I once rode in a brand new Chev. Blazer, I looked in the center console and found all the emblems to change it from a Blazer to a Jimmy. So you know there is NO difference.

 

The Lima/385 series was not originally designed to be a truck engine. It was designed to replace the MEL series in large luxury cars. Of course, some of the characteristics of a luxury car engine are what you would want in a truck engine, so it really doesn't matter. The first use of the 385 in trucks was the '73 F-100-350, 4X2's only. The larger Ford trucks used either the FT (heavy duty version of the FE) or the Super Duty (477 and 534 V-8's not based on any car/light truck engine). The first real 'truck' Lima were the 1979 370 and 429, which replaced the FT 330/361/391 in the F-600 and larger trucks.

 

I'm pretty sure my former FIL had a pre-'79 F700 farm truck with a 370 V8...had the engine sign attached to the grille of the truck as I recall. I drove it a lot full of grain...back in the '70's.

 

Finally, I see this^ in writing! and not just a manual.Camshaft wise, I believe there is way more BBC selection than there is 385 Fords. Plus the 460 (1968) has 2 years of production over the 454 (1970). But I do not know when the 454 ended. The 460 ended in 1996 or 97 in truck I believe, but lived on until 1999 in industrial applications only.

 

the MK6 (454, 502 etc) and some variants of the MKIV (454, 496 etc) are still in production and being placed into vehicles (mostly exports, RVish, commercial and marine) plus GMPP is still making all the performance stuff and sells a dozen or so crate engines, some even with turn key MFI systems and a huge drop-in market. (factory warranted emission legal motors built for specific year range applications)

 

To the person who said the 385 engines made better marine engines...I and my friends have owned multiple big block jet boats.The big block chevy and oldsmobile boats always ran better.One ford nut that had a 460 in his swapped it out for a 454.It ran a ton better.The ford big blocks just don't run as good because they never warm up.

 

And a person cant adjust timing?

The MkIV and Gen6 blocks (MkV never existed since ford trademarked the MK5 for the lincoln) were designed from the factory for racing and performance thingies.

The '385' engine series (of which the 460 was a part) was designed for trucks and big hulking cars, but a few performance versions in extremely limited numbers were introduced.



When one looks at the two engines, a few things become apparent:

the 460 makes a better stationary, industrial or marine engine due to the fact that it discourages high revving rpms.

the chevy, due to its chamber shape and size, as well as the very splayed valve arrangement, breathes tremendously at high rpms.

this is not to say you could not ramp up a 385 engine - its just that a MK4+ does it better and easier.

add in the dearth of performance parts and factory support and the 502/572 followons. not to mention the DRCE program GM had for decades.



As someone who uses a 460 for stationary work burning natural gas, I attribute it's popularity to a number of factors - hard blocks that last forever, a superior top end oiling system that keeps guides and springs alive, and symetrical exhaust ports that equalize heat across the head. These engines run very high exhaust temps - you can see the manifolds glowing after dark - and they will run for 20 years (40 days a year 24 hours a day) without failing. It adds up to over a million miles! I live in a big irrigation district, and I have never seen a BBC pumping water. They may be out there, but I've never seen one. Ask the guys who sell this stuff for a living, and they all say the 460 is THE motor. As far as the BBC having better port flow, I would argue that point. The BBF beats it easily on the intake port, and loses on the exhaust port. But I'll take a better intake any day. My 2800 lb Mustang has a 466 with D00E-R heads with STOCK intake ports, and owner butchered exhausts, and it's ran 137 mph in the 1/4 at 2315 feet. Also, when comparing cumbustion chambers, I'll take a 72-75 cc any day over a 120. As far as the oiling system and revving ability goes, I run my 460 to 6800 rpm with a stock factory crank, 2 bolt mains, and stock oiling system, and have for many years. Above 7000 rpm, then you might want to start thinking about oiling mods, but if you're twisting 8000, you should be in an aftermarket block anyways.
As far as prices go, the BBF has finally made some headway in that department with the Eagle and Scat stuff. You can get a 4.5 stroke crank and rotating assembly for the 460 for less than $1000 now, and 4340 cranks with H-beam rods and good forged pistons go for less than $2000.
A lot of people forget that back in the days of virtually no aftermarket parts, Dyno Don Nickolson became the first doorslammer to ever run in the 7's (did it at E-town on a Wednesday night, 3 days before the Chrysler Hemi guys did it), using a 460 with port plate heads, and an offset ground stock cast crank. A long haired feller by the name of Jon Kasse was his crewchief.

