Thread: 454 or 460?

Tweet

One other thing to take a look at is the rules. Which organization's rules to you pull with. Most of the lower classes are required to stay with an engine offered in a one ton or less truck of the same manufacturer.

I love a good fight.
I'll put $5 on the BBC.

Originally Posted by maddddog

I love a good fight.
I'll put $5 on the BBC.

some guys on here would take that action

Originally Posted by maddddog

I'll put $5 on the BBC.

maddog, I agree with your wager; I too wouldn't dare bet more than five bucks against the 460.

Paul

Originally Posted by Paul Kane

maddog, I agree with your wager; I too wouldn't dare bet more than five bucks against the 460.

Paul

Uhhhhh, I might want to change my bet.
I know nothing.
I just have one (bbc)
I will be shutting up now.

Nice read though.

What a great thread. It seems like this one is as old as cars and Hot Roding itself. I remember my father having this conversation in the fifties as he and his buddies would extol the virtues’ of various flathead configurations and oh my stars, have you seen that, “Overhead valve junk? It’ll never catch on – too many movin’ parts and whataya gonna do when one of them spindly little ‘puss-rods’ bends and ya get valves a floating all over the place. Naw, for my money, nothin’ will ever beat a good flatie with three twos!” My father was a bit different in that he was not one to consume vast quantities of beer before, during, and after these sessions at the local Shady Oaks Garage and I can still see him smiling and telling me, “The future is the pushrod or maybe an overhead cam engine.” (He also told me to never refer to them as ‘puss-rods’ as that had some horrible satanic meaning and my God fearing Baptist mother would have a stroke at the very mention of any such thing in her house….)

It wasn’t too long after that he and I built a 312 Ford for a “dune buggy” that I somehow wangled from a neighbor. It was very loosely based on a ’49 Ford chassis with a three speed overdrive transmission. The frame had been cut down and we ended up with a drive shaft that was about two feet long. Wide rims (home-made, I might add) and balloon tires were also included. The reason I was able to horse trade for this was the “blown engine”. It seems that in one of its maiden outings, something had punched the oil pan and the 272 T-Bird’s engine didn’t fair too well without the required oil and it roasted the bearings. I drug it home and my father just smiled – it reminded him of a project he had growing up in Northern Florida that he had affectionately nicknamed “Skeeter”. We went junk yardin’ (I was in heaven) and pulled a 312 (who remembers mushroom tappets?) out of a pickup . Next was a complete “junior rebuild kit” (rings, bearings, cam, timing chain, etc) from Warshawsky’s (now J.C Whitney). I learned a lot with this one – about measuring with a micrometer and using a ring compressor and inside/outside calipers, the importance of keeping things clean, why we use the torque wrench and how important lubrication is. Mostly I learned that my father was the greatest man on earth and he knew so much about everything. I learned to drink coffee and listen to him tell me about a lot of other things as we built his engine. One especially vivid memory was that my father made a cardboard template of the exhaust flanges and then cut out new one from ¼” steel and then cobbled up a set of “zoomies” that were akin to what the top fuelers were running. The first time we started this engine was at night and let me tell you about the sound and light show we had. For the next few years we went to local drags and highlighted our year with the Winternationals at Pomona. We’d see all the big three jockey for top fuel and funny car honors as well as all the Mustangs, Camaros, and ‘Cudas that made the 60’s a great time to be fan of drag racing. Don’t even remember when I got rid of the buggy, but my first “real car” was a ’57 Vette and I think my father enjoyed that one nearly as much as I did…

From that time to now I’ve built dozens of motors – mostly Chevy SB with a few Fords and the occasional Mopar for a friend. While I prefer the Chevy from the convenience of readily available parts and deep inventory at local parts stores where ever I’ve lived, I certainly have naught but great memories of the first motor I built being a Ford. It really comes down to a personal preference. God only knows how much I miss my father but I’m sure that there’s a great local car shop in heaven where he drinks his coffee and we’ll take up where we left off some day. They’re probably still debating Ford versus Chevy, but maybe have decided that the pushrod engines weren’t so bad after all..

Thanks for letting me ramble on….
Glenn