First time here, I'm an Aussie.
I'm rebuilding an XB hardtop (U know, like in the MadMax movies), and am preparing to drop in a 460/429 engine with a c6 tranny. A friend has recently told me he can buy a supercharger for these engines in Japan very cheaply but he doesn't know anything else about them.
My question to you good folk is which engine would be better suited to having a supercharger on top, the 429 or the 460? Any info on suitable s/chargers would also be helpful as my knowledge is lacking in this area. I'm not real sure if I'll go with a s/charger or not yet.

 

could u give a little info on this jap supper chager for the 429-460 i live in the US but have a freind that lives in Japan do u have the name of the manufactre or a posible web address. As far as witch one would be better to supper charge i would go for the 460 it is a shorter stroke eng and will wind up quicker. U can get more hourse power out of the 460 then the 429
hope this helps
william-va

 

My only concern (hence, advice) regarding this japanese supercharger is to be sure, very sure, you can get parts for it down the road as you need.

Over the years manufacturers come and go, some with really big dreams, and the ones that go leave a service nightmare for guys like you and me.

Just something to think about...

 

I'll see if I can get any info from my friend, but he's a turbo freak(iliterate when it comes to anything else) and may only be able to get info next time he goes over(could be a while).
Thanks for the 460 info, I had been led to believe that the 429 has a better rev range and thus may hav been more suitable for the S.C. My choice of engine was starting to lean towards the 429 also because it is quite rare over here(Australia), relative to the 460. Your reply is making me think I should go with the 460 now.
Cheers XB_Aust

 

Here is a 460 stroker that we are currently building. We used a Dyer's supercharger.

The intake on it is from Australia.

http://www.tmeyerinc.com/460stroker.htm

 

That engine is terrifying, yet really cool at the same time.

 

I'm sure you meant to say the 429 had the shorter stroke.. Right??? The 9 is gonna rev quicker and have a higher RPM range than a 460. Not to say a 460 can't be built to rev higher.

My personal choice would be the 460. No substitute for displacement. The "this engine" will rev quicker than "that engine" argument kind of goes out the door with blowers. Blower motors tend to rev insanely fast regardless of displacement.

XB_Aust, do you have an idea what kind of blower you're going for? Roots, centrifugal, screw?

 

77'F-150Mudder,
I was a bit confused by william_va's stroke length statement too. The 429 stroke is 0.26" shorter than the 460's. So ,yeah, it does make sense the 429 revs slightly better. The car is being rebuilt for show purposes and light street duties(for those times when those annoying riceburners need to be put in their place, which is a few pegs down), so the engine need not be built to absolute extremes(though I'm sure I'll want more once it's built). At this point though I might stick with the 429 on this build.

As I understand it the screw type blower is better from a standing start(from what I here, at least), so I'll be looking in that direction, but I'm still in the dark as to what type my friend is able to source in Japan.

I have a sedan version of the XB which will be my next project, a street/strip vehicle only, a 460 will be going in it. Forced induction for it might also be the go, especially if these S.C.'s my friend supplies are worthwhile.

XB_Aust

 

I agree, the this engine, that engine, is kinda moot.

Here is what I discovered with my 451 dodge stroker, and essentially copying it with my 500cid ford BBF stroker.

Note the below is a crude recipe for building a towing motor, not a race motor.

Use the longest rods you can, this will keep the piston at TDC much longer, thus maximizing what you get out of each combustion stroke (more torque).

Use the largest dish-style pistons you can, in order to faciliate forced induction while having the maximum surface area for the combustion to push down on.

Keep the compression ratio low. My 451 stroker had a c/r of 8:1. Yes, that low.

Make the power with the turbos. I used two smaller turbos, which were undersized. I had 2-3lbs of boost just above idle. At redline, which was decided to be 4800 RPM, I had close to 18-22lbs of boost.

High RPMs kill motors that have heavy pistons and rods. Lower RPMs do not. Higher boost generally won't kill a motor turning lower RPMs, so this seemed like a logical choice.

