1972 F750 Truck - starter questions

I bought this truck last week knowing I have some projects coming up that I would use it (roofing projects) and then either flip it or sell to my son to use with his hay business. I paid $750 for a
good running F750 with an Eaton 5 speed and a metal 18' bed. Brakes, hoist, and everything else appears to work as it should - the only issue we MIGHT have is the headlights and taillights, but the
brake lights and blinkers work.

Two questions - does this take a starter different than the starter a FE 390 takes (this has FT 391) and does anyone know why they would have put a functional hood scoop on the hood (the hood scoop is
in the shape of the Trans Am intake that came through the hood on the 1970s Pontiacs) - with a intake pipe that goes down about 2 inches and ends. Was this hooked up to the old air filter (oil bath?)
intake?

I own a 1978 F7000. the truck has a hood scoop like you describe. my truck has a 3208 cat engine in it. maybe your truck has had a engine swap. there is a big ford truck forumn that i have found useful many times. good luck with your project.

I would suspect the starters are the same but order new or a replacement by application to be sure. If you are just placing a used one on it I would suggest looking at it very closely comparing length of nose, possible drive offset from center, number of drive teeth etc. It would have been nice if snodgrass would have told you if the hood scoop had a connection to the Cat air intake for certain or no, he does seem to imply it. Another one of those forum things where he sees it and thinks we all see it.

The factory hood scoop should be on the right hand side of the hood, flat and not very high

Most of the old ford trucks that I have seen with the hood scoop were super dutys with the 401, 477, or 531 engine

That's exactly where it is. I am pretty sure this has the original engine - the Ford 391 with a Holley 4V carb. But the aircleaner is a big chrome setup instead of the factory. The hood might not be original to the truck...

Where is the Forum you were a member of? I didn't know if the starter was the same between a 391 and a 390 - I would assume the F750 probably has as bigger flywheel for a bigger clutch - but then what do I know...

From memory long time ago so double check. 391 balanced internally rather than externally and has some heavy duty internals.

the 391 back then was the original truck engine. different than the car 390.

Just found a valve cover tag - has a 1976(?) FT330 engine instead of the FT391 like a F750 should have. Still has the Holley 4V carb on it that the FT391 would have had - maybe they swapped it onto the 330 when the engine was swapped? It has pretty good power - son accidently shift from 1st to 4th and it took it like a champ accelerated fairly well and he didn't realize he had done it until he hit 45 mph in what he thought was 2nd gear....

Ford used a hood scoop on the 700 and bigger trucks.
Depending on what year the truck is depends on where the scoop is located.
In the 50s it was on the left side of the hood.
In the late 60s and early 70s it was on the right side of the hood.
Both faced toward the windshield and was just a small bump on the hood.
They were functional and a pipe ran to the oil bath air cleaner.
Some had a painted grill some had a chrome grill.

(quoted from post at 15:40:46 06/19/23)
Just found a valve cover tag - has a 1976(?) FT330 engine instead of the FT391 like a F750 should have.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't depend on a valve cover tag alone to identify an engine.

I know for years identifying what FE engine you had was near impossible unless you did some measuring. They were all based on the 352 engine, the 360 engine was a 352 with a bigger bore, the 390
engine used the 360's bore and a longer stroke, they all used the same block and could use the same heads. I believe for years all blocks had the 352 stamp.



FE engine displacements Displacement Bore Stroke
CI----Bore-------------------Stroke
332 4.000 in (101.6 mm) 3.300 in (83.8 mm)
352 4.002 in (101.7 mm) 3.500 in (88.9 mm)
360 4.052 in (102.8 mm) 3.500 in (88.9 mm)
361 4.047 in (102.8 mm) 3.500 in (88.9 mm)
390 4.052 in (102.9 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
391 4.052 in (102.9 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
406 4.130 in (104.9 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
410 4.054 in (103.0 mm) 3.98 in (101.1 mm)
427 4.232 in (107.5 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
428 4.132 in (105.0 mm) 3.98 in (101.1 mm)


I have no idea how to tell the difference between a 330, 361 and a 391 if the valve cover isn't marked in some way. You could pull a plug and measure stroke and you could narrow it down to a couple
engines but other wise you have to actually have to pull the head to know for sure which one you have.

i believe it's called ford truck enthusiasts. on the start page you kinda have to pick your way through the choices to get version of truck you're looking for. pretty easy site to find

FT engine sizes are
330 = 3.875 bore x 3.5 stroke
361 = 4.050 bore x 3.5 stroke
391 = 4.050 bore x 3.780 stroke

Two versions of the 330 were built
MD using a FE block and crank with FT intake, heads and exhaust
A Autolite carb was used with a velocity governor made into the 2 inch tall carb spacer, it also used a standard FE distributor
HD version used all FT components with a Holley 2 bbl carb equipped with a governor that was controlled by the special FT distributor

361 was available with Holley 2 bbl or 4 bbl carb with distributor controlled governor
391 came with 4 bbl Holley only
A California emission version was available with 2 bbl Holley labeled as a 389

The factory air cleaner had a snout that lined up with the scoop on the right side of the hood. A flapper in the snout allowed warm under the hood air into the air cleaner for quicker warm ups and cold weather driving, once under hood temperatures reached the proper levels the flapper moved to allow cooler outside air into the engine for better performance

Normally a F-750 would have a 361 but the 391 was a option
With over 1/4 inch difference in stroke length pulling a spark plug and checking stroke length should give a pretty close guess as to the engines size

not quite. 352 , 390 and 428 had the same engine design. use the same heads and intake. 360 and 400 are totally different from them. 352 had blue valve covers while the 390 had gold valve covers. i been away from them for a long time. then the heavy duty 330, 361 and 391 are in their own group.

360 was made using the 390 s bore and 352 crankshaft but it is the same FE engine design
400 is a completely different engine using 351 Cleveland head design and a block that was only used for the 351M and 400

The 360 is an FE engine - Ford swapped back and forth between the 360 and the 390 on their pickups the first half of the 1970s. The 351M and the 400 are essentially the same block. The 330, 361, 385, 391 are the FT series - basically a FE engine with a forged crank, an extra set of rings on the cylinders and some internal casting differences and the timing chain cover is different. You can take a 361/391 block and swap everthing from a 360/390 into it except the distributor.

361/391 and 360/390 blocks are the same except the distributor pilot hole
A bushing can be installed in the distributor pilot hole of a FT block to make it useable as a FE
The pilot hole in a FE block can be bored out to convert it to FT usage
Ford changed foundries in the early 70 s and the later blocks did have some internal and external differences, but they where interchangeable with the earlier blocks