i own a 1978 ford f250 camper special with a completely stock 400. but im looking to put in a 460 soon. and im wondering what years of the 460 will fit in my '78? and also what year(s) were best for the 460?

 

I would say their was a couple of good yrs. but If your starting out with a new set up I would buy a used 460 get around 9.5 to one compression and buy a new set of modern heads like the p51 for starters and get a modern cam for engine. the new weiand stealth dual plane or air gap intake work nice. Also the 400 ford can me made to work nice for your application. It has a 4" stroke and 460 is 3.85 in stock form. Their are some new heads out for the 400 ford called CHI heads that work awesome on this 400 and basically makes double the horsepwr of OEM with good cam and 9.5 to 1 compression. 400 fords biggest problem is compression and timing chain retarding. If you upgrade 400 ford compression and a good timeingchain you will be amazed at the performance step up with these two upgrades. Also a newer dual plane intake. instead of OEM 2barrel design. Their are many new option out their for the 400 that wasn't out their several yrs ago. If you have any more questions drop me a note.

 

Any 460 from 72-86 will be a smogged up dumbed down dog. 68-71 will be the high compression higher(er) horsepower motors, but are not ideal for the truck because high compression is bad for towing (hard on the engine) If your heart is set on a 460 swap, do a search and read the 100's of threads that have been started this year on this exact subject.

I do not know much about the 400, aside from the fact it shares a distributor, rocker arms, and a starter with the 460. I vote for putting money into a big motor with more power to begin with, than build a smaller motor with to the power levels of the big motor. Its your money, do the research, come up with a realistic budget of $3-4K and see what you can get with it.