I got one of the early 392's from Ford. It was a good engine at first, but after 1500 miles, the
oil pump driveshaft snapped in two due to CASTING SLAG wedging the
oil pump impeller against the housing. Ford took it back for nothing, supposedly went through it, and shipped it back. 2000 miles later, I had the #1 piston completely disintegrate into thousands of pieces that in turn bent several valves. Strangely enough, the 392's started coming from Ford with forged pistons. I didn't even pursue the issue because it's a pain in the ass...just fixed it myself and put some nice Diamond pistons in it.
Point being, the early 392's had oiling and piston problems...I'm happy with the motor powerwise...and I think the new ones are good to go. Buy the new 392, slap some AFR 185's on it and you have at 525hp out of the box.