I'm putting together a 460 for my 79 f350, What compression can I get with D3VE heads.
My options are stock rebuilt 460 .030 overbored, I picked up from a buddy with stock replacement dished pistons. Just need to assemble came with D3VE heads. I suspect the factory engine has the same.
I still have the factory 460 in the truck kinda knocks like a diesel.
Just want to get the compression up would it be better to get the heads milled or change to flat top pistons?
What compression would I end up with the D3VE heads w/piston change/milling heads?
Truck will be used for towing/hauling. It's a 2wd dually with 12 foot toolbed.

 

I see no one has answered your question, so I will try to give you somthing to think about, and somthing for someone to add to.

There is no way to know what your comp. will be without knowing what the exact pistons you are going to use. But I would go with the piston change over milling the heads for a couple of reasons, if you take to much off your heads you will have to do the same to your intake, also you can take it off but you can't put it back on. You can always change pistons.
You can talk to the piston mfg. and they can give you a good est. on the compression you will be running with one of thier pistons.
Hope this sparks some ideas.

 

Being that you want to use the truck for towing and hauling, I think you would be fine if you had the heads ported on the exhaust side and add a bigger cam.

I run a set of ported D3's on my mudtruck with a stock 460 bottom end and it has plenty of power.

 

A couple of things to add to the mix:

1) D3VE heads seem to run from about 92 to 97 ccs in chamber size. Both of my sets are around 96 cc, & judging by others' comments that seems to be a fairly common size for them.

2) A 460 with D3VE heads & factory dished pistons (in other words, as assembled by Ford) has as a rule compression around 7.8:1, give or take. Some may be slightly higher. To make matters worse, the factory pistons have a relatively low compression height, leaving them "low" in the bore at TDC and with less quench than is really best for most mild or street 460-based engines. Virtually all the common cast "rebuilder" 460 pistons have the same issues as the factory pistons.

3) All that being said, you might take a look at http://kb-silvolite.com/index2.php & look at the Keith Black hypereutectic pistons. They have the increased compression height which will help with quench (plus I'd deck the block to set it where needed, if you're going to all this effort anyway), plus they have enough choices to get the CR you want. I'd look at either the KB206 (intended for late "fuelie" engines, but works well with D3's), or the KB137, for a little higher compression. Use the site calculator to figure out your exact compression, once you know your chamber size & what head gasket. The FelPro 1018 has a compressed height of .041 & is a pretty good gasket. The measured vol. of it is 11.2 cc.

4) For your purposes, hypers will work fine. I'd avoid the Sealed Power/Speed Pro hypers. Also, a lot of the eBay-listed pistons are advertised as "hypereutectic" but actually aren't.

Hope this helps....

 

homespun brought it up the first thing I would do is to get the block squared up, and brought down to the point that whatever piston you use is at zero deck this will get you better quench allowing you to use lower octane fuel at higher comp ratios, and a slight power increase (probably not enough you could actually "feel" but some none the less) next only have the heads milled enough to get a good flat sealing surface. Do some clean up work on the exhaust ports thats the major restrictive factor on the Ford heads and also use a dual pattern cam with more exhaust duration to help with this too.
if you zero deck the block, use the standard 22cc dish piston, and assuming a 95cc chamber you end up at 8.48:1 compression.

 

If memory serves, the 22 cc dish piston is KB138. Set the quench distance around .035- that's .006 out of the hole at TDC with that FelPro 1018- & it will run on any pump swill you can find without detonating.

The KB206 will bump it to around 8.9:1 to 9:1 static, depending.

I'd also look at something like the Comp Xtreme4x4 34-231-4, or 34-235-4 cams, good headers, & an aftermarket distributor, or get the Duraspark recurved. The original advance curve is pretty sluggish & altering it will make quite a bit of difference. As Rob mentioned, some mild exhaust port work will help a lot as well.