Hey guys, looking for some advice on rebuilding my 460.

I have a 86 F250 Lariat that i'll be doing some more work to this summer. Financial crap and school have gotten in the way this last year, but we're finally going to get cracking on my restoration !!!

What i'm actually doing is making 3 trucks into 1. I bought my blue and silver truck last February, and it's pretty much been sitting this whole time, waiting for me to tinker with it. The wife complained that she doesn't want to drive a stick, so I found another 86 F250 as a parts truck, and snatched the 460, C6 and trans axle out of to use in my blue truck. Finally i'm in the process of buying another 86 F250 that has already had the frame sand blasted and painted, and has matching Dana straight axles up front and out back out of a 97 F350. Plus it has a skyjacker 6 inch lift on it, so most of the hard work is already done for me. The tentative plan is to take my cab off this summer, fix the driver-side floor pan that's rusted, and get the cab line-x/rhino-lined underneath, and then mount it on the lifted 86.

My plan is to have both the 460 and C6 rebuilt this summer and installed and running before winter hits at the end of the year.

As mentioned before, the blue and silver truck is my truck, and the red and white one is the parts truck that I grabbed the donor 460 and C6 out of. It had about 156k on it when I pulled it, and even with bad gas in the tank (the truck had been sitting for about a year and a half when I heard it run) it still ran very good. No ticking or smoking. I'm sure most of you would say "don't even touch it". Point is, it is extremely greasy and needs to be at least hot tanked and have the gaskets replaced, while i'm at it, I might as well make sure bearings, seals, and all the internals are in proper working order if I plan to use the truck as a daily driver.

The tentative plan right now is to strip the motor down to the long block, and take it over to my local NAPA that rebuilds motors.

I want to know if I should have the factory heads rebuilt or if I should splurge on some fancy aluminum ones?? Same goes with boring and stroking (is it worth it or even a wise thing to do??) Ditto with the cam and crank. If it's going to be a daily driver, I don't want a lumpy cam that I always have to keep feeding gas to keep it running.

I plan to simply use the truck as a nice daily driver. I'm not planning on going through lakes, climbing rocks, or going through dunes. Maybe some towing of cars on a full-size trailer in the future, but that's it. It will be a simple mid-western daily driver truck, that i'm looking to get the most power and dependability out of. How much am I looking to spend on an average rebuild for the motor?

Here are some pictures of what's been going on:

[IMG]<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/20130228_103654.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130228_103654.jpg"/></a>[/IMG]

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/20130228_103709.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20130228_103709.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/248324_10151913097084008_625585640_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 248324_10151913097084008_625585640_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/941263_10151913097409008_1065765567_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 941263_10151913097409008_1065765567_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/408388_10151913097599008_1555077821_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 408388_10151913097599008_1555077821_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/923180_10151913097759008_1709481187_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 923180_10151913097759008_1709481187_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/179496_10151913097249008_1693371388_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 179496_10151913097249008_1693371388_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/183083_10151913098049008_517508777_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 183083_10151913098049008_517508777_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/923272_10151913098209008_1914360891_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 923272_10151913098209008_1914360891_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/941435_10151913098809008_579074017_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 941435_10151913098809008_579074017_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/935533_10151913098384008_1144851882_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 935533_10151913098384008_1144851882_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/968875_10151913098544008_230380938_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 968875_10151913098544008_230380938_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/971614_10151913099074008_815656196_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 971614_10151913099074008_815656196_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/919856_10151913099299008_1137536070_o.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 919856_10151913099299008_1137536070_o.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/72809_10151833748334008_902892167_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 72809_10151833748334008_902892167_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/523530_10151833748534008_793838468_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 523530_10151833748534008_793838468_n.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/ZXRider05/528461_10151833748684008_153051352_n.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 528461_10151833748684008_153051352_n.jpg"/></a>

That's just a very brief overview of what I have going on so far.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

Subscribed! This reminds me a lot of my bronco (460, c-6, 3 in lift, rusty, new floor), it all depends on how far you drive every day. Mine is bored to 475 and has a cam and better heads, and I get 5-8 mpg, and I go through 2 gal a day just driving to school and back. Where in MN are you located?

 

South of Eagan.

 

If you trust the guys over at Napa, take it over to them, and they will check the engine out. There are specs on all this stuff, and they should be experienced too(hopefully). They will get the mics out and see what you have. There is no decesion on your part to make. Either the crank is in spec, or it's not and will have to be worked over. Either the cylinder bores are within spec and do not have to be bored, or they are not and will have to be bored as little as possible. The boring is a judgement call, you can talk to them about it. If they are worn .002-.003 or so you could get by with a re-ring job and have a engine that will last ok. I believe the upper limit is around .006. When you are in that area, the life of the engine drops a little bit. Like I said, talk to them about it.

They will also check the heads. If the guides are worn, they will need re-worked. If they are in bad shape, talk to them about how much it's going to cost, versus getting new heads. If you have the money and want some power, then go ahead and buy the aftermarket heads.

You are right about the lumpy cams and I would not stroke it either for a daily driver.

 

I read on another site to watch out at machine shops when it comes to Ford motors. It read something like "they'll try to rebuild your Ford engine like a Chevy 350" by doing different techniques on your Ford engine will ruin it or something like that.

Never heard anything like that, have you?

 

They are all the same. Most people can't even tell them apart when they are torn down. The only thing you have to watch out for on the Fords are the heads. The rockers and valve train are not adjustable like on a chevy. So when any head work is done, seats ground, valves ground, etc. this changes how much the valve stem sticks up out of the head. So whoever is doing the heads has to be careful with this, because all you can do is bolt the rockers down till the bolts stop, unlike the chevy where you turn the engine to each cylinder and adjust the valve lash.

This can also be a problem when a different camshaft is installed. If it's not made exactly like the Ford cams, then the valves will need adjusting, and you have no way to do it.

The Ford heads can be converted to be adjustable, but it's a lot of work and a lot of money. This is when it starts making sense to get aftermarket heads which already come with an adjustable valve train.

As far as everything else, it's just like building any other engine.

 

Has anyone ever posted anything out here where they mention aluminum heads over stock? Or any other drastic aftermarket parts like cam/crank?