Honest opinion on 460 Fords

Sorry man, but I think the 460's are junk by and large. Sort of like the engine equivilent of a sumo wrestler...overweight, powerful but slow and about equally nice to look at. Perfect motor if you plan on towing orhauling, but a lighter more free revving engine would be much better for performance.

Not to say that they can't be built to really run, but speed parts are expensive. If you're going to drop that kind of money on a mill, you can go several different ways, almost all of which I think will outperform the 460. You could build a B/RB Mopar (get a pre-68 motor and have factory forged crank and rods), with aftermarket heads you will have enough power to put a cruiseliner into the 10's. If it's torque you're after, how about a 500 Caddy with MTS goodies and have enough torque to spin the earth on it's axis.

 

Well, if ya need to really know what i think a nice engine is..... go to my Profile page & look at MY Sport Coupe.

429~460 engines are NOT a piece of mechanical Beauty.

And as for asking if i think a SBC is a good looking engine, You apparently have never read any of my posts on the whole SBC rave,
SBC chevys should be under the hood also, Damn belly button engines anyways.

I like many engines, Mostly OLD ones that might have been in a Hot Rod in the 50s.

flatheads, Hemis, '55~'60 Pontiac, Nailheads, Early Olds, Early Caddy & flathead V8 caddy, FE Ford, Y~Block Ford....

BUT I GUESS THEY WOULDNT DO SO GOOD IN A WILD ASS MUDD MACHINE NOW WOULD THEY COOTER !!

Sorry i dont hold a passion for the 460 block, but its a boring LOOKING engine & no Bitchen Speed~Dress parts for it

 

Shhh! You're supposed to keep that under wraps!

Seriously, there are loads of parts available for FE's. They just don't advertise them as much as the other engines. Sure, some of the cylinder heads are crap, but there are lots of good ones too.

 

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Well, if you want to talk about fast Fords back in "the day", it wasn't the Boss 429 or the Torino CJ's. The fastest, by magazine and tests was the 1971 Boss 351. Sadly it came at the end of the horsepower wars and the begining of oil embargos...

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No pissing here!

When I was street racing in the '80s, no one ran 429/460s competitively where I was (SoCal.) Maybe waaaayyyy back in the '70s when you were out there, it was different...LOL!!!!!

The B/O/P guys had suspension just about figured out, and tire technology was getting good, too (I ran Pro Tracs and got bite!) The torquey 455s could finally be contenders, and if they were built and driven right, could give the Chevy guys a run. The 455s were never really high rpm screamers, and if the builders/drivers respected the torque curve and shifted early enough to use it, the suspension development in the 80s-era rewarded many of them.

I don't remember ever seeing a 460 running hard. 428s were the BBF reps, but the really fast street Fords were all Windsors, and maybe a few Clevelands. These were the days of the 5.0 Mustang, so it only makes sense....

Today, it's all different...a big-block is over 500 inches at a minimum, and a Windsor can be punched out to 460 (with a World block). How times change!

~Scotch~

~Scotch~

 

Yes , you are right I haven't caught many of your posts and Yes I just assumed you were the type that had only ONE engine in mind , Sorry about that --as far as the cooter remark --think what you may , My part of town that's what we do for fun and I do have a warm place for the BBF I have owned many many FE's , don't see the beauty in them have had even a couple of the 428's --one was a CJ the other just plain ole , plain ole 428 --neither impressed me as much as the first 429 I crawled behind in a 68 T'bird. Maybe that is wher it started with me I am sure you have a story behind your preferences too. I build a few old cars and right now am doing a frame off on a 39 ford , yeah been working on it for a while , but that isn't my only project . I do see you did go to my profile , nothing ther Iam ashamed of . I do see you like the older stuff , no problem there , but as I said that's why women and everything else comes in all shapes and sizes --so we will all have something to admire I know we all have our opinions here and I know therewere more than just the 50's for hot roddin' but that's your likes and it's fine with me . I do enjoy this forum and don't agree along all the lines here , but I can see there is a diverse group here and a lot of knowledge and a lot that just want to learn . If you had read into my few posts I don't bash anyones thoughts or opinions.I jut add mine and it doesn't matter to me if it's liked or not , but someone may think about it a bit and come to their own decision. Back to the wild ass mud machine --well you remember that so many of the early drag strips were dirt and that isn't too far from what I do --about one or 2 steps in the other direction from the old dirt tracks to asphalt tracks of today. If I were to go to town in some of the rods I see on here with straights and all the other "goodies" or lack of them I would be in hock up to my ears trying to pay the tickets the Barneys around here would pile on me . so I just keep my "rodding " to the sand / mud and try to have the same kind of fun all of you do and that is with my "car "

 

That about hits the nail on the head. It always comes down to getting whatever power you're making to the ground. Which I think takes us full circle back to the original question, about whether this is too much engine for a light hotrod. I don't think so, but it would be a tricky job of getting the power to the ground, especially with so much weight up front.

