Hello I recently had a 460 given to me by a friend of mine he says its out of a 78 camper special and has 77xxx mile on it. It's sat in a garage for 10 years so I'm goin to rebuild it probably. I have a 78 lariat with a 351m that also needs rebuilt. But long story short I have around $1000 to put into this 460 and I wanna try to put as much hp and tq as i can with my money any tips??? I've never rebuilt a motor before and would like to realy on yalls knowledge to guide me through it. This will more than likely be a daily driver but a toy as well.

 

Breakdown:


1: Try and turn her over with a socket on the crank. If she turns over smoothly then that is good. If its stuck, that's not as good but not terrible either.


2: See how it is internally. Take off the heads and see what the ridge at the top of the cylinders is like. If you can catch a fingernail on it then she needs a rebuild. [If not you can probably get away with only new gaskets, bearings and rings to refresh her... ignore next step]


3: Tear her down and send her to the shop for an oversize. Let them clean her up and bore her to the minimum oversize needed - this might be 20, 30 or even 40 thousandths of an inch over stock bore size. Budget a few hundred minimum for this.


4: Order a kit to refresh the engine. I'd recommend something like this:


Ford 460 Engine Master Rebuild KIT 1968 85 RV Moly | eBay


That kit has everything - gaskets, bearings, flat top hypereutectic pistons, rings, camshaft, lifters, timing set, even freeze plugs for the block. Its $620 (with free freight) but looks to be good value for what you get.


The combination of flat-top pistons and the 'RV style' camshaft will give a good, torquey combination for a daily driver and with cleaned up, home ported heads it will be heaps of fun. Seriously, get a Dremel and some 3/8" grinding stones and start cleaning up the intake and exhaust ports on the heads, even a little work to remove obvious lumps and bumps or casting flash will reap good rewards.


Hope that helps - boingk