I have a 1979 F350 with a 460 that I acquired from my father-in-law. he used it mainly as a work truck so it is not pretty. he firmly believed that if he could start it then there was nothing wrong with it. Oil changes was the only routine maintenance he did. I have since had it tuned up and it runs well but i want to convert it to tow a 5th wheel and i suspect that it has some missing power that can be reclaimed with some minor tweaking. i am no motor head but i can replace spark plug wires etc. what would all you performance buffs suggest i do to maximize performance without getting into major engine work, i would even go as far as replacing the carb if that would vastly increase performance. thanks.

 

hi,there,I'm no performance buff,but have just done similar to an '85 460....start with simple tune up stuff-sparks,wires,rotor,cap,pcv valve,check vacuum,carb cleaner.-while you've got the dist.cap off,check the timing chain by rotating the crank back/forth with a wrench,and watch the dist. rotor-it should respond pretty directly or the chain is slack-a reletively simple repair,with huge performance gain.-a compression test will tell you the rest of the story!....cheers!

 

You can advance the timing a couple of degrees to gain a little power. Put an Edelbrock 600 carb on it will probably help too. Headers and dual exhaust is always a good source of power.
Jimmy

 

Thanks for all the good tips.

Daryl