I've got an extra 429 CJ in my garage, but I'd never even think of using it in an early rod. It might go good in a fat bodied car (built post 1938 or so), though.

 

I had a 429cj in my 29 pickup. 500+ hp.. The car hauled ass. Scary fast. It was also butt ugly. And too long, I had to run the radiator out back. I pulled it and sold it and bought a 331 hemi. Long story short is that it's possible, but trust me, brace the SHIT out of the frame. That motor would torque like no tomorrow. And do burnouts at 70 on the highway. It was kinda fun...

 

I kinda like this.

 

who woulda ever thought I 'd live to see the day when there would be more belief in a 500 Caddy then a 385 series motor...? there must be some reason that MILD ones are running in de-tuned super-gas cars, 9:90's with no sweat, all day...and why would they end up so often, as a replacement for the little 302's, in the fox-body platform...? this is a FANTASTIC performance motor...why all the stroker kits? how many 500 Caddy's are in pro-mod chassis, going 8's? ( don't get me wrong, the 500 Caddy IS a great platform, for grunt as well, but...the 460 has proven itself, as well...

 

Boy O Boy did you open a can of worms!!

 

Actually, the 429/460 uses the same oiling system as the 351C, which everyone says is bad. 460 oiling isn't complained about because not many people rev them to the 8-10,000 rpm that the Cleveland is capable of. For a street motor that stays under 7000 a high volume pump is all that's needed. If you're going Pro Stock racing you need to do some mods to the oiling.

 

Clevelands?! things must be a whole lot different over there...
the big blocks seem to work here...though a big inch small block is nice! wait a minute...they are not traditional, either!

 

You're absolutely right, but re-read my post.

The 385s can be built to make some REALLY serious horsepower, for a price. Aftermarket heads and intakes are not cheap at all, and even though it's a Ford motor, prices are comparable to Mopar and Pontiac. My thinking is, if you're going to take a 460 and have to sink $4000 into it to get 500 hp, why not build a 440 Mopar and get damn near 600 hp for the same price? Or a screaming 331 SBF that makes the same power and revs harder?

The value just isn't there...and they're ugly

 

Yeah, Dual Quads are Cool,, But im still leanin towards GT Torino

See, I feel there is a time & a place for everything, I am sure that the 429~460 Engine is a fine one.....

But, In a Open engine Hot Rod i just dont see it....

To me its kinda the reverse of this... A 4 carbed, edelbrock headed, harmon~collins magneto, Winfield cammed, Jahns pistons, & fenton headered 8BA Flathead Ford... In a '79 Mustang..

ITS JUST NOT RIGHT......

You wanna 429~460 ? Stuff it in a Torino, Mustang, Cyclone,Comet, or an early car with a hood

But as i said.. Only my opinion

 

Damn --I was beginning to think I was alone here ---and can someone tell me why everyone with a 429 or 460 thinks it's a CJ ?that's like every 350 is a Vortec

 

I actually never had a problem with my Cleveland! and it spun pretty good...the thing is that you don't really need to spin a 460 to much...if you do, you need good rods, too, etc...there is always something to do, and, of course, after that, something else lags...you are right, no complaints, because it is, by and large, not a problem...unless you want 8,000+ rpm...most folks don't need that. these motors run hard, with very little work, I've seen it.

 

you can build a 600 horse 331 for $4000.00?!
don't get me wrong, either...I've had a couple of nasty W motors...but, I remember spending half that on Cylinder heads...wtf? are they cheaper now-a-days? ( I want my $$$ back!)

 

... and every 302 is a Boss..

 

Alright, I had a 460 that I had 429CJ valves installed and ground out the exhaust ports more than seemed safe. Cleaned up the intakes a little. It had a Crower regrind cam, solid lifters, 12 : 1 pistons, truck rods, an Offenhouser port-O-sonic single four bbl and a Holley Dominator. That thing was fast. Went 197.917 in my Vega at the 4 mile. Was cheap to build and ran real good. Anybody bad mouthing 385 Fords never had one and is talking through his---

 

Maybe not 600 hp, but no reason you couldn't get 450+ for 4000 or damn close to it. The Mustang aftermarket has brought the price of the stuff way down

 

I'm with 57JoeFoMoPar -

Two words for 460 Fords in hot rods: BOAT ANCHOR.

