i am thinking of building a modified-t with a glass body on a an a-frame, and was thinking of engine options. i have a 86 ford 460 and c6 out of an f250 and a rear end out of a v8 jeep grand cherokee(i think its a dana 35) s thinking about puting that in. do you think this is to much engine for this project? what gearing do you recomend?i want to be abel to drive it around town, not just for haulin ass
some of us crazy folks don't think there's such a thing as too much engine...and would probably drive around with a seat mounted to a transmission and pedals mounted to the valve covers if we could somehow attach suspension and diff to just the engine/trans... better make sure that frame is tough enough, and that you can handle it once it's put together.
There is no such thing as too much engine ,too much torque, or too much horsepower....just not enough traction. I think the 460 would be a great choice!
By '86 they weren't the powerhouses they had been... as long as the frame is boxed and you don't hammer it all the time it should be okay, but building a frame from scratch wouldn't hurt either. Or use a boxed AA frame.
im one of those crazy folks, if u have the engine, and the frame is prepped for such bhp than by all means.... stuff that bitch in there and ride on!
i don't think ANYBODY puts 460's in anything anymore! if it were me, i'd sell the 460 even if it meant i ran an asshole 350. i think a warmed over small block that revs would be more fun than a torque monster that quits at 4 grand. if you were building a winnebago than the 460 would be the way to go.
I am assuming that you are Blue Oval tried and true. These 429/460 platforms are boat anchors! Hop up stuff is expensive for this mill. You need good Dart heads or go with Blue Thunder aluminum. Expect to pay over $1000.00 pair. Your choice of mill should really be based on what you will do with this rod. I have found that for a good street/strip/cruze combo, the 351W lends itself to many inexpensive mods. I built a 67 Cougar with a stretched 351W (408) old Holly sequential FI and C4 with 3500 converter. This car is NJ State inspected, runs on pump gas, and is extremely reliable and tame. When I take it to the Nostalgia races, I put it in it's drag form by opening the headers, skinny's on the front, M&H 28's on the back. I can get this done in an hour. Best time is 12.40. If you are a Bow Tie fanatic, your small block choices are huge. Bottom line is if you want all out brute HP and Torque, go with the big block as nothing compares to big inches. Just make sure you can apply it to the asphalt. This is where it gets expensive and will affect your ride.
a buddy of mine runs a 460 out of a car in his glass t. all i got to say is that it is nuts. something like smoking the tires at 50 Mph nuts. go for it. with a light weight car you don't need any big mods to make it run. sounds like fun if you ask me.
I', no Ford expert but if you are planning on going cheap with what you have it will probably have more power than common sense will allow you to use in a T bucket. It may not be the ideal drag car engine w/o the $1000 heads and big cam and what not but on the street in a 1700 lb car hang on Nelly. One thing you will find is that the goodies you want may be half again as expensive as the same item for a more popular engine. Figuring that you would probably want an aluminum intake, some trick valve covers and some other shiny items for the engine plus a set of hedders. The engine goodies should be priced ok but I would sure check the price on the hedders I planned to use before I started. As a couple of the other guys said, you will have to build one hell of a stout frame to keep it from twisting from the tourque this thing puts out.
Don't need a lot of HP in a modified. As long as you build it to handle the weight and torque,go for it.
Use what you have. A 4 banger will move a modified well, a stock 460 will make enough power to scare the hell out of you.
check out http://www.460ford.com/ . They can be serious bad engines and give chevy BB a run for the money. Anyone who says they are boat anchors is clueless. And since when are $1000 for performance aluminum heads expensive. Especially when heads/ cam/ intake and exhaust is going to put you between 600-700 hp and even more torque. Needless to say I love these engines. They are fords forgotten about bb. If you get a set of c8,c9 or dove heads you can massage over 500hp out of the right combo. I say go for it.! mike
Yes... Wrong era as well... A modified T will be every bit as scary with a warmed over SBC as it would be with a 460... The hardest part about building a Modified is creating a purposefull complete package. Having a ginormous big-block out front would look wacky unless you're going for the 70's show-rod look.
A bunch of people have nailed it. It might not be too much power, but make sure it fits your ideal for the car.
A 460 can make 400 hp pretty easy even with only ported stock heads. In a 2000lb T that would be like having a 720ish hp late model Mustang. Way overkill. IMO. I'd sell the 460 and build a 331 (302 stroker). Lighter, smaller and way easier and cheaper to get parts for. A mild 331 will make close to 350 hp.
use it if you got it or can get it cheap. they are far from boat anchors, not traditional but there is nothing wrong with having plenty of cheap power on tap. i bet it will even get decent gas mileage since it wont have to work to move the car. stick an rv cam in it and keep the gears highway friendly.
Since you have the 460, mock it up first to see how it looks and fits, if it seems to be too big or you don't like it for some other reason sell the 460 and get a 351 windsor or better yet a 351 cleveland and it will grab more attention, if you put a small block chevy in it you'll have another cookie cutter looking car.
Use it if you got it. I love Big, Tourqey, low revving engines in little cars. Or any cars for that matter. It may not be a worldbeater but if you got it and it runs as is, that's a lot better than having to build something up. The only problem I can see has already been addressed and that is make sure that dimensionally the thing will go in a T bucket and leave you enough room to sit in it too. Build it and if you don't like it you can always sell it and build something else. Good luck.
i think im goin to run the the 460 but im goin to put a c4 behind it.i know it a big engine and i know its not traditional, but i dont want it to be like every body elses(with a sbc). thanx for all the in-put guys
A C4 will work as long as you beef it up. 6 pinion planetary. shift kit. serious HP rebuild. Look to the 5.0 tranny building guys. They can make C4's live behind 1000hp superchargerd, NOS injected, small blocks. A mild 460 should be a piece of cake.
I know the car is a light weight but there is no way in hell I would run a dana 35 behind a 460. Later, Mark
if the motor is paid for and it is a good one then put it in there. i would get a different rear if it was me but once again the rear is paid for try to use it.
The 460 would be a blast; and you don't need a bunch of hop up crap on it. A nice street cam, four barrel or multi carb set up and headers, and it's already gonna be one of the baddest things in town. I've had two T buckets with 440 Mopars in them; just a factory purple cam set up and the old long ram 2X4 intake with 4:56 gears and they still got 17 MPG! One important piece to make it work well is the right converter, with out a properly sized converter, it will be miserable to drive.
The 8.8" from an Explorer would work well. 31 spline axles, traction-lok in almost all of them, 3.55 and 3.73 were VERY common and 4.10's are out there too, disc brakes with built in parking brake. Almost as strong as a 9". Tons of aftermarket support.
The Jalopy Journal
