i'm sure its been asked before but i havent posted in awhile so here it goes. i have a 77 1/2 ford crewcab 4x4 that i need to put a motor in. i have a 460 and a 429tj that are good clean cores to rebuild. i always here how much better a 429 is than a 460 but cant find any reasons why. the 429 i have is a 2 bolt main thunder jet so the only difference between it and a 460 is 1/4 stroke? isnt that what sbc guys do to make more power? if i'm missing something please let me know. the truck will be driven like a truck and some rare heavy towing.
thanks

 

I have no experience modding the 460 or 429 but the general idea with blocks of the same family is that for trucks and towing you want cubic inches and stroke. Stroke will give you more torque assuming similar engines. So I would go with the 460 if you aren't planning a lot of mods. If you want a higher reving engine I would guess the 429 would be a better candidate.

Hope someone who DOES have expereince chimes in.

Jim Henderson

 

460, when they are built rite there is no comparison

 

The only difference between a 429 and a 460 is that a 460 has a longer stroke. The thought that a 429 is better is incorrect for an obvious reason...it has less ci than a 460. The 429 has a 3.59'' stroke I believe while a 460 has a 3.85'' stroke. Both engines have a 4.360 bore in stock form. Now your 429 thunderjet probably has a set of high compression D0VE or C8/C9 heads which are highly sought after. Do a little scratching on both engines and get some casting numbers. I'm sure there are many of us that could give you some suggestions for your build. Good luck.

 

ive allways liked the 9 better. quik rever,good torqe (shure not like a stroker)and if everyone remembers the never put no 60 in any muclecars(well theres 1) but thats just my opinion.

 

the 429 thunderjet has higher compression and no smog crap, the 460 has more cubes. how much money are you looking to throw at the engine? if its a tight budget then put the 429 heads and timing set in and go with the 460. if youve got a few bucks you cant go wrong with a 521 stroker kit then port the heads on either the 429 or 460 or go aftermarket aluminum, get some headers and good exhaust, and have fun
the 429 heads will be c8ve, c9ve, or d0ve depending on the year but theyre all basically the same castings. the 460 heads will probably be d3ve and are low compression heads with big dish pistons. throwing on the 429 heads will add about 1.3 points to the compression so you come out about perfect for pump gas, and the 429 timing set takes out the 4 degrees factory smog retard the 460 has and will help with power

 

Ummm everyone has been giving some good suggestions here, but everyone is also making a lot of assumptions too. first that the 429 is going to have the early high comp heads, and that the460 is going to have the low comp heads but no one even asked the years of either engine. the 460 can have anything from the C8VE up to and including the late model FI heads and the 429 could D2VE heads on it that we all know are junk. On top of that we don't know if they are even original so anything goes.
So what years engines are we dealing with here? And what are the casting numbers on the heads you have?

 

thanks for all the responces. the generally consensus seems to be what i was thinking more ci and longer stoke is better for my application. as for the years the 429 is a 70 with DOVE-C heads. the 460 is out of a 76 2wd truck but its wraped up on a pallet so i dont have any of the numbers. i was reading that the stock 460 was around 8.5 compression and the 429 was 11 something. i like running stock performance parts but not sure if i would be better off financially to sell the 429 whole and buy some aftermarket heads and pistons to increase compression? not trying top sell anything in this forum just curious what you guys think the 429 is worth. stock bore everything looks real clean, complete from pan to intake. the only thing i found was a piston ear that was gone and another that was cracked in the same spot. looked like a bad spot in the casting on all of them. thanks again for all the replies.

 

Just swap the DOVE-C heads to the 460, that will bump the compression up to 10 to 1.

 

429, because of its shorter stroke it rotates quicker than the 460. itll get those rpms up there quickly. im currently rebuilding a 429 in my garage its juss after they lowered the compression so i was dissapointed but its still gonna be fun to drive. heres a bigger idea buy a 514 stroker kit for it. thats power and the block shouldnt need any machining for it to fit. unlike the shatty chevy motors that need machining for like everthing. in case u cant tell i dislike any chevy ill give em credit for what some can do.

 

80F250 please tell me you don't have D2VE heads, cause if you do go buy any other head for that motor and use those for door stops, you really won't like the results with them.
And don't bother with the 514 kits, the only reason for that setup was it was as far as you could offset grind a stock 460 crank and still use BBC rods. the 514 ford crate motor is actually 521cid (they came out with the 514 originally using new blocks but went to using used blocks bored .030 to get the 521 but didn't want to change the name) so I would run it as a 521 (4.3stroke x 4.390 bore) instead of buying the 4.14 stroke kits that require a 4.440 bore to get there (and actually they are still only 512)

 

i thought the 429 lost the thunderjet label in 1972 when they went to smog heads, thats why i assumed the older castings

 

what i dont understand is, saying the 429 would be better than the 460 because it will rev quicker, but then saying it would be best to use a 514. a 514 is a stroker 429/460. so if a 514 is the way to go over the 429/460, the 460 is the way to go over a 429, because all it is is a stroked 429. If you want the strongest motor with the parts you have, put the tj heads on the 460, it will to everything the 429 will but with more torque

 

its all about the money.if ya want cheap stock or mild build or spend the big bucks on a wild stroker hmm $900 for a crank $1400 for a set of cheap aftermarket heads and so on.i dont have $1400 in my 429 PI with pistons,cam,intake,carb,200hp shot of nos, everything.im not shure what my hp is but i dont care. it was enuff to blow out a 9inch friday.what did we all do 15 years ago when stroker kits wernt around or just to high priced ya couldnt touch one

 

15 years ago we offset ground the crank, used a set of BBC rods, and played with either recutting chev pistons or ordered a set and made a 512cid. or got real crazy sleeved a couple cylinders and punched it out to 4.5" and used BBC slugs unmachined cut the valve reliefs and called it good.