I have a 1979 F350 4x4 on 38 inch Ground Hawg tires with 4:88 gears and a C6 trans. I recently swapped in a 460 out of a 78 F250 2wd. I did the straight up timing chain, This cam http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CC...4&autoview=sku
Eldelbrock performer intake, Edelbrock 600 carb. Stock truck manifolds w/ 2.5 inch duals with flowmaster 40 series.
The truck runs really well. Starts up easy, idles good sounds good runs cool seems very dependable. The problem is it just doesnt seem very strong. I can barely even spin the tires over on the asphalt. I got beat at a red light by a Caravan. I know its a big heavy truck and Im not saying I want to beat mustangs and camaros but I want to feel like my truck is pretty fast. I think I picked a cam thats too small and I just have way too low compression.
Now here is my question. Im planning on buying a set of the trick flo heads and a bigger cam. http://www.compcams.com/Cam_Specs/Ca...?csid=997&sb=2
and if I bought headers they would have to be the short ones L&L have because my oil pan is too big and I dont want the fender exit headers. This will cost me close to 3 grand and I will still have the stock bottom end. Will the heads increase my compression? Will this be worth the money? If its only going to be a marginal gain I cant see spending the money. Do I need a different intake? I do have a 750 holley but its too much for what I have now. Thanks for any insight

 

You suffer from a lack of compression. You have no, squish, no pop, pressure.
You have a nice Blower combo, only you are missing a big honkin blower.
If you increase the heads with larger runners and ports, along with an increase in duration with a bigger cam, you will lose dynamic compression and you will have a very weak or soggy engine. It will struggle to rev, and if you keep that generic eddy carb and intake, you will undoubtedly be working in the wrong direction.


Get some compression. How? Take your aluminum head money and invest in a fresh bottom end. Upgrade this thing to last, dont mess around with trying to polish a turd.
make it right and consider a different set of heads. Get some work done, or work on doing a little yourself. Many articles, and desireable heads can be found just about everywhere.
Do use some quality headers, and up your cam, intake, and carb to provide some air and fuel to the new area that will ignite the mixture. With new found compression, a dose of fuel and air, you will blow the tires off of that thing.
Been working on Dads newest ride, and I can boil 38's (both rears with a detroit locker) through first gear and they generate enough speed to stay burning through a bit of second gear. Kind if fun, I tell you. This is with a stock converter and only a shift kit.

Compression is where it is at. Get air and fuel in, smash it up real tight, blow it up, and get it out. You will have some power.

Should you decide that you need more rpm, or more air flow, then consider some aluminum heads. Heads are a luxury best suited for builds that can use them. Putting a quality aluminum head on a low compression engine will only dress it up, it wont perform.

speaking of perform, the Stealth intake ot Eddy Rpm air gap is real nice. Get you a good carb that can flow some numbers.
750 is not too much f or your engine BTW. Your lack of compression means that you have an inadequate booster signal, and the slow air speed makes tuning a nightmare.
Keep the larger carb, you will need it when you get start making some power.

 

Scroll down here and look at the suggested builds for certain HP levels.

http://www.460ford.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119213

That cam says it's supposed to work with 8 to 9:1 compression. That '78 got even 8:1? And how worn out its it? Have you done a compression test to see what cylinder pressure it pulls, and how even it is? I'd suggest you do that before any more work.

 

You don't want "fast", you want "quick". Fast is a high top speed and 4.88 gears are for quick is "Elapsed time", which determines who wins the drag race. If you really wanted fast, like Salt Flats fast you would have 2.50 rear gear at least.

 

Do you realize he is trying to turn 38" hawgs???? thats why he needs the gear.....lets see him try to spin 38s with 2.50 gears.....he would have to be in 4lo all the time....4.88s are a good choice for 38's....

 

Your really don't get it do you? NASCAR cars and trucks go FAST while drag cars are QUICK and you just flat can't do both without 3000+ horsepower. In a truck he is looking for quick and regardles of what tires he is running he will never make that brick go fast. I had several cars that were both quick and fast, but not with the same gear set. Fast used a 3.00 to 1 and would reach the 160 mph range at 7000 rpm while the same car with 4.56 gears ran in the mid 12 second range at the drag strip. You can't do both and with a heavy truck you better be satisfied with quick because aerodynamics say no no fast.

