My brother has owned a 1969 LTD with a 429 for about 8 years now, he drove it for a while, but it spent the last 7 years in the shed at my parent's house. It only has 60k original miles, 2 owner, and the first owner is a family friend. Well, in two weeks the car is mine. The car is showing some serious wear from sitting for so long, so the plan is to pull the drivetrain, possibly some other parts, then scrap the rest and give my parents 100 sq ft of their storage back.

The big decision is - what do I do with the 429? It had some serious power in stock form and I could keep driving my truck if I built the 429 to go into it eventually. However, my truck came with a crate reman 460 that only has 700 miles on it so far, but I really want some more serious power... the crate engine feels very stock. I also want to minimize the downtime for the truck.

Should I....

Build the 429 and eventually sell the 460? How much can I get for a low mileage stock built 460?

Find another 460 and use the heads from the 429 to build a hi perf 460?

I know both engines are good, neither shows any signs of a problem, I just can't prioritize what the best option is. I just know I want the most HP for my buck and the answer is somewhere in one of these two engines.

Any input?

 

Doesn't a 1969 have non-hardened exhaust seats and make more compression than even today's premium can handle? Not raining on your parade, just wondering. I also wouldn't scrap a 1969 LTD unless it's REALLY moth eaten

 

The car did have trouble even with premium, I would either have to lower the compression a little or run an E85 setup - that decision would be made down the road. Regardless, I will be building a higher hp motor for the truck, so either change would be easy enough through the rebuild process.

The LTD has some pretty serious rust in the rear, the rest is not bad. It is difficult to find anyone that would want the car with no motor or trans and needing that much body work. Although, maybe I'll throw it on craigslist for a week and see if it gets any bites.

 

That stock 429 won''t have as much power as your 460. It just feels like it in the lighter car. They are the same block just different stroke. If you want more power use the 429 block and stroke it to 514 or 557. Decent set of heads and cam and there is serious power.

 

[quote=427 fordman;7703735]That stock 429 won''t have as much power as your 460. It just feels like it in the lighter car. They are the same block just different stroke. If you want more power use the 429 block and stroke it to 514 or 557. Decent set of heads and cam and there is serious power.[/ quote] It's the other way around the 460 dosent have the power the 429 does. if you lower the compression a little you can use allthat motor, If you insist on a stroker your going to need alot more money than if you just freshened up the 429 you can enough power

 

How many doors on that LTD? The '69 2-doors are beautiful. That car might be worth something to someone.

 

After I saw this post I googled 1969 LTD to see what I could learn and came across something about '69 LTD with 429 4V being really rare.

 

NOOO! PLEASE!!
I understand that finding a home for a vehicle can be much
more of a hassle than sending it off to a bone yard.
I just ask that you make an effort to sell it before you scrap it.
Those old LTDs sure are beauties. I'd like to see it saved.

Good luck,
Murph.

 

I'd like to see a pic of the LTD myself.

69's are good looking cars, and the 429 optioned ones bring good money if the body style is the "right" one.

But I won't be buying it.

 

I know they still rated engine power from the flywheel in those years, but that 429 is rated 360 HP and 480 TQ! I would definitely say that's better than a stock 70's 460.

 

Some more info on the LTD:

4 door, currently painted John Deere Green - my brother's Jeep at the same time was pumpkin orange, to say he liked to stand out was an understatement. Some pretty good rust in the rear quarters, not much elsewhere. A resto would be possible, just not nearly as popular for the 4 doors. It was a cool car to ride around in, with the power it would smoke the tires on demand, even from a roll.

I am trading my brother for a 3 wheeler worth about $1,000. So my first concern was getting that value out of the car in some form. I could possible save a lot of the interior and the doghouse to live on for someone's resto project.

For the sake of saving a rare cruiser from the past, I'll list all of the good parts for sale, hopefully someone can use them and I may end up making some money on the deal.

The fate of the rest of the car will depend on how the sales efforts go. Regardless, the truck will be getting some more power under the hood, I just have to find the best combo for pump gas.

 

[QUOTE=79superduty;7703865]My bad. Didn't realize that ltd had that much power. Oh well, only about the 400th time I was wrong this week. Bad week

 

Finally got the engine, transmission, and rear axle out of the car. Once I got under the car taking it apart, it was very apparent this car would never be resto'd - extensive underbody rust all the way through. At least the drivetrain is still all in good shape and ready for new life!

 

If it won't run on pump gas you can just stick a little bigger cam in it, get the dynamic compression down and bump the power up a little all at once.
-Johnboy