72 Ranger

[DMT]

Hi all,
Been lurking around here for a while. Couple months ago my son and I bought a 72 Ranger. It's in pretty good shape, but hope to over the years take it up a couple levels. It has had some amateur work done over the years, and we are going to try to slowly bring it back towards original. It appears to be an original v8 truck, but I'm not sure if the current engine is original. What is the best way to check numbers on a 360/390 engine? Attached are a few pictures. I'll get some better ones once the weather breaks.

[Fordkid68]

Awesome truck! looks great! some places to look for numbers is on the drivers side of the block by the oil filter, or on the passenger side near the front of the block, there should be date codes in one of these places. Lucky find with a short bed!

[two-bit]

Played with a lot of FE's over the years. The best way to I.D. between the 360/390 is piston stroke.
They both use the same block, so casting numbers will tell you its an FE. Date code will tell you when it was made. Neither will tell you the cu.in. displacement.
From the factory, there was a small tag attached near the dizzy that listed the cu.in. Most of those have disappeared over the years.
The original sticker on the rocker box would list the cu.in. of the engine. If you have them, and if they are original to the truck.
So.... piston stroke never lies.
Pull a spark plug and rotate by hand from BDC to TDC. Have something making contact with the top of the piston while rotating.
If it travels about 3 3/4 " (or 3.75) it is very likely a 390 cu.in.
If it travels about 3 1/2 " (or 3.50) it is very likely a 360 cu.in.

I say "very likely" because other FE engines also had these stroke lengths.
ie: a 352 cu.in. was also 3 1/2". the 406 and 427 are also close to that 3 3/4".

With as many years that have gone by. Engine swaps are not uncommon.
The fourth position of the VIN tag will tell what Ford built it with. "Y" = 360. "H" = 390.

Post your results and let us know.

[DuckRyder]

Two-bit is spot on.

Checking casting numbers on an FE is for the most part useless. You might figure out what it isn’t that way but not what it is.

[DMT]

Thanks for the information!

[Bigcalhoun]

Slick ride. Love the Wimbledon white! Congratulations!

[bellamor]

Classic beauty will probably be the best words to describe this car.