Thread: 460 help

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600hp for a 460 I thought wasnt to hard to get? I seen people talking about 900+ out of these on here so figured getting 600-700 wouldnt be to bad. Anyway I got good connections with machine shops and get parts for cheap so to me buying a crate motor isnt really worth it. Im not sure how much I want to spend because im not buying everything at once im gonna buy parts as I get the money so it might take me over a year just to get parts but I might end up spending a ton of cash for it. any ideas about what block is the best, how big to stroke it to, what heads to use stuff like that would be good so I have something more to research on.

As Paul said, 600 horse is very doable on a stroker. Personally, I will go for the big torque numbers, and let the horsepower come out wherever it wants.

Originally posted by jrf1986
600hp for a 460 I thought wasn't to hard to get? I seen people talking about 900+ out of these on here so figured getting 600-700 wouldnt be to bad. any ideas about what block is the best, how big to stroke it to, what heads to use stuff like that would be good so I have something more to research on.

When you hear people talking about 900HP Fords, I doubt they are naturally apsirated 460s. But getting 900+HP from this engine design is indeed possible. Yes, 600HP from a 460 is doable and 700HP from a 501 with D0VE heads is possible, if it's just numbers that we're spitting out here...

But as Dave has noted, making usable power is what really counts and is the wise way to build an engine. A 700HP iron headed 501 would be quite a motor.

I like the 4.3" stoker motors. At .030" overbore, displacement jumps to 521 and at .080" over it's 533 cubes. The nice thing about these 4.3" stroke engines is that with the 6.800" connecting rod, the piston pin at BDC is only .030" lower in the bore at BDC than a stock 460. And these engines make torque! With the iron heads (well ported), power to 6000 rpm not unrealisitic and with a good aluminum head upgrade higher rpm's is still an option. 700HP with well ported iron heads in a properly planned 521 engine is no problem. Further, any block will work with this stroker kit.

Same is true with the 557 stroker kit with the 4.5" stroke crank, but other issues pop up with this build, such as the iron heads being limiting and some people prefer a specific (D9TE) block...stuff like that. ALso, the 4.3 stroke crank has more structural integrity than the 4.5, although both cranks should handle 700 HP no problem.

Get any block, they're all good, as far as casting numbers go. Finding a special block with thick cylinders requires sonic checking, but if you can find a standard bore block (shouldn't be hard, I have 8 or 9), then at just .030 over you're good go go with a 501, 521 or 545.

Paul

(I copied this post of mine from another forum where I posted it...hope you find it helpful: )

Ford Production 429/460 Block Differences
The most common available production cast iron block casting numbers are C8VE-B, C9VE-B, D0VE-A, D1VE-("xxx") and D9TE-AB.

I like to refer to all but the D9TE as the "early-style" blocks. The D9TE casting arrived in the 1979 model year and was utilized until the end of 460 production ( to 1996).

For the most part, all blocks and rotating asemblies are interchangable between all blocks except the D9TE. A D9TE rotating assembly will fit into an early-style block, but the opposite is not true.

All 429/460 Fords are internally balanced engines except for the D9TE 460, which is externally balanced.

These block identifying marks (D1VE, etc.) are not actual casting numbers but are engineering revisions that are cast into the block castings themselves. And they are what we enthusiasts refer to when identifying our factory iron, as they give not so much the year that the block was made but rather the revision of the block as specified by said engineering revision. (Actual date code is in the lifter valley.)

Early-Style Blocks: For the most part (and with small exception), the C8VE, C9VE and D1VE blocks are all essentially the same configuration casting with the thinner main webs. The thicker main web block is the D0VE block, which may or may not have 4-bolt main caps on 2,3 & 4. (Very few D1VE blocks may be thick webbed.) All Ford production 385 blocks can be decked as needed, so the slight variation in deck height (give or take .020" over the years) is a non-issue detail.

D9TE Blocks: The externally balanced rotating assembly utilizes a crankshaft that has slightly smaller counterweights. This was done to so that the cylinders of the D9TE block could be extended about .1875" deeper towards the crankcase. I believe the cylinders were lengthened in the D9TE block because this block was revised to double as a big equipment truck block, and the dump truck rotating assemblies consisted of a very deep skirt piston that benefitted from the extended cylinder walls for support.

The deeper cylinders of the D9TE blocks are the reason that the early-style, internally balanced rotating assemblies will not fit (internal balance crank throws will not clear D9TE cylinders).

Since most prefer to use internally balanced rotating asembies in the performance applicaton, we usually opt for any block except the D9TE. There are also advantages to specific blocks within the group of early-style blocks, such as the D0VE-A's thick main webs, thick pan rails on some early-style blocks, etc.

Further, the D9TE block was presumed to be a lightweight ("late model") casting and therefore not very strong and also limited in it's overbore capability. But this belief is currently being re-evaluated for a couple of reasons:

• No-one had yet evaluated D9TE cylinder wall thickness with a sonic checker, and preliminary testing suggests the block may not be so bad afterall.
  
• Strokers have become popular and the D9TE's deeper cylinders offer more support for the increased-stroke rotating assemlies.
  
• Most all aftermarket stroker kits use a crank with the dimensions of the externally balanced crank and so they fit the D9TE block as well as the early blocks.

Paul