambling...performance upgrades besides the cam consist of the standard Edelbrock intake and Edelbrock 600 carb, Pertronix ignition module, and the 406 style factory header manifolds, and eventually converted the car over to a 4-spd! Nothing impressive with a highway gear in the rearend, but with a 3.70 or higher its a lot of fun! Even with almost 200,000 miles on the car it never uses a drop of oil and never misses a beat. Just drove it on our family vacation to the Smoky Mtns. in September and got 16 mpg at 80 mph with a 2.79 rear gear on a fairly hilly interstate. A 352 is probably one of the few engines you can get away with such a simple rebuild and hammer on it and never have a problem. I never rev mine much over 5k just for reliability's sake, but it will do 6k with no problem.
I've got a set of the crites headers unused I'd be willing to let go for a good price if you are interested. I think they are $325 new. They have black paint on them to seal but otherwise unused. Too long for me.
Go for it. Short Stroke + Big Bore = Fast Reving Big Block Fun. Check the FordFE.com Forum for tips and hints. There is even some pretty amazing stories out there about 352's being run in dragsters at over 8,000 rpm. My 352 is in the machine shop as I am typing. Edelbrock Preformer Intake, 750 Holley, 0.030 over, some pretty serious head work and a good Comp cam should make for a strong motor for the old Monterey Wagon.
I've kept all my old 352 and 390 engines i love them. a guy showed me the heads on the murcury you could see the difference in the flow capability. powers always in the heads
DO it . Put 2 2bbls on it if you just want the killer look . I'm an Olds guy doing my first FE so I've been researching. Comp is not the choice of cams ( I never use them in anything) Crane seemed to be but not able to get right now. I am going with the Lunati Voodoo instead of the Progear I have , it's bigger of course : )) Ihave a tri power but just located a cross ram .. Exhaust is biggest kicker as already stated . There is a shorty type header or a cast factory style if long tubes is not for you . The old streetmaster 4 bbl seems to very well reguarded inspite of the garbage spewed about dual planes being better. I found PRW rocker kit for $450 , aluminum roller rockers, shafts and stands .Seem fair quality and should be fine with hyd. cams, I may be iffy on a big roller but we're not running those so no worries. There is also an oil mod recomended if going rollers , restrictors in the heads to limit oil to shafts . Check out the Engine masters from last year I think, was a couple 352 entries that made lots of power, 600+ . I have extra cam/lifters and set of no name finned alloy rocker covers I'd sell
Watch your cam. If it's a pre-62 engine, you are quite limited on cam selection. I was going to rebuild the 352 in my 61 Galaxie, but ended up coming up with a rebuilt 390 when looking for an aluminum intake for my motor...$450 for a running motor with 30,000 on it. Including an early offy 4v intake!
one: change the exhaust man. if you have stocks. two: one 4bbl. carb is good. three: have to remember the trans & rear end to go fast. if you want/have to go with 390-428 heads. here is my stock 9.5 to 1 comp. 390 that ran 15.'s in the 1/4 before i put the blower on ( just installed and ran) no mods. every day driver.
I think it's worth the effort. Of course i'm biased. I am in the midst of doing a 332 FE for my 61 Meteor wagon. I have a whole 428 i could throw in but just to see , and since i've had to take it apart to fix a broken exhaust bolt and discovered two burnt valves i am changing a few things. I don't like 2 barrels and the iron 4V intakes i had around didn't have the oil fill hole (70's type) or had no temperature fitting (59 one) so i modified a Streetmaster intake to have an oil filler and hook the road draft up. I'll use a 600 Holley and since the heads were off i've stuck another pair with some minor port smoothing. The exhaust manifold is broken so i'm rewelding some damaged Mustang headers to fit the car. The timing chain should be checked so might do the cam while that's apart. It's 3.3" stroke and 4" bore is like a stroker 302 and the heads are big for those cubes. If it's a pig i'll use the 428 but i doubt it will be.
I had a fling with the 352/390/406 Fords and found the parts to easily swap back and forth and they can make lots of power and are reliable. The definitive 352 guy was a midwest racer named Cal Method, he had a stormin' 1954 Ford all decked out with a 352 in it. He still races, but runs Chevies now. He had a good spread on Car Craft (?) years ago, between 1969-1972 IIRC. If you can dredge up that article or get in contact with Cal, all your questions will be answered. Edited: Cal and his wife Mary Ann are out of Kennewick Washington and still both tearing up the 1/4 mile. Bob
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