OK, 460 being built on a 4K budget, going into a 78 supercab with 3:54 gears, on 33"s with an NP435 4 speed and NP205 t case.


I need massive torque and dependability. Pulls a huge dump trailer, spends most of its time overloaded with firewood and construction materials, plows snow, and goes through deep mud and snow to pull logs out of the woods, and future plans include a dump body. Spends lots of time idling, and most of its life is spent working below 2500 RPM....so heavily abused work machine, need massive torque.


Im familiar with 429CJ and SCJ from my youth, and those engines were built for drag racing. Somewhat unfamiliar with 460, though they are similar, and this will be my first build where the power output is down low.


Input and advice greatly appreciated.


Thanks

 

The cheapest torque multiplier is gears. Switch up to 4.10's for the most bang for the buck. Then turn your cam ahead 4 degrees to make the torque curve peak at a lower rpm.

 

A 460 is just a stroked 429.
Have you considered going even bigger?

If you're not revving it to the moon a cast crank Scat/Eagle kit might be fine for you.
What do you have to build on?
Who's doing the machining and assembly?

 

I think that the best ways to build upwards of 450 ft-lb of torque is by using a aluminum dual plane intake, a hydraulic flat tappet camshaft such as the edelbrock performer-plus (but there are others available), headers, and a 600-750 cfm carburetor. One of the biggest problems with the stock 460 heads are the exhaust port, which are incredibly restrictive. I believe that porting the exhaust port will greatly improve all around performance. Advancing the camshaft will build more low-end torque, according to competition cams, but you would need an adjustable timing chain set. Your later (post 1973) factory timing chain is machined in a retarded cam position to improve emmisions compliance, if passing an emmisions test is not a problem for you I suggest buying a new timing chain that is not retarded. These can be found at summit and jegs ( I don't trust the regular auto parts store timing chains since I don't know if they're retarded or not). Getting higher compression pistons would also be a good idea if you can afford it, you have 8.0:1 compression ratio pistons with a large dish, flat top pistons will generally yield 10.0:1 and domed pistons around 12.0:1 with D3 casting heads just be aware of valve clearances.

​​​I'm building a 466 that will have a 600 cfm holley carburetor, SCJ cast iron intake, D3 ported heads, a edelbrock performer cam, trw domed pistons, with port-matched C9 casting exhaust manifolds and expect to see around 450 ft-lb. Hope this helps!