so i recently picked up a 1970 f250 with a 360fe. unfortunately the motor was rust locked but i was able to free it up and get her running. the engine runs great but smokes like hell. my question is, normally in this situation can i just hone and re ring or will boring be mandatory?

 

There is no definite answer without opening it up and checking. Might have stuck rings or could be rusted bad enough to require honing or maybe even reboring.

 

Only way to know for certain would be to break it down and have a look see.

Or, if you have access to a bore scope, take a quick look inside to make a spot determination. You may get away with some minor pitting etc. but anything substantial even re ringed might not get you the best results. Possibly a cyld.sleeve if only one cylinder and reuse the current pistons. Just depends on how much rust/how many cylinders were effected and to what extent.

Being you were able to get it unstuck, is a good sign I've seen a few that had to 'helped' apart that were good to go for a re ring. And it could of been a smoker before the onset of the rust..

Being an early 70's, if it still has the original heads with no hard vales/seats, the upgrade is a lump of coin unless you plan to run a lead additive after a grind.

 

most of the time if it smokes like that or like a freight train then I would have the engine tore down and have checked at a machine shop and depending on how you managed to unstick that engine it just might need to run a little while to reseat the rings and it is possible that the rings are tore up due to the rust in cylinders. if was mine I'd try to find a good used engine and put that in it. just all depends on what you want to do and the condition of the truck. A 360 and a 390 looks just alike and there wasn't a way to know for sure unless checking out the numbers on the block or pulling the oil pan off and looking at either the mains and rods one of them had square or flat caps on them I can't remember which one had that style

 

390 has a slightly longer stroke than a 360 to make the cube change.

Easy way to check is to pull the 1 and 4 spark plugs.

Bring #1 to TDC. Drop a probe/dowel etc. in the cylinder and take a measurement. Still on #1 TDC, take the same measurement on #4 for stroke length. 360 has a 3 1/2" stroke, 390 just a tad over 3 3/4"

 

what was the stroke on a 428 if all the engines used the same block from 352 360 390 and the 428 and will all the parts interchange with one another?

 

428 was the longest FE stroke at close to 4" or 3.98. 427 same length as 390. The 428 crank was also externally balanced..