Like I stated earlier, no there is no such thing as a 4 bolt truck block (and I personally have never seen nor talked to anyone that has actually seen a D8 casting 385 series block just the I heard froma guy that heard from a guy that his second cousins mothers ex brother in laws, fathers uncle, had one as far as I can tell there is NO SUCH ANIMAL, the revision numbers (they are not year casting numbers like on other parts) went from D1 to D9, if someone has one take a picture, and prove that wrong please cause I have tried to actually find one just to see it cause Ford doesn't admit to that casting number either.
If you want a 4 bolt main block and want to run alky and a blower your better off with either an eliminator, or motorsport block anyway cause even the Boss 9 blocks don't have any thicker cyl walls than any other block on the average. and the prices aren't that bad plus you can either go with stock bore, or all the way to 4.6"+ bore for big CID and they all come with new studs, have already been machined, and have a MUCH better oiling system eliminating the need to do things like bushing the lifter bores to keep the oil down on the crank, and in the pan. These blocks are all set up with priority main oiling and that is the only way to go the only factory block you are going to find with that is a Boss 9 block and you will pay more for it than a aftermarket block, and still have to do a lot more machine work on it.

 

come to ashland ohio and i will show you two 4 bolt main 429,s that came out of bigger trucks, the guy Im talking about has been repairing ford truck all his life and he has a trailer full of motors and 2 of them are 4 bolt main 429 truck motors

 

and what is the casting numbers on them? Is it possible that ford used some 4 bolt blocks they had left over as service blocks for the SCJ motors and built them as 429s yeah with ford anything is possible (I have personally seen N case nodular 9" carriers in 1980s ford F150s) but I will bet you will find those are both DOVE-A blocks and are infact CJ blocks or they were ones someone put into the trucks. another question is do they have cast cranks or forged cranks? the answer is still NO ford did not build 429/460 truck blocks as 4 bolts, and if by some odd chance you find one do a little searching on the back ground of the truck and most times you will find that it blew the original engine up under warrenty, and the dealer ordered a 429 to replace it with as long as it wasn't one of the ones with a forged crank.
I went through this about 20 yrs ago hearing the same rumor that truck blocks were 4 bolt mains so went to a truck junk yard that I knew about, and pulled the pans on something around 40 429 truck engines and not one had 4 bolt mains, but a couple of them did have dual carbs. That was when i talked to a man that had worked for ford for 35yrs and retired and was informed that no they didn't do that the only ones that would be found that way were either blocks that were determined to not be good enough for hi preformance use due to core shift, or were service replacement blocks taht were left over, and no way to tell the difference except that they were all put into the trucks sometime after they were put into service.
Take it for what it's worth. If you find one have it sonic checked if it comes out fine count your lucky stars and run with it as fast as you can.
BTW people will tell you that you can find 429 SCJ cranks in passenger car 2v 429s too all you have to do is look for the brindle test mark (this also applies to 351c engines) and you have a SCJ crank. wrong what you have is a regular old 429 crank that was pulled out of the line, and tested to see if it would meet the requirements for the SCJ crank and FAILED.


EDIT: If you KNOW that they came with 4 bolt mains cause you know a guy that has a couple of them then WHY did you ask.

 

My bad. I think I'm confusing this with the FE/FT versions of the predecessor. After further research, I found the Boss 429 was the only 385 series with 4 bolt mains. The Boss 429 block was a high nickel block specific to the NASCAR engine Ford was developing. It made it the the street as a de-tuned version for the homologation NASCAR required. Sorry for the confusion.

 

you wont find a 429 4 bolt main in a pick up truck, they were in stuff like a large service truck and they were steel crank and you have to turn down the end of the crank to get a car dampner on it

 

JF5speed,
Can you please get the the casting numbers and date codes off the 4-bolt blocks that you are positive came out of the big trucks. This will tell when they were cast. All of the blocks that I have seen were D9's prior to these the trucks had 361 and 391 FT engines.

I have pulled several steel cranks out of the 429 truck motors and haven't seen any 4-bolt main blocks. I have one of the cranks in my pulling truck motor that I turned the snout down on then had it offset ground to a longer stroke with smaller rod journals.

 

I found the source of my information. It's an article in Mustang and Fords Magazine. And I quote:

"If you're unable to find a DOVE four-bolt main block, look for a D7TE or D8TE 460 truck block which also has four-bolt main caps. These are more plentiful and just as durable as the older DOVE CJ/SCJ block."

Are these guys full of it?

Here's a link to the article:

www.mustangandfords.com/techarticles/74998/

 

Negative, ALL SCJ's were also 4 bolt blocks and the late '70 and '71 CJ blocks were,


I,too, have heard the medium duty Lima motor with the bigger snout had the the 4 bolt block in both 370 and 429 versions. I will not admit to actually seeing one, however.

Always thought it strange that the 429 was still available in the medium duty trucks.........But no 460 in the medium trucks.

 

Well look through the article, and you will see a lot of misinformation about the ford casting numbers so basically yeah these guys are full of it. first one that came glaring out at me was that you need to look for the scj/cj heads with the DOVE casting number SCJ heads are DOOE-R not DOVE, next they mention the truck rods bieng D6TE, and D7TE, but rather they are D6 only. Next they mention the Boss blocks all bieng C9 blocks wrong again they are DOVE blocks, and are not high nickle that is an old wives tail, they were actually cast at the same plants as all the other blocks it was partially in the machining, and partially in the mold that made the difference although we did find other blocks with the Boss 9 bulkheads but not drilled for the second oil lines. next the mention that the CJ was the 4 bolt wrong again it was the SCJ the CJ might or might not be 4 bolt.
And the number one glaring mistake is they mention that the D7, and D8 4 bolt blocks are much more plentiful than the 4 bolt DOVE blocks. Really? if they were so much more plentiful then why is it that no one on here has ever seen one yet I personally have seen several DOVE-A 4 bolt blocks in my life. I have seen a 370 truck block apart from the late 70s guess what it had a D1 casting number, and 2 bolt mains but the smaller bore.

 

Ever get the feeling that some people ask questions, not to find answers, but to have an excuse to argue and tell you you're wrong even when they don't know their elbow from their . . . oh, nevermind.

 

So the guy reads a published article and shares his source and........oh, nevermind





So let me give you a different scenario;

Somebody shows me that article and maybe a few other printed articles that states the medium duty 4 bolt info.............but I break a bottle over the bar and say, "you just want to argue, threre's this guy on the internet that says you don't know your elbow............"

 

I will make a deal with ya all, go out, and buy all the medium duty truck engines you can find and have all those 4 bolt main blocks tied up, and make a fortune, and when you show me I am wrong with pictures etc of the stated casting numbers with 4 bolt mains etc I will appologize, and admit to bieng wrong. But not before.

 

Now THAT is a good question....

 

I'm on my way


On a side note, saw an ad in the local classifieds for a 70 CJ outta a Cyclone.

Again, using printed info, it may or may not be a 4 bolt..........I will check it out.

"Honey, what's one more project motor in the garage......PLEEEEEZE"

 

Geez, I feel like I got slammed when all I was doing was presenting the source of, what appears to be, an urban legend. I posted earlier that I have been looking for one of these mythical 4-bolt 460s to no avail so I agree that they probably don't exist. But try doing this: Do a search on D7TE or D8TE. You'll find that this rumor is repeated on every BBF board, including net54. Why don't you experts find Jim Smart (author of article) and kick his a$$ for sending us all on a wild goose chase!

P.S. I never said anybody was wrong about anything. Cripes, this isn't even my thread.