I was out at my cousins house yesterday taking pics of my '71 F250 and I noticed the casting D0VE-A on the engine block I purchased last year for fitment testing. I did an internet search and came up with CJ / SCJ / and police interceptor. Can anyone help me with this? If I had known it was going to be this interesting I would have taken a lot of pics of the block.

What should I look for and take photos of next time I go out there? This may get cleaned and become the engine for my truck.

 

not all DOVE blocks are cj/scj/pi blocks. the DOVE block was used by all 429 (except for of course the BOSS 429) and 460 engines in 1970 and possibly part of 1971(Ford would of used them till inventory ran out and then started to use the D1VE block).

the cj and scj used the DOVE block in 1970, but only the SCJ and some but not all cj engines had 4 bolt mains added. so to be a true SCJ block it has to have 4 bolt mains on the centre caps. the CJ engine could of or could not of came with 4 bolt mains (i think 1971 they came std with 4 bolt mains). that is why you cannot tell the model or cid of a 429/460 just from the block casting number.

but that is not to say the DOVE block is not desirable. they had thicker main webs then the later D1VE and D9TE blocks but had a shorter deck height so you have to be careful if using a stroker kit or decking it that you don't cut off too much and cause other problems.

all the stock 429/460 blocks are very good blocks and in stock form can handle probably around 700- 800 hp no problem, more if you add 4 bolt mains and fill the water passages.

Rgds
Mike

 

Thanks for the info. I will look at the main caps next time I am at my cousins. Anything else I should look for while I am there?

 

not all cranks fit the older blocks because of the thicker webbing. just trying to remember but I do know the cranks are different and one crank will fit in any block and another crank will not. believe its the older crank that will not fit in the newer block or something of this nature. you can grind in block to make fit. been a long time since I had this problem but do remember this happening. stuff you need to know if messin with the old iron.

 

That is correct, you can put the newer crank in the older block but can NOT put the older crank into a D9TE block.

As stated the D0VE blocks are nothing special unless they are 4 bolt main.

 

Searching for some info on 385 series blocks, and ran across this very old thread. Wanted to clarify something. I believe all D0VE-A blocks are very desired. While not all of them are 4 bolt main, all of them had the thicker main webbing that makes it very easy to add the factory 4 bolt main caps if desired. Am I wrong stating that? I've read that somewhere but don't have personal knowledge.

 

DOVE-A and one variation of D1 block has the thicker main webbing which does make adding 4 bolt caps easier. Other than that the block is the same as any other block when it comes to overbore capacity etc. For what its worth Blue Thunder used to make 4 bolt main caps that were specially made to work on the non DOVE thinner web blocks. These are no longer available but a guy from Belle Missouri sells some that are very similar and that work well. Once this is done the bottom end is as strong as the rest of the block.

 

I would look that block over closely before using it. There could be a good reason it just makes a good mock up block.