460 cubes and you brag about lots of torque? DUH. I would sure hope they'd have torque. So what? They were designed for trucks - and need to stay there.

Two friends of mine have Cobra replicas - one with a 460 Ford, and the other with a hot small block Ford. The car with the little motor runs away from the 460 at the drags (while it burns rubber and fishtails because so much weight is up front), and runs circles around it at slaloms.

NOT a good choice for a hot rod.

 

The 385 Lima was Fords most advanced true production engine at the time.
My opinion is that they FINALLY figured out the game Chevy was playing and planned to make the 385 THEIR "common man" engine.
The development stopped with the Insurance fiasco and the gas crunch.
I don't think Ford ever saw its real development plan to a finish. SURE of it actually.
Just like if development of the SBC had stopped at the 283...there was still an amazing amount of room left for size expansion and performance upgrades without overstressing the basic package of those Lima engines.

The 70's were gonna be a hoot if things had gone as the factories planned...
Forget the Ford/Chevy/ Mopar hater bullshit...WE, car enthusiasts as a group, really lost out when the gates slammed shut. We were right on the edge of going from propeller plane performance into the jet age of muscle cars with braking and handling to match.

We'll never know what could have been...

 

I honestly don't like the idea for a fenderless hot rod, either...but...is that Cobra replica burning rubber, and fishtailing because it has so much weight up front, really?
do you think thats what it is, or that the little motor doesn't break 'em loose...while the big motor car, well...what do we have for gear? whos driving? launch rpm? clutch? traction devices? tires? ya' follow me, here?

 

I have lots of friends with big fords. One is a 520ci Kaase motor and runs 10 flat in a tugboat of a fairlane on the motor. Nothing in his is stock, including the aftermarket block.

Those big fords can run ok. They used to get real pissed off though when my little 340 mopar ran away from them though. The real poor exhaust ports need work or they just don't breath. The 429 BOSS and 429 SCJ motors were down on low end torque compared to the standard port motors...but they still had more than enough and revved better. The police heads are the best for a street motor but stay away from the D2 and D3 castings which have the worlds worst chambers.

 

Just making sure everyone saw this post...it appears that some didn't. Note that the "set of heads" can be a roughly home ported set of factory closed chamber heads...and still make over 500 horsepower with just a cam change, intake, headers, and a good carb. No need for $$$$ aftermarket heads to make 500 horsepower AND 500 ft./lbs. of torque with a 460.

Again, though, I do not think this engine would be appropriate for a light weight rod. It is definitely not appropriate for a traditional build.

 

I recently had a 70 Torino GT with a mild built 70 460. I bought it as a beater and sold it because it was too nice to ruin, and because it got about 4 mpg. BUT....I could blow the tires off at will, in any gear. I was so impressed with how fast this big orange hulk was, I got a 429 SCJ with a stroker crank with a built C-6 to drop in my 57 Ford next week. With the factory finned aluminum valve covers, some wild headers, and some detailing, it doesnt look too bad. I'd drop it in a fenderless car, not to be prettier than a Y block or a nailhead, but just to be ANYTHING but a SBC. I like those too, but I'd rather have a hood and fenders around a bellybutton, even if the 460 isn't stunning or even traditional.

 

This little A's got a 460.
Yes it's an ugly motor, but I like hoods anyway.
Yes it's not very traditional, but the last time I checked we're not REALLY living in the '50's.
Yes it'll do 70 mph burnouts.
They are cheap.
And believe it or not the with as far as the engine sits back in the chassis the weight ballance is dead on 50/50.

 

well i got a lot of info, and for who ever was wondering why every thinks they're 460 is a cj, is because some people are dipshits, and some people either have the cj heads on 'em, or it's a truck engine which has cj rods, like mine! They aren't the most beutiful engine but hell throw it between the rails of a T center door with no chop which ain't a pretty thing either, and who gives a shit, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beer Holder , i am liking the dual quad intake some one posted on here. it was just an idea see what you guys had to say. Thanks for the info and the laughs, i was amazed at all the posts, thanks for the help.

Bobby

 

Yeah I hear that !!