Yesterday I picked up a non-running Ford 460 engine for $100. I intend to tear it apart, figure out why it's not running, and, assuming everything checks out, rebuild it to eventually drop in to a half ton to be a daily driver.

Here's what I know:

EFI Ford 460, guy says it came out of a '96 F-350 with ~96,000 miles.
No compression on Cylinder 8. I have not verified this, and I do not know if he truly meant no compression or just low compression.
Crankshaft turns with no unusual resistance or binding.

The plan: Totally disassemble the engine, hopefully figure out what is causing the lack of compression, and build it up again. As this will be my first total engine rebuild, I will be documenting the progress here and, I'm sure, asking plenty of questions. My only means of posting photographs is via my cell phone, but I'll do my best to post as many as possible.

So, my first question is, what should I be looking for as the engine is disassembled that could be causing the lack of compression?

 

So here it is as it currently sits. The pieces of steel next to it are three 8' sections of 4"x4"x1/4" angle iron that will be used to build an engine stand. It will be overkill for this engine, but I intend to mount a diesel engine to it in the near future so it needs to be stout.

 

I would look first at the head gasket and intake gasket first. Next look if one of the valves are stuck open.
The compression rings being worn out could cause low compression.
Trav

 

I would do a leakdown before I even started to strip it.
At least you'll know where the problem is.

 

Well I was able to get the engine off-loaded at the shop, and it's now sitting on a pallet awaiting the completion of my engine stand.

I decided to take a different path with the engine stand. I'll be building it out of square tubing, and for the rotating assembly I found an old GM 8.5" 10-bolt rear axle that I'm chopping up. More pictures to come of assembly of that, as well. I looked for a home-built design I liked for a long time, never found one. Maybe someone will find mine useful someday.

On to the topic of the 460, I've looked and looked for a comprehensive rebuilding guide, that had such information as torque specs. So far, I'm coming up empty. Anybody know of a reference that they feel comfortable recommending?