534 vital statistics?

[534Seamaster]

These engines should be easy to find. You could probably find all you want for $300 to $500 a piece. They are very lame from a perfomance viewpoint. 277 HP at 3400. That relates to maybe 428 Ft Lbs of torque. Engine lacked a good combustion chamber, lacked compression, lacked camshaft timing and lacked decent intake runners. I may put compression and cam timing into one and will report back some day in the very, very distant future. I'm not expecting much performance increase. Ford had no intention of performance witht he 534... Remember this was in production at the same time Ford was making 427 side oilers and building their GT40. So they knew what they were doing and this engine was just a durable beast that would run forever. Pull dump trucks up hills and run pumps forever. Governed at 3400 rpm. They had sodium cooled valves with positive rotators and would run at wide open throttle for years.

[wcmo sae]

I probably just phrased it wrong. I might be in the market for something with a good amount of pulling power and torque, but with also a reasonably cheap price tag. I was hoping to not have to build up a 460, as this could run close to, if not more than $5000.

btw, there's an old cab-over Ford about 5 miles from my house on a construction site. I was thinking about stopping to ask what enine was in it, hoping to maybe see one of these monsters. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

[baddad457]

Why would it cost that much to build a 460? You could shop around and do it for thousands less.

[wcmo sae]

I was assuming. That's what I've heard it cost some guys to build a high-perf 460. Maybe I'll look into it a little more in-depth if you don't think it'll cost that much.....

[baddad457]

There are lots of ways to build any motor for far less than many guys spend. All you've got to do is shop around. And also, you don't have to go high dollar on a short block. There are companies that sell good rebuilt short blocks for far less than you would spend building one. I built a 400 hp 302 roller motor that started with a $340 short block from a local parts house. I brought it home, and swapped the rod bolts, cam, and timing set. I also checked the torque values on the mains. Then added a high volume oil pump, Canfield aluminum heads, 1.7 rockers (to augment the lift on the B303 roller), A used Edelbrock Vic Jr. This short block had good Silvolite hypereutectic flat top pistons which while not forged, are good for most applications. Motor would pull up to 7500 rpms with this combo. The only thing that stopped eventually ( after a year) it was a cracked cylinder wall, not the fault of the short block builder ( City Motor Supply in Dallas Tx.) I'm sure you can do the same with a 460 short block.

[150ford]

Ive had experience with the 460 and 534 both. Had one on a irrigation motor for years. Replaced it with the 460 two years ago. That 460 will run rings around it anyday of the week. If you want a motor with great low end torque and power the 460 is your answer. And thats without any mods. Mod that 460 you will have a beast.

[jfinlen]

They throw rods due to losing oil pressure on the rod and spinning the bearing. These engines were never designed to spin over 4K rpm. They were designed to run at their torque peak. They are much better stationary/boat engines than anything else.

[rusty70f100]

Some day if I get millions of dollars and am looking for something to do, I might mod one of these 534's. Custom pistons, custom roller cam, custom heads (hello edelbrock), custom everything. Probably the only things I'd save off the original motor would be the block and crank. Then I'd stick a big blower on it and stick it all in some unsuspecting F100.

Fortunately I dont have millions of dollars. Yet.

[534Seamaster]

That was done to a limited degree in the 1970's Seamaster built a 534 Twin Turbo that rasied the rating from 277 HP @3400 to 400HP @ 3400.

[kirk gilbreath]

i owned one,they get about 3 mi per gallon in a tandem tractor.If you put one in a small truck it would definately just be a toy unless you have unlimited funds for gas.

[Loan Ranger]

rusty70f100 asked in one of his posts about the dimensions, etc. of the 534 Super Duty. The 534 had a 4.50-inch bore and a 4.20-inch stroke. They were governed to 3200 RPM. They produced 227 horses @ 3200 RPM. They had 432 foot-pounds of torque @ 2100 RPM. They were to have 35-60 PSI of oil pressure and 6-8 PSI of fuel pump pressure. The distributors--as a general rule--had 1 1/4 degree of advance @ 500 RPM and 14 degrees of advance @ 2000 RPM centrifugally; the vacuum advance was 1/4 degree @ 5 RPM and 9 1/1 degrees @ 20 RPM. The valve springs had an installed height of 1 45/64-inches with 180 pounds of pressure at 1.28 inches. They lashed @ .020-inch HOT on both intake and exhaust sides. I do not have the valve diameters here now, but I can find out tomorrow if you would like for me to do so.

[Jag1989]

I had a 1959 F-950 with a 401 and 2 1960 T-950s with 534s I knew at least 20 or 25 guys running 534s I don't know of anyone that had any trouble with them. We had over 200,000 miles on them when we went to diesels. The only gas engines that would run with them were the 549 internationals and they were about neck and neck. They had 2 - 100 or 110 gallon step tanks and you had to fill both of them every day. They were hard on the points in the distributer and we changed them over with some kind of conversions. On a good day you could get 4 MPG. but gas was 18 or 20 cents a gallon.

Ron

[rusty70f100]

Thanks for the specs. Valve diameters would be good. I still think it'd be fun to try and hop up one of these beasts. Just a dream. I like to open the hood and see something there, that's why I like FE's. This, though, would be the ultimate.

[Loan Ranger]

rusty70f100, here are the valve diameters for the 534 SD: 2.2165-2.275-inch on the intakes; 1.7405-1.7415-inch on the exhausts on the seats in the heads. The valves themselves are 2.025-2.015-inch on teh intakes; 1.640-1.630-inch on the exhausts. The valve dimensions for the 534 and the 477 are the same. IF you do try to acquire some parts for a Super Duty and the parts store has their parts catalogued by litres instead of cubic inches, the 477 is a 7.8L and the 534 is a 8.8L.

If you would like more specs or dimensions, just let me know and I will try to obtain them for you. The latest factory Ford manual I have is 1980; I have them, though, for several more years from other sources. If you wish, I can get you carburetor specs, distributor specs, starter and alternator details, and the like. I do not have a great deal of casting number specs and charts, but I have some.

I do hope this is at least of some help to you, Rusty.

[LedheadELH]

I would love to take one of these motors and do what I can w/ it. I think it would be fun to put on in a pickup truck, just to be the first, or the only one around anyways!