I thought it was a 460. Since the 429 & 460 are the same though regarding the trans, I need to know if the C6 car trans will work or if there's going to be a problem with the shift linkage.
The motor & trans are in a '72 T-bird and it is the original engine. The reason I think its not a '72 engine is due to the compression readings. I don't recall the actual numbers but they were more in line with a high compression big block that the compression stated for the '72 .
It could be an early 460 with early 429 heads. I'm not able to get the numbers off the heads right now to tell for sure but I think its possible early heads were put on the motor at the factory either by accident or on purpose, but thats my thoughts.
the heads, block and rods are the same between a 429 and a 460. the crank and pistons are the difference between the 429 and 460. so there is no accurate way externally to tell if you have a passanger car 429 or 460 without dropping the pan and checking the crank number. you could also check the stroke thru the spark plug to get the stroke to see if it is a 429 or 460.
the Thunderbird/Lincoln C6 trans used a longer tail extension and unique tran mount than the trucks and other passenger cars, so you would have to custom fab a trans mount or swap out tailshafts with a truck transmission (unforetunetly you have to take the whole tranny apart to do this as the tailshaft only comes out the front of tranny). or just find a 351M/400/460 truck transmission instead. there are literally thousands of them out there.
If the truck is an older F-100 2wd could the C6 T-bird trans be used or will that mess up the rest of the driveline assy"(driveshaft, U-joints,etc)?
I know if its a 4wd it won't work at all (the long tailshaft). Thanks for LMK about the disassembly needed on the C6 to swap out the tailshaft. I was unaware of that being the case.
you can still use it in your application. seeing that the 460 wasn't offered in Ford Trucks till either 73 or 74, you won't be using factory parts to do this swap anyways. you will have to fab or modify a stock tranny crossmember to work with the T-bird mount as even the aftermarket ones probably won't work. the t-bird/Linclon use two mounts that bolt to the side of the tailhousing instead of one that bolts to the bottom of the tranny.
you will more then likely have to shorten the driveshaft or get one made for this application. not a big deal and gettin them shortened is not that expensive. just make sure of your measurements, there are a few good sites that explain how to do that, just google it. you might have to get a new front yoke to match the c6 depending on what was in the truck before. the t-bird more than likely used a constant velocity joints in the driveshaft, so you probably can't use that one. most decent driveline shops should be able to hook you up with the correct front yoke.
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