I know 460 swaps are popular "upgrades" from the 351M. I was all set to do one then was talked out of it by a Ford mechanic buddy of mine who did one years back. I have two 78 F150 short beds. The one I can actually drive has a midly built 351M. The other has a freshly rebuilt 460 with swap towers/mounts and swap headers. Basically all I have to do is pull everything out of one and drop it in the other. No-brainer right. Well my buddy said the added weight made his truck almost impossible to drive, untill he spent a lot of time an money to get it correct. He said he put his truck on scales and the truck had like 80% of the weight up front. Keep in mind his truck was lifted (I think 6") with 36's and mine is lifted 9" with 38's. I really want to drop the 460 in but If I am going to have to upgrade springs (to what?) , buy aluminum heads or ditch the AC to make it work. I don't know if its worth it. I was also thinking I could sell the 460 and get a set of aluminum heads for the 351M and have a still lighter motor. Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

I'm running a 460 swap with 35's and have no steering issues. I can't imagine there being more than a 100 lb difference between the two motors. Swap the iron 460 intake for aluminum and make up a huge chunk of that.

 

You know something else he said that didn't make sense, was he had to notch the towers and push the motor back 2 1/2 inches to get the truck balanced. I've never heard of that before. I wonder if he had really worn out springs or something. There is about 175lbs difference though its like 550 to 725 or somewhere around there. I have a performer 460 intake on it already. I guess aluminum water pump might help too.

 

If it was already a 400, then you can get a pretty good engine out of that and not need a 460 for the big power. I'd go with the 460, and forget what that guy said about the weight issues. Unless there's something he knows that I don't about it.