Thread: 70 cougar 460 swap

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I have a 70 cougar xr7 and I bought a DIVE blockwith the following parts,C8VE heads,TRW L2443 .30 over pistons,blue racer hydrolic cam .569 int.lift exh.lift .595.int.duration .300,exh dur..310.Is the compression going to be over 13 to 1 and is that too much??I plan on porting heads and using cobra jet valve sizes.What intake should I use???The car weighs 3400 pounds.GOING TO USE 389 OR 411 GEARS?? I'm not tubbing and no roll bar the car is to nice to cut up. using C-6 trans what size stall converter should I use?? Is the stock crank and 2 bolt mains going to be strong enough??also need advice on rear possably 3 link and where to get parts.I already picked up subframe connectors.The motor came with a tunnel ram but am using single 4 bbl.thanks,Randy:

Hi Randy, I think the biggest concern will be keeping the body of your neat car from torque flex. Hi horsepower can split the quarters aand make the doors pop open and crack windshields. Not to mention the extra weight of the 429 engine. Sorry I dont mean to rain on your parade. But how could anyone resist really driving a car like that hard?

hey randy,
What are you plans for the car? Is it a daily driver, or do you plan to run it?

What do you plan to use for fuel?

May want to re read Ives' post......A good set of frame connectors are almost a must......JMO

The 460 rotating assembly in a D1VE block with TRW L2443's and C8VE heads will put you at about 13.25:1 compression ratio. If you zero deck the block (and ideally you should), you will be nearing 14:1. Is this for a drag car? If not, then you will need to lower compression. You can barely get away with 10:1 on pump gas these days.

I assume those camshaft specs are advertised duration and not duration@.050" If this is the case, then I would say that you will have too much compression for that camshaft. If I were in this situation, I would zero deck the block and also 1) get a camshaft that better suits this high comrpesison build, or, 2) cut down the dome tops of those pistons so as to reduce compression. Which way you go depends on the application of the motor/car. By the way, it is not necessary to whack the entire dome off if you don't want to...you can leave .100" remaining, etc. and get a desired compression ratio.

The C8VE heads are outstanding factory iron heads. Don't go with the CJ valve, as the valve heads diameter is too big for the passrnger car size intake port and shrouds flow, particularly at lower lifts. Stock passenger car valve size is 2.08" and SCJ is 2.25" Better to use the PI 2.19" intake valve with the C8VE, C9VE or D0VE heads.

The factory 460 crank is very strong. The 2-bolt block can work and more importantly can be strengthened if needed. More on that later. The weak link in the bottom endos the factory rods. They HAVE TO GO in such a build. Don't use them.

Some bigger single 4-BBL intakes may help your off idle/60 ft times over the tunnel ram (on a 460), but again depends on what exactly you are building/trying to do with the vehicle (application).

Need more info on intended use.

Paul

The 70 cougar is pretty much a show car but I do drive it and the cleveland is not quite enough for me.I only drivin it about 1500 miles in the since last december when I finished restoring it.Iwaited on doing the drivetrain because was'nt sure what motor I was doing and spent alot on restoration and saving more bucks for the motor trans and rear.I do plan on taking it to the track once in a while.I would like to have over 500 h.p. but I dont want to twist the body.Will subframe connectors be enough a someone said to go with a 3 link???What about stall converter ,what size do I need,trying to stay with hyd.cam.Thinking about knocking compression down to 11or11-1/2 to 1 .Might eventually do overdrive trans.

Cut the dome completely off (so a to make a flat-top pistons with valve reliefs) and you will have 11.25:1 (11.6:1 with zero decked block). This would work excellently with your camshaft.

For street driven/occasional strip, consider a Weiand Stealth intake for this build. Holley List #4781 850 cfm minimum; Holley 950HP would be really nice.

Paul

Without going to a least a 6 point roll bar to tie the car together, it may well be a good plan to stay down on torque numbers a bit. But hey, with street tires it will just smoke the tires and probably not hook up enough to do a lot of damage. I hope the rear end is the 8.8 variety, if not the 8" may not have a real long life expectancy.

The 70 cougar already has a 9 inch rear,it's currently open with 3.00, I will probably use either 370's or 389's,should I use a detroit locker ? I dont know the best way for the posi rear?? What size or rpm stall converter should I use??I'M gessing if I tone it down to 11 to 1 or so compression, torque should be around 500 ft pounds ,will that be ok not to twist or damage anything ?I'm definitly using sub frame connectors,but will that be enough alone?sound like I should go with 2.19 intake valves and will do a little porting.When I used the desktop dyno the stealth knocked down the high rpm h.p. but torque on bottom end was better than victor jr,is the torker intake similar to the vic.jr.?? should I use H beam or I beam rods?Any other advice??Thanks,Randy

The frame ties will stiffen the car quite a bit, but a 6 point bar would add a great deal of stiffness to the car and prevent flexing. As far as intakes, I alway go with the bottom end torque v the high rpm horsepower. Bottom end torque is much more usable on the street. A Detroit Locker is the best drag race set up, for street use I tend to favor a posi type unit instead---The Auburn is a good unit on the street.

I would defer the cylinder head and porting questions to Mr. Kane !!!!!

thanks for all the help on the cougar build.I want to gain some exrta power where I can,should I use roller rockers with the hydrolic cam?What about a windage tray?Going to use electric fan and electric water pump.What stall should I use with this combo? thanks again,Randy

Roller rockers reduce friction and will free up a few more horse, I put a windage tray in everything I build. Can't help you on the stall speed, I'm still a 3 pedal guy. Personally, I would stay with a clutch fan and belt driven pump for street use. If it breaks in the middle of nowhere, replacement parts are readily available to get me home. JMO.

I would stay with the 351 and build it up, lots of stuff out there for it. If you are going to build to 500 hp Dave is right, it would be a good ideal to put at least a 6 point cage in, If it is done right it can also look real nice. Here is a site with some cool things for the cougar, got any pics?
http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/main.html