hello all i am new to this forum and i have been into bb fords for a short time now but i rilly have alot of fun playing around with them i own and run a 70's ford f250 pulling truck it is strickly for pulling use not driven on the streets i have a 460-60 over makeing it a 472 with flat top speed pro hyperteknics with egale ibeam rods stock crank molly top ring d3ve heads ported with stock replacement valves victor intake 850 holley double pump roller rockers roller solid lifters and a doug herbert 2800-6800 roller cam it runs well i have 2 sesons on it now i recently bought a set of c8ve heads out of a 68 linc they are at them mach shop and i am haveing them machened to get the cc as low as possible i hope to get them to a 72cc i belive the heads i am running have a 96cc i only want to do the heads this winter and run it next seson then next winter go with hbeams and dome pistons i am happy with my motor it is my first major build up but of course i want more power i am shooting for the 750-800 hp range and get it to run 8000 rpms smoothly any advice and what to or not to do and do i have a good set up to work with i am open to any advice thanxs all

 

First thing get rid of the stock valves they can't take the spring preasures required on roller cams, so far you have been real lucky but with heavy springs you can pull them apart, and destroy your entire engine. Go with a good stainless one piece valve I recommend ferrera 6000 series stainless min.
750-800hp on iron heads is tuff, so does your class require factory iron? If not look into TFS street heads for a direct bolt on, or Kaase designed SCJ heads if you don't mind new pistons (or wait a little while and get his revised design).
Also do they have a CID limit in your class? Easier to build HP with more cubic inches, then you can go with something like the A460 heads and get an easy 800hp.

 

thanxs monster my class has a 3 change rules and i have headers and intake and carb so i have to run cast heads my buddy works at a local mach shop and he is will to do so very hard maching to get the heads to flow it will be hard but i hope to do it. and the valves you recomended could ya give me some info on how to get them i havent seen them in my parts books and i am willing to spend some cash to get the cast heads to put out and i am planning on new pistons new winter i found a 490 stroker kit i am intersted in my class runs a 480 cube limet +2% so i think i can get away with it my frned told me that the cv8e heads r the way to go if i am gonna run cast i hope he is right?

 

So run a set of SCJ heads and they will support the higher HP numbers in the range mentioned. Sending you a PM

 

is there a big dif between the scj heads and c8ve? i am hogging them out to the max

 

Yeah the biggest difference is about 600-800 difference in price, but the scj heads will support afew more ponies, personally I am not sure I would worry to much about it the C8 heads will support 700hp with a lot of work, and if you crack one they are going to be a lot easier to find a replacement for.

 

I you go with stainless steel valves remember you will have to have bronze valve guides installed.

 

thanxs monster and wtroger i think i am gonna see what i can do with the c8 heads for now since they are about half done and could someone tell me thew differnce between stainless valves and titanim and or other typs i dont know much about vales and am trying to find the best type also i have head notching out something on the heads to make room for a big cam?

 

titanium valves are much lighter than stainless, which allows for better valve control with the same or lighter spring preasures when using extremely radical solid roller cams, but unless you are really gettting radical I wouldn't buy them, considering the other major difference is stainless valves are around $10/ea, and Ti valves cost 100-140/each. Titanium retianers on the other hand aren't a bad investment if your running a roller cam.
It's not the heads you have to notch out with big cams it's teh pistons, you have to make sure you have enough room for the valve to piston clearence, and this has to be done by mocking up the engine with the cam, and atleast one piston (I prefer to check all of them) then using modeling clay in the valve reliefs and running it through 2 complete engine cycles and then measuring the thickness of the clay were the valves contact it. I try to run a min of .100 clearence on the intake and .080 on exhaust if you dont have atleast that much you need to get the valve reliefs flycut to gain the clearence.
For axles on a pulling truck you need the biggest meanest axles you can find, like a Dana 80 min for the rear, and a Dana 60 for front if it'sa 4x4.

 

thanxs monster so stainless sohould be fine i dont think i will go over 750-800 hp well not this year but i have a goal of around 900hp with a stock block and cast heads i know alum would be better and if they ever give us one more change i will be looking itno them keep in touch i am new to engin building and i eat sleep and breath power and trucks mostly truck pulling i run a dana 70 rear and a 44 front spicers all around so far good luck with it and hope to get me by for atleast one more seson befor i jump to a 60 front but 60 front is spendy and weights more or i thought about mosser axles foe my 44 ever dealt with mosser axels i heard they r good? if you have any more ideas and or advice let me know like i said i am new to buliding motors and i eventually want to become a respecped builder thanxs and have a good 1

 

Where to start. First on the 44 the weak link is the differential. Aftermarket axles will not help that. When you go for the 60 front then get the good axles.

The Hyperutectic pistons are a bomb at anything over 4000 rpm. Loose them quick and get some decent forgings. Your biggest return on you money is going to be to get that stroker kit. Don't fall for the H-Beam thing. If your I-beams are working stay with them. Otherwise just move straight to aluminum rods. They will never fail where a steel rod will pop the first time you break something in the drivetrain and it over revs. Oh, but I run a rev limiter. Just for your info my small blocks will zing 1500 rpm past the limiter in a split second if I miss a gear. On my smallblock it is set at 8600 and just matting it in first will go just over 10,000 for a bit until the limiter catches up.

