im planning on doing a cam swap in my truck one of these weekends, but its been a while since ive had the old girl apart. When i pull the lifters will there be enough room between the bore and the bottom of the head to remove them? like i said its been a while and i cant remember how much clearance there is. I need to know so i can buy head gaskets if i need them. Its an 87 460

 

You don't need to remove the heads to remove the lifters.

 

Just did a cam swap. With the intake off, all you have to do is stick your finger in the holes in the lifter valley to move the lifters off the cam.

 

some times if ya tip the engine over the lifters will fall out!!

 

I once read an article about removing lifters in a 5.0 using a lifter removal tool and working through the valve covers!

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2002/07/camswap/

Not sure how it would work with canted valves like 335 and 385 series...

 

Fords & KWs welcome to FTE you must be thinkin about FE motors but even those you don't need to pull the head.

 

Hello all;

On 302's and such the cylinder walls / deck height is so short in relation to the center of the motor that by the time there is valley in the motor you can usually only get flat tappet lifters out with the heads on. The rollers that are stock on 5.0's are too tall. The rollers do not clear the block before contacting the heads. Head removal is manditory at this point. As soon as you jump to a 351W, the deck height has increased to the point this is generally not a problem. I have never tried this on a 460, but given the height of the deck, I do not forsee a problem.

 

thanks guys, i didnt think i had too,
but just wanted to make sure

 

Dont know exactly how a 460s lifters are (never had one apart) BUT for my 352, i just took a magnet, attached it to the lifter. and worked them up and down until they came out.

 

yep thats what i did. used a magnetic pickup tool to pull them out. they should slide out easy. if they dont you may need to have the lifter bores honed out (or at the very least cleaned)