Thread: Wanting to give my 460 some pep!!

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What kind of budget you looking at for the build??? One thing, make sure you get the timing chain set for the older 460's, the one you have is probably retarded for emissions and the older one's aren't... A set of the older 429 heads would also really help the performance... Paul Kane is our resident 460 guru, hopefully he'll stop by with some more specific recomendations on cam and other parts...... Some other's on here I'm sure will have some good suggestions, too. Look through them all and decide what works best with your intended usage....


PS---If you want to save yourself some grief down the road, and help the performance, spend some extra $$$$$$$ and go with a hyydraulic roller cam.... So many problems with the flat tappet cams losing a lobe or two cuz of the lousy oil the gov'ment has mandated we all have to use... No zinc in it, cam lobes get wiped out. With a hydraulic roller, no such problems, just put it in an go fast!!!!!

You really don't need too much 'help' for these engines - the later DuraSpark distributor and possibly an MSD box, but the OEM box is pretty good.

If you can find the D0VE-C HEADS (Dave S suggestion which were used on both the 429 and 460 from '68-'72) you will be w-a-a-a-y ahead.

The 1406 carb 750 cfm should be fine. The OEM intake - There are better!!

Camshafts - I agree with needing a roller version in today's oil world. Many choices to pick from.

Timing chain - a Ford or similar double roller with a multiple position small gear. I ran one 9* advanced in a '76 F250. What a wake up call for that engine along with a Holley 3310 (the 780cfm version) and a set of dual exhausts. That truck (std cab, 2wd, 3.70's) was a sleeper but would still pull a big 9000# camper easily.

Get more into it and we'll help you spend your hard earned dollars

Shweeet!! thank you very much for the input!!
I will definitly start with hydraulic roller cams and
definitly be on the look out for some Dove-c heads.

Once again,thank you guys for your input and eventually
when i get her all put together, i'll let you know how she runs

I disagree with the need for a roller cam. A good flat tappet cam will outlast cheap rollers any day. If you want good mid-range to high-range rpm power, start with a good single plane intake. The single plane will require a bigger accelerator pump shot, so you'll have to adjust the carb. Better yet go to a 750-850cfm carb. Headers next. A mild cam (what we used to call a 3/4 race cam) will really wake up the intake and exhaust. Make sure you have a nice hot spark, either a late model electronic or MSD. You can make a lot more power with these items before you have to spend money on heads and roller cams.

Originally Posted by moparfever

I disagree with the need for a roller cam. A good flat tappet cam will outlast cheap rollers any day.

You didn't really read WHY a couple of us recommended a roller camshaft

Originally Posted by IC2

You didn't really read WHY a couple of us recommended a roller camshaft

Actually I did. Todays oil is just fine. Roller tappets weren't designed for better wear characteristics, they came about due to the need to follow steeper profiles. With advances in cam profiling flat tappets now enjoy pretty fast opening ramps. Think about how much force bears down on the tappets. Now compare how much contact area bears all that force is on rollers vs. flat tappets. Rollers have very little area bearling the load. Honestly, with today's oil I'ld expect a good flat tappet cam to last >100,000 miles, especially if he keeps the spring pressure in line with a street engine that won't be hitting 7000rpm. Also don't forget that materials and quality control on cams and lifters are considerably better than yesteryear.

Now for the single plane intakes. Yeah, conventional wisdom does say it's not as streetable as a dual plane, but real experience says something different. As a matter of fact, that "wisdom" probably comes from those small block folks. A big block generates a great signal to the carb at the beginning of each stroke due to the large cylinder cross-section. I've been using single planes on the street many years and never found them to be even slightly non-streetable, and they kick butt!

Originally Posted by moparfever

Actually I did. Todays oil is just fine. Roller tappets weren't designed for better wear characteristics, they came about due to the need to follow steeper profiles. With advances in cam profiling flat tappets now enjoy pretty fast opening ramps. Think about how much force bears down on the tappets. Now compare how much contact area bears all that force is on rollers vs. flat tappets. Rollers have very little area bearling the load. Honestly, with today's oil I'ld expect a good flat tappet cam to last >100,000 miles, especially if he keeps the spring pressure in line with a street engine that won't be hitting 7000rpm. Also don't forget that materials and quality control on cams and lifters are considerably better than yesteryear.

no the oil is not better it has more detergent in the oil. so the oil is not better now? a roller cam can and will go for 300.000 miles on junk oil will a flat lifter cam ? lifters and cam cores are not better then older iron cores put the zinc back in the oil then i may think about more flat lifter cams every thing gets roller cams but the older stuff i build and i send the old core in for a regind for stock use . and then we use hi zinc oil but thats just how i build them

Originally Posted by moparfever

Todays oil is just fine.