You will never fail a valve from too much spring tension. Not enough will bust them every time. Stainless valves work fine on iron heads. I would look at the Manley Street flows for valves on a budget. With the undercut stems they are lighter and flow a pinch better on the low lift applications.Titanium valves should be considered anytime you are looking for sustained 7200+ rpm applications. Run at least run stainless valves and titanium retainers. The material of the valves will make zero horsepower difference as long as they are under control. A stock valve won't work in a big roller setup because they can't stand the stress from the high rpm. They also are not long enough to support the increased installed height you will need for the bigger springs needed for high rpm.

The exhaust in your heads is the bottleneck in your setup. The intake side of the heads is usually ok and if you open up the ports you will kill any velocity they may have and that will allow the fuel to drop out of suspension in the midrange. This kills power and to compensate you have to jet up to try to get some kind of burnable mix to the cylinders. This further kills power by having too much unburned liquid slopping around in the mixture taking up space and killing power.

Work on getting your compression up and getting the quench side of the head as tight as possible without hitting the piston on the head. I would look for a running clearance on you setup of 30-35 thousanths. I would deck the block flush with your pistons and use the gasket for clearance.

Since you are limited on cubic inches you can make more power by turning more rpm than the next guy. If it was mine I would get the aluminum rods, light weight forged pistons and a radical roller cam. Then put a 1250 HP Dominator on it and let it eat.

 

thanxs a bunch hired gun you are thinking what i am with gettin the comp up. so far i have had good luck with the hyper flat tops but it is just a matter of time befor they go pop i have considerd dome pisotons and i looked and the alum rods are not that much more than the hbeam so i will defently go with that i think all i need to know now what is a good piston? i could spend the extra cash and go with a stroker kit but i am wondering if i just stay with the 60 over bore makeing it a 472 and with the alum rods and dome pistons stepping up the cam and with the older heads and getting them down to a 72cc would i be just as good or close to a 490 stroker and i run a 850 dp that is the bigest we can run but it is machened out i am just playing with the jet now and i have a manual fuel pump it is a carter but it is i think the biggest one they make i run 1/2 inch line i just want to say thanxs for the input ya all i am learning alot keep it comming in i live for this stuff

 

if ur looking into heavier axles, try some rockwell 2 1/2 ton military axles front and back. thats what the monster trucks use and i hear they r almost indestructable.

 

but good luck affording them.

 

Hired gun, it sounds like you know some things about building engines which is fine, but you CAN bust stock and any other 2 piece valves with too much spring preasure. and as far as jumping to titanium valves it depends on the cam, I can show you pullers turning 9500 rpm sustained for 30-40 seconds with stainless valves, and I myself shift over 7000 rpm and bounce of the 8k limiter.
Next as far as "jumping straight to alum rods" fine if you want to replace them every year and tear them down every second pull. they stretch, and when your running tight quench areas this is a very bad thing so you end up tearing them down, measuring the rods and adding thicker head gaskets to keep the pistons off the heads up to 8500rpm Hbeams will work after that I would look into billet rods, and the stock rods will start failing over 6500 rpm real fast.
I agree hypers aren't the best choice in a pulling engine go with forged, and not the cheap speedpro junk they are extremely heavy, and get some with a 1/16,1/16,3/16 ring pack with floating hardened tool steel pins.
The exhaust is the restrictive side but even at 472cid the intake can use some work to support 700hp actually a lot of work on both sides, and you need a roller cam with atleast 10 preferably 15 more deg of exhaust duration, get your quench distance down to .045 min (unless your running alum rods then down get it below .050 to start with) mine personally is at .041 (zero deck the pistons with a .041 thick head gasket)
and don't fal for the 1250cfm carb thats fine on a stroker but not on a 472, I am running a 1090 on a 528 and it feeds it to 8000rpm, A 1050 dominator will work really good, and if it's allowed run a 1 or 2" HVH super sucker spacer under it you will be amazed at the power increase those provide, but be prepared to rejet the carb when I went to one had to drop the jets 4 sizes front and back. You mentioned not porting the intake because the drop of velocity will kill midrange from the fuel dropping out of suspension then suggest a carb that is way to big which does the same thing not a good idea.
Also I almost forgot with a roller cam, at a minimum run coated bearings like the durabond coated bearings but the prefered is to run the roller cam bearings (this will help with oil control too) the uncoated standard type bearings have been known to hve problems welding themselves to roller cams in big block fords.
And bleedblueoval, the rockwells aren't used by the the monstertrucks anymore they aren't as strong as all that and need upgraded axles, plus have the down side of bieng extrememly heavy which in a pullng truck they are wieghed and if all your weight is on the axles you lose the ability to put it farther forward like hanging off the front bumper to better help the keep the front end down. Go look at the pro pulling trucks and you will see a vast majority of them are running D60 front ends. Rockies also have the down side of not having a lot of gear choices available for them.