I posted this over at the 87-96 forum, but I thought I'd better try here too....

I have an 88 F2504x4 with a blown 460. I can't seem to find any EFI 460's for a decent price with decent miles on them, so I'm thinking about maybe going with a late 70s/early 80s carbed 460. What kind of issues would I be looking at with this swap?

btw, there's no emission testing here.


thanks

 

just get a 460 shortblock and bolt your efi stuff on if you want to keep the efi. if you want to go carb youll have to get a carb sending unit for your fuel tank, duraspark distributor and box, if you have the e40d youd have to get a standalone computer for it or swap it for a c-6.

 

thanks.

It has a c6 so computer is not an issue.
Didn't the balance change at some point?

 

yes it changed in 1979 from internal to external, but that just means that when you pick up another 460 it has to have the crankshaft spacer and flexplate still attached to the rotating assembly. all the accessories and heads will bolt up. if you wanted to keep the efi all you have to do is get a complete shortblock and put your efi top end on, and swap to the efi cam or other computer compatible cam.

 

Well these heads have almost 200k miles on them. I wonder what it would cost to have them rebuilt?

 

I did the same swap about 8 years ago when I was 19. I didnt know much about interchangeablity then. I didnt have much trouble, but there are a few things I could have done better if it were today. All the mounts and acc. bolted up fine. I even used the stock ignition system, and it works fine...it just makes the check engine light saty on all the time. I left the ecm hooked up like it was , just cut all the wires gong to the fuel system. I left the feeder pumps in the fuel tanks, bypassed the high pressure pump on the frame, and put a mech. pump on the motor. The fuel system has work great, leaving the low psi pumps in the tanks still allowed me to switch tanks. A couple of guys told me it blow out the diaphragm in the mech. pump, but thats been years ago and its still working. I had to trim a few inches off the inside of the framerail on the pass. side for the exh manifold.The only thing i really scewed up was bolting the '88 flywheel to the '76 crank, so it does have some vibration, but its a ranch truck and never sees the highway. If I had it to do again I would have found some older heads with larger valves and smaller comb chambers. the DIV3E heads on mine are like breathing through a straw(kind of like all of the efi heads). Over all it was a fairly easy swap, if you dont want to stay with EFI. ...............On another note, Im still looking for a Kenne belle charger for my '97 460fi. Ive been looking for about 2 years now and haven't even found a picture of one. I read where there was a truck on the cover of Truckin' mag that had one it back in the late '90's but I haven found any info on that either. I think they must be extremely rare, lat time I called KB, the guy i talked to didnt know anything and didnt want to talk to me. anyway good luck.