I'm building a 460 for my 77 F-150 4X4, 4-speed and I need some opinions on a cam. The truck will mostly be used just for hauling dirt bikes or light stuff like that. I would like to enter it in a street class truck pull, should hold it's own in the half ton class. I know it's a truck and low end torque is important but I'm thinking with that many cubes I'm still gonna have a lot of low end even with a large cam.
Does anyone have a good cam for a 460 that they think stands out.
I was thinking of going with this one. Too big? I have C9 heads.

 

I don't see a problem with that cam unless they have a vacumn rule for the class you want to run in. it should still pull decent vac but I wouldn't bet on more than 15" at idle.
Make sure you buy the springs for it though cause your stock springs won't handle that much lift very long if at all.

 

I am not familiar with your cam However look into a comp 270 cam.It has a power band from 1500 to 6000 rpm.It has a definate rough/lopy idel and will work with stock springs.IT IS THE BIGGEST CAM YOU CAN RUN ON A STOCK VALVETRAIN.Otherwise you will need roller rockers and adjustible valvetrain.I run this and love it.

 

Cool, I will check into that cam. I am already have rocker studs and guide plates. I am going to buy stiffer springs, hardened push rods and roller rockers. I should probably order that stuff today.

 

blown you don't want the 270 comp cam, it's a smallblock chevy grind put on a big block ford core. it's a single pattern cam, and the biggest problem with the big block ford heads is the exhaust is restrictive, so look for a dual pattern cam. If you are interested in looking at comp try the xtreme series of cams these are pretty good grinds iwould run the 4x4 extreme cam try part number 34-235-4 grind number is x4262h-11. RPM range is 1400-5600 noticable idle, and good for heavy towing and largest with stock convertor if your running an auto. but whatever you do get a cam with more duration on the exhaust side, trust me on that I even run a lot more duration with A460 heads that have really good exhaust ports.

 

monster...can that cam be run in a 460 EFI engine?....I have a '96 f-350 4x4 that could use some wake up....it NEVER pulled like my old '86 f-250 with carb'd 460 motor....seems like the f-350 just doesnt have the same "seat of the pants" pull.....doesnt rev at all either...not that I expect to really wind up a truck engine....also how does this change affect gas mileage?

 

The efi engines are pretty touchy about things like cam changes unless you mod the computor too.

 

i reccomend the xtreme 4x4 comp cams too....ive hun the 210/218 grind, and teh 226 234 grind, i am happier with teh smaller grind i have now, it has much better torque below 1500 rpm, but still pulls hard to about 4800-5k....i pull about 16-17 in of vaccum at idle as well

my heads have 2.19 1.76 valves, bowls are belnded and exhaust is ported

just my 2 cents, it may not make sense cuz im on pain killers for my surgery this mornin

 

That some good info. The cam I posted up it pretty much right in between the 2 you have tried so I think I will go with it. What kind of gas mileage do you get? I have a 77 F-150 4x4 4 speed. Probably 8mpg