 

The Chevy Big Block Mark numbers are as follows:
Mark 1: Original Chevy 348 and 409, 1958-1965.
Mark 2: This was the Z-11 427 'Mystery Motor'.
Mark 3: This is the one no one knows about! Actually it was a plan Chevy had to redesign the old Packard V-8 into a truck engine. Never happened.
Mark 4: 366/396/402/427/454 'Rat Motor', 1966-1990.
Mark 5: Yes, there was one. 1991-1995 redesign of the Mark 4. No real performance modifications, mainly improvements for manufacturing and reliability. One piece crank seal, larger water passages, main oil gallery moved to center of block, integral oil cooler provisions. 366/427/454/502
Mark 6: 1996-2000 454 and 502. Roller cam. 'Vortec' 454 had port fuel injection and oval port heads.
Mark 7: 2001-present 8.1L (496). Basically a long stroke Mark 6 454 with redesigned heads. Head bolts in a different location, no other Big Block heads will fit it.

 

The main reason that chevys are more popular is the simple fact that up till the ls series most if not all of the 400 cubic in and down (sbc) had interchangeable parts as does the 396 up (bbc).... Heads cams cranks rods in most situations and that is true for most of the span of its v8 line up. Instead of staring over each time they revised the current set up. Basically the aftermarket can make half as many chevy parts because they have to groups bbc and sbc. For on the other hand has several series of engines with a very small amount of parts. Hence the aftermarket has to make more parts and generally the aftermarket will serve the niche.... So basically if you follow the performance niche then mustangs, galaxies, torinos, falcons etc.... All common cars hopped up to street and drag race that didn't have a factory 460 installed. If they had've installed that motor I imagine the aftermarket would have followed it much closer. I think the mopar 440 is probably the most unrespected big block. It has a decent power potential in my opinion

 

I agree on the 440. Not my favorite natural gas motors because the siamesed exhaust ports and raised manifolds fry the valve cover gaskets, and they leak quite a bit of oil after they age, plus you can't get stellite valves for them (up here anyways), but great performance engines. I have a friend who ran a 655" Indy motor with stock port/valve layout, and ran mid 7's in his Daytona.
Biggest problem the BBF had was the 3 year span from when it was introduced until the performance era ended. Had it had another 5 years before CARB, insurance companies, and OPEC killed it, things might have been a lot different. We might have seen 514" SCJ's with redesigned exhaust ports when the spring towers got redesigned, and forged cranks. Because it appeared 5 years after the BBC, it had more potential, but the 5 years lost during the 60's relegated it to 2nd place behind the BBC. I think one of the BBF's biggests pats on the back comes from NHRA, who have banned it from competition in Top Fuel, Fuel funny car, TAD,TAFC, and Pro Stock. (Boss heads) If it wasn't a threat, it wouldn't have been banned. (Imagine them banning a Chevy engine)
Ford certainly did screw things up with their bewildering array of engines. At one time in the '70'S, they had 5 different V8 engines in cars and trucks. Personally, I don't think the 351C should have ever been invented. Had they made the 351W with a normal 2 3/4" crank, and bolted the Cleveland heads on that, it would have been a way better engine. Stronger main webs, priorty oiling, thicker cylinder wallls... Then we wouldn't have had the cumbersome "M" engines after the "C" died. The Windsor could have went to 400+ cubes and the 385 series could have went from there. If I would have been CEO of Ford from 1965 to 1975, things would have been done a lot different...LOL

 

A 454 with a 700r4 ?????????? U mean a 454 with a 4l80e

 

Holy ten year jump!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!! Talk about a thread resurrection!!!!

Many moons ago, when I was still a young man, there was a guy I worked with built a 1973 F-100 2WD with a 428 SCJ/ 4speed top loader.
Look out everything!! He flat kicked AZZ Big time!

 

the empty wieght of a 460 is 720lbs while the empty wieght of a 454 is 660lbs to 680lbs