For intercooling, I did something weird/radical. I made an aluminum plenum, mounted it on an edelbrock streetmaster 383 aluminum intake and modified for EFI. The plenum had an aluminum volvo intercooler brazed in, with the hose feeds hanging out. Sealed it all up good.

So the airflow coming into the engine went through the airbox, then the throttle body, then the upper plenum, through the volvo intercooler, then into the intake manifold.

The volvo intercooler was then fed coolant from the cooling system on the "cold" side, just after leaving the radiator. Needed a much larger, 4-core radiator (I used a Howe unit).

While using radiator coolant seems like a dumb idea, since its hot, know that highly boosted engines often heat the intake air way over 300 degrees. Coolant sits at a nice, consistant 175-190 depending on your thermostat. An air to air intercooler like the powerstroke system would be better for moving vehicles, however one of the problems with air to air is if you're not moving, the intercooler gets heat soaked, and becomes an inter-heater .

So using coolant means that the intake charge will be more consistant in temperature, even though its above what we'd all consider "ideal".

But, since this was for a low RPM truck/towing motor, it worked out okay. Also, the more "stuff" thats consistant, the easier it is to tune the EFI.

And having a little over 575 ft/lbs of torque on pump gas wasn't bad either, I have to say. Rarely did it knock unless the gas was especially awful.

And just because I did this with a dodge motor, means nothing. The theories and practice will work with any big block, long rod motor.

With a huge motor, you can make more power at lower RPMs with radical amounts of boost, than you can naturally aspirated revving the snot out of it. And we all know that lower RPM engines are usually less expensive to build.

I'm going to be proving this yet again, once my 500cid BBF stroker is complete.

 

My friends contact in Japan runs a performance parts shop, mainly for 4x4s. Part of his stock is made up of bits and pieces that he buys when he trips around the country, he goes to auctions and second-hand dealers picking up whatever his customers have asked for or whatever he thinks he'll be able to sell easily. He has told my friend to get me to give him a list of my engines specs and what type of supercharger that I'm looking for.

So i'm guessing, what ever blower I get may be second-hand. What's the verdict on second-hand blowers out there? Are they still worthwhile buying? I understand that if the impeller is damaged in anyway that its worthless, but what do you guys reckon?

And what type does everyone think I should opt for? I still think a screwtype seems best option.

 

Most of the problems to look for wont show themseves until they're installed and under load. Seals and bearing are a couple of things to look at though (look for metal shavings/glitter and/or oil inside the compressor).
Me personally, for a SC'ed application, I like the 429 because of the shorter stroke...it'll be a little more eager to rev than a 460. I'd install a Novi and spin the crap out of it....that's just my .02

 

Thanks for all of the responses about my queries!

I'm going to go with the 429 engine at this stage, because you dont see many of them over here.

I've decided to put the edelbrock performer RPM alloy heads on the system(CJ ports) but if I do put the supercharger on it(which ever type that maybe) I'll need a reasonably low compression(correct me if I'm wrong), so the chamber size option for these heads would be the 95cc's. But if I decide not to get the blower then I'll be left with low compression and an expensive set of heads . So should I choose the 75cc chamber heads and if so are these able to be opened up easily to lower the compression for use with a blower?
I appreciate any info, as these heads are rather expensive over here( double the price of the original engine outlay, but they're necessary for reasons I wont go into here)

 

i didnt know they were allowed to have v8s down there lol jk.

 

You can slap a 671 on a stock 429/460 and be the Baddest mate down under.......

Been playing with Blower motors for years, built, bought, sold, shipped , rebuilt,ect, ect.....If you have limited parts there as far as replacement parts for the blower, and parts for the pulleys, i would think twice about hooking up with "used" ........You could be asking for an aweful lot of headaches, better off buying a new set-up so ya know what ya got........

Lemme know if ya have any questions.........Buzz

 

Buzz,

That picture of your truck is pure evil!, would you mine e-mailing me a higher resolution shot and any others of your truck you would like to share. Thank you for making my day.

John.