460 myth

i have acquired a 1969 460 along with the lincoln mark III it came in.
the guy i got it from said that when he had the trans rebuilt that he had a new tourque converter installed as well.

the strange story is that the tourque converter for the 460 would not fit and he said they used the converter for a 390

the trans guy said that he had heard of ford putting a 390 crank in some 460's but had never seen one

i am looking to rebuild this 460 for my project but don't understand what crank i can use if it indeed has the 390 crank

has anyone else heard of a 390 crank in a 460?

 

As far as I know the 390 is the FE series of engines, 352, 360, 390, 406, 410 Merc, 427, and 428. The 429 and 460 are the "385" series and no parts interchange between series.

 

a 460 can be made into a 429 by changing the crank, this is why on FBB need to check the crank casting to see what ya got

 

Got to go to rehab!............. No! No! No!

 

Ummm...no.

What possibly happened is that the new converter had the wrong size of pilot & wouldn't fit the back of the 460 crank, so they found one with the correct diameter of pilot. Ford switched pilot sizes at one point...no big deal, you just determine which one you need when you buy a converter...both are easily obtainable.

Any p***enger 429 or p***enger/truck 460 crank will fit your block...or a stroker crank, for that matter. The FE (390, etc.) cranks will not fit.

 

68-70 have a 1.848" pilot diameter, 71 up have a 1.375" diameter. The early is the same diameter as the FE engines used, but the crank is certainly not the same as an FE. I believe the flywheel bolt pattern is the same as FE also.

 

Homespun91 and Relic Stew have it right: different shaft diameters, NOT a 390 crank.

I once swapped a 429 out of a '72 Mercury Marquis into a '76 Mercury Marquis (with a 460), and I had to swap the trans, too, because the '76 torque converter would not fit the '72 crank, and the '72 torque converter would not fit the '77 trans. They were both Lima motors, and both C-6 transmissions, but that much had changed.
(This is why I generally prefer GM over Fomoco - they don't change little details like that from year to year and model to model just for the heck of it!)

 

True the pilot diameter change is a pain, BUT! Ford never changed anything for no reason. Typically Ford upgrades components as the job load increases. This is one of the main reasons why I prefer Ford over GM.