The 534 bore was 4.50, stroke 4.20. At least in 1965 the carb listed was a Holley 4brl Ford #C3TE 9510-D with a throttle bore of 1 7/16 inch.
While I am not in the least qualified to comment on specific hi-performance methods, I do understand doing something different just to do it. Have Fun!
I have put a 534 with a 5 spd main & a 4spd aux box into a 1965 F-350.
Yes it is heavy and there was quite abit of modification to get it done. It is driveable, though body work & paint is yet to come.
It makews no rational sense, but it is fun, and does it have TORQUE!
Alright, been a while since I last posted. But Ive got some extra time (and $$) this summer, and Im going to try to get the 534 shortblocked, if I can afford it all. First thing on my list is a custom crank. But first, is there a possibility of stroking it? I want to get the most out of this engine, and more cubes is always a good thing. another concern is the pistons. Are there any other heads that will fit on this motor that will improve flow, without going to a custom set? Before I get the pistons made, I want to know which head Im going to use. Does anyone know of a reputable place that makes custom heads? This is definitely going to be a custom motor, and Ill be happy(more like exstatic) just getting the shortblock done this year. Thanks for all the input so far.
Also, I need to make a choice as to which transmission Im going to use. Now Ive got the tranny that came on the truck(ford 850 sd) that the 534 came out of, but I want something else, if at all possible. I realize that the 534 came with a different bell housing, so could I do a swap of bell housing? Or make an adapter to mate a 5-6sp manual tranny ? will the splines line up? Im not afraid to do difficult fab work, or have something custom made. Thanks!
The crank could be offfset ground but your not going to get a whole lot more cubes with that, as far as a custom crank and heads you will need rods and pistons too. you can look to seriously spend like $15-20,000 dollers without even breaking a sweat.
The crank could be offfset ground but your not going to get a whole lot more cubes with that, as far as a custom crank and heads you will need rods and pistons too. you can look to seriously spend like $15-20,000 dollers without even breaking a sweat.
Im going to try to keep from having to get custom heads. I want to work on these for now, if I cant find a different head to use. The crank is going to be custom, so I want to see how much more stroke I can get. Yes, the rods and pistons will be custom, as will the cam. But for right now the focus is on the shortblock, so I dont have to worry about the heads, cam, ect. So does anyone know if the 534 can be stroked any?
Another person who looks at one figure - cubic inches and forgets everything else it takes to make the engine a performance engine.
I imagine that you could build the trickest stroked 460 for what the cost of all those handmade one off performance goodies you would have to manufacture for the 534. You do realize just how much it is going to cost to cast and machine heads along with a custom crankshaft and rods? And how long it is going to take to get these done along with all of the proper enginering to make it all work, fit and function where a 460 would be a slide in?
There is a reason why you do not see this conversion done - they are great for that meduim duty big truck with a lot of gears that are close ratio to make up for the RPM limits that these engines have, but not so good for the type of trucks most of you run.
CDL licenced truck driver here.. with a opinion ~ David
Why is everyone here so negative when someone wants to try a performance build? So of all you nay-sayers and pessimists who feel the need to rag on someone else's ideas just because it's going to be either expensive, time consuming, or both... Who has tried these things before or read about other people's attempts? How about you back up what you're saying with some facts.
Yes, obviously a 460 can be stroked to 557 for relatively cheap, and decent heads can be had for $2000-$3000. What is wrong with someone doing something different? Sure I'm going with 385 series motor in my Galaxie and my F-250 has a 302, of all things. Yep it's slow with the 302 but with the 4.10:1 gears and ZF5 it does alright and the 63:1 crawl ratio is good enough for anything here in NJ. So I'm going my route which works for me and others will go the toute that amkes them happy. I'm not gonna bash anyone elses ideas... Maybe add my two cents but not totally shoot down an idea that can work.
I think it's a cool idea to doa performance build of one of those motors, simply to see if it's possible. Personally I wouldn't worry about stroking the motor because it can't breathe to begin with. I would do some research on the head design and porting in general and spend many hours per port to get them to flow enough to support higher RPM and more power. Also you ned to figure out what sort of RPM the crank and rods can take. I know tehy are beefy components but they are also very heavy. Won't rev very fast I imagine and the stress of such heavy components revving to 5000+ RPM could be enough to tear it apart.
So yeah, porting the heads would be a step in the right direction. I'd proiceed only with a flow bench to test progress as it's quite possible no one has ever ported these style heads before. Also, headers can be made for cheap if you can weld and have any sort of fabrication skill. The intake can be ported and a larger more traditional carb installed. So before adding more cubes to an engine with heads/intake/exhaust that can hardly feed it current displacement I'd go the much cheaper route of improving it's current breathing and see what type of gains can be had.
I don't think of the suggestions as negative, just realistic.
These are not high RPM engines. Just the statement "Also you ned to figure out what sort of RPM the crank and rods can take" shows that you don't understand what these engines are all about. You don't need to figure out what kind of RPM's the crank and rods can handle, it has already been done by Ford, and with a lot more research both in terms of time and money than anyone on this board could afford to spend. That is why these engine have govenors on them from Ford. They already know the safe RPM range.
Port and polish? Enlarging the intake for more flow? Well only if you had the extra "meat" to begain with. And in all of these engines that I have worked on, I have not found one intake manifold cast with extra meat in the runners - now you are talking about a speacial casting - have you priced out such a thing?
Yes, with enough money and time you could recreate this engine from the GROUND up, trashing everything but possibly the block and head bare castings, but why? More performance at much lower cost is available from the 460 engine. Another thing to consider - the 460 Ford is a proven build up, one that you don't have to spend months enginering, making special castings, arranging for the machining, etc, instead, you can just build it and then get to use it
Of course if you real point is simply a enginering excersise, then designing, producing the parts and then building would be the real challange, and one that would be fun, if one had the amount of money to sink into the project.
And yes, this won't be a cheap project, if it is done right, at least as well as a 460 - figure oh say 4 to 6 times the cost of a high performance stroked 460. (those custom castings and machine work is goiong to cost $)
Realistic thoughts should never be confused with negative -
David
__________________
78 F250 460 C6 - sold 79 Courier 2.3L 5sp - sold
83 F250 SCab 6.9 4sp - sold
86 F150 5.0 SCab EFI AOD - sold recently
86 Bronco 5.0 EFI AOD - sold recently
75 Courier 1.8L 4sp
99 F250 SD 7.3L for work
The last post from beegeezy is 5/16. Go check his posts. He was going to put this thing in a '50s F100.
If the 534 was worth fooling with in the way he is talking, don't you think it would have happened?
Guys build up old 409s, Pontiac and Olds motors, even Buicks. Even Y blocks still have a following and some parts available. Flat heads even.
NO ONE fools with a 534.
Having something unique is cool. Everyone should be able to "follow their dreams". But look at the earlier posts. Does this fellow have the expertise required to do the job? His last post said he was having trouble getting the engine out of the SD. Maybe it fell on him.
As for what rpm these will take, there's at least one post that suggests they can't even handle the governed rpms they ran....
But hey, perhaps our intrepid 534 fan will surface and show pics and a video clip of his F 100 with the front tires hanging and the slicks on fire, kind of crossed up going through the traps at 225mph....
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