No, today's oil is not just fine. It is missing the extreme pressure lubricants that it used to have. They were removed because most motors these days are roller tappets and rollers do not require the zinc and phosphorus. Also, those chemicals had a tendency to plug up catalytic converters, creating warranty claims for the dealerships, so the car makers leaned on the oil companies to remove the chemicals. As soon as that happened, we began seeing a slew of flat tappet motors pooch the cam and lifters. You cannot run an off-the-shelf motor oil in your flat tappet cam motor without some kind of extreme pressure lubricant additive to the engine oil and even then you have to have good kharma for it to work.

Originally Posted by moparfever

Think about how much force bears down on the tappets. Now compare how much contact area bears all that force is on rollers vs. flat tappets. Rollers have very little area bearling the load.

I'm gettin' the idea that you're saying all this because you read it somewhere or some galoot down at the Sonic Drive In told you this. You have obviously not taken much time to look at flat tappet cams and study their operation. There is only a pencil point of contact at the lobe/lifter interface on a flat tappet and pressure can easily reach 250,000 lbs per square inch.

Originally Posted by moparfever

Now for the single plane intakes. Yeah, conventional wisdom does say it's not as streetable as a dual plane, but real experience says something different. As a matter of fact, that "wisdom" probably comes from those small block folks. A big block generates a great signal to the carb at the beginning of each stroke due to the large cylinder cross-section. I've been using single planes on the street many years and never found them to be even slightly non-streetable, and they kick butt!

It's all about making power under curve. If you are applying more power to the tires from idle to 4000 rpm's and less power to the tires from 4000 to 5500, guess what, you're going to be faster than the guy in the other lane who makes less power idle to 4000 and more power 4000 to 5500.

I have no idea what you're saying when you say "large cylinder cross section". Would you please translate it into English so the rest of us can make heads or tails out of it.

When you make that statement about flat tappet vs roller cams you insert the word "cheap" in there. Not sure where you find a "cheap" roller cam, but if you are comparing apples to apples, a roller cam is far superior to any flat tappet cam, hands down. This has become even more important with the reduction the oil companies are making in all the good additives that kept flat tappet cams and lifters alive in the past. Even the car manufacturers are realizing this and is the reason so many new motors come stock with roller cams.

I also question your advice about a single plane intake. He wants this engine to have a little more zip on the street, and common wisdom is that single planes are great for drag strip use, but fall on their face in daily stop and go driving.

Don

First thing I'd be finding out is what the gear ratio in the diff is. If you change cams, you will need to change gears anyway. If you determine that the truck has, for instance, a 3.00 gear and you change to a 3.89 gear, you might find that you have no need to do any work to the motor and that the additional performance from the gear change will satisfy your needs.

Also, don't be too quick to pull the trigger on those early heads without doing your homework. The factory used smaller chambers in those days, resulting in higher static compression ratios that could be supported by the high octane gasoline that was available on every corner. That isn't the case anymore, so we have to build the motors to operate on the available fuels. Using the early heads with a 22cc piston would yield 9.9:1 static compression ratio and could be run on premium pump gas or E85 with the right camshaft and a good tight squish. Heads produced 1973 or later (such as D3VE) will have larger chambers so that you could run a flat-top piston for 9.7:1 static compression ratio and again, could work well on pump gas with the right cam and squish. Don't expect too much from any combination you put together though, if you don't use the right gearset in the differential.

The key to good performance on most any motor is to open up the intake and exhaust so that the motor can breathe. This means, on a street or street/strip motor, 850 carb on a Edelbrock RPM or Weiand Stealth intake manifold and long-tube, equal-length tuned headers. Don't waste your money on shorty headers. They're not much better than stock OEM cast iron exhaust manifolds.

I would take tech's advice and add a good set of headers and go from there.