 

I totally get it, but you splitting hairs in regards to your interpreted defintions of "quick" and "fast"....apparently me and another person know what he meant. he wants to know why his engine seems to be lacking power(esp torque), even after putting a bunch of aftermarket stuff on it-and Ed did a good job of explaining it.
anyways, back to the topic on hand-what year is the engine????if it has the D3 heads then it will be lower compression, as compared to the c8/c9/DOVE castings....IIRC, only cars in the 70s had 429/460s, trucks didnt get 460s till the 80s(but I could be wrng)....so since you have a 460 out of a 78 truck means it was probably swapped into the truck....what type of plugs do you have in it(do they require 5/8 or 13/16 socket)...that would be in indication of the year if you cannot locate the castings...c8/c9/DOVE would use the larger 13/16 socket while the d2/d3 and later heads use the 5/8 socket....I hope that helps....

 

Ed as usual thanks for your reply. After watching the 460 builds on Horespower tv is what made me think to just change the heads. In thier 1st build they said they used stock replacement pistons and the same cam as mine and they made 378 hp. Then they changed to the trick flows,intake, roller cam and bigger carb and made 607 on the same bottom end. Now I know thats not the motor I was after cause it made power at like 3500 to 6000 rpm but you can see why I was thinking of the head change.
The low compression being the problem does make sense and from what I get reading your post changing the pistons is going to be the best way to increase it. Ugh I need a cheaper hobby !
Bear you are right. I do want quick
Matt they did put the 460's in the 2wd trucks in the 70's and this one is a 78 with d3 heads

 

Well, you are be wrong about when the 460 became available in trucks, as the FE big blocks (360 and 390) used into trucks ended in 1976. And my manual shows that the 460 was available in the 1976 trucks, but then it only goes back to 1976.

 

i have a 1987 460 with 750 holley cam and 30 over also 4:11 2wd dulley crew cab at 85mph tach says 5grd have not tested on a 1/4 yet but for you i would put the 750 on change cam maybe the heads

 

Before you take it to the track, get a new tach or make sure you shift into high gear you might still be in second gear.
Those numbers are off some. You would have to be running a 23 inch tire in order to be buzzing the engine to 5 thousand rpm with 4.11 gears and a 1:1 trans.
Either your trans is slipping like crazy, or your tach is telling you a fib.

Do they make a 245/35/16??? That would be about 23 inches tall......

 

Yes 460's DID come in 70's era trucks...BUT....ONLY in 2wd...and ONLY in front of an automatic!!!!

 

Sorry for digging up an old post, but I have a few questions regarding increasing compression in a mid-70's 460 with D3 heads. I understand what Ed was saying earlier about building the bottom end and piston selection to increase compression. My question is, what is the effect of replacing the approx 95cc stock heads with aftermarket aluminum head with 75cc heads.
I have a relatively fresh stock 460 in my truck and want to add some power without a complete rebuild. I hope to open up the heads, intake (Stealth), and exhaust soon and run that until I can afford a stroker kit - 521.

 

That is a good question that Id like to see the answer as well. That was why I 1st wanted to just change heads. Ive always heard changing to like the D0ve heads would increase the compression but I guess its just not that much of an increase so I suppose the same would be true with the aluminum heads. From what Ive read the stock pistons are just too far down in the holes to build up enough compression.

 

Here is the compression ratio calculator I use a lot

Compression Ratio Calculator - Wallace Racing

putting in a 95cc head, zero deck with a 22cc dish yeilds about 8.42. leaving everything the same except switching to using the 74 cc of TFS streets it bumps it up to 9.88:1 it would be about the same switching to D0VE heads which with iron heads is going to put you solidly in premium pump gas range at best. (is just fine with alum heads)

Basically on a 460 that drop in chamber size is almost but not quite raising it 1.5