Re: Ideas for Vintage Ford or AMC Entry - Houston, San Antonio?
bulletpruf wrote:mechimike wrote:460 bored 60 over, so a 472. Yeah, it's pretty fun dusting off 4 bangers on the straights. We've also apparently stumbled into the cheapest powerplant per pound ever made; my local craigslist is littered with running 460's for $500 and under every day. I picked up a 30k mile RV engine with a C6 for $400.
Yeah, I know where you're coming from. Plentiful, and cheap, and not too difficult to hop up, either.
How does your car do in finishing races? Gotta think that you beat on the brakes, suspension, trans, cooling system, etc, quite a bit. Do you know how much it weighs?
Thanks,
Scott
Stock, it weighed something like 4400 lbs. We had to get a waiver from the judges it's first race. The first couple of races it ran on the stock 400 engine, which, while it only had 153 horsepower, was stone dead reliable.
Then we swapped in the first 460, out of a junked 68 Continental.
That engine had sat for awhile before we got it and we had numerous teething issues with it before finally popping a head gasket and cracking the block.
The 460 that's in there now came out of an 80's Ford pickup (mileage unknown) and while it's down on power compared to that hi-comp '68 plant, it's been pretty reliable. We have had overheating issues, eventually solved by flushing 30 years' worth of crap out of the block and using a washer in place of the thermostat. We also installed the biggest aluminum radiator Summit sells.
We do have a recurring problem blowing out intake manifold gaskets and subsequent oil leaks. Still haven't nailed that down. PCV system is all new and we're running an aftermarket aluminum intake with a 650 Edelbrock.
Suspension has a cop rear sway bar and a doubled-up front sway. Cut springs in front, clamped in back. No issues.
The 460 eventually blew up the stock rear (WER, crappy Ford rear that shares no parts with a 9"), swapped in a 9", blew up a chunk, replaced it. For next race we're building a new chunk.
Steering is de-powered, otherwise stock. Not as heavy as you'd think.
Tires are 400TW BF Goodrich 245/50R16 on steelies. Once we got the alignment settings figured out, they wear pretty evenly. We figure we should get 2 races out of a set.
C6 trannies are like anvils. Add a $30 shift kit and go.
Brakes are Mustang front, Chevy Impala (94-96) disc rear. Hawk HT10 pads in front, Raybestos metal in back. Car stops like no other 1975 LTD on the Planet. About a race and a half per set of pads.
We've stripped out all of the interior, gutted the doors and hood, removed the front bumper, and removed every bit of weight we could. With a cage, fuel cell, and aluminum seat, I would guess it's somewhere around 3800 pounds now. The 460 with an aluminum manifold weighs about what a 400 with an iron manifold does.
Sounds like a well-thought out car.
On the intake gaskets, get rid of the Fel-Pro's, if that's what you're using. They are one of the few Fel-Pro products that suck. Go with some old school Mr. Gasket gaskets.
Easy to make a lot more power on the 460 without dropping too much $$$. Shave the heads to bring compression up (have to mill the intake, too), get a mild cam/lifter kit for it, change timing chain while you're at it. That and see if you can find someone who will swap the 650 carb for a 750 or 800. Headers will drop some weight and add some hp, of course, but you might have difficulty finding something that will fit.
What intake are you running? I'm assuming it's a dual plane.
FYI - great 429/460 tech at www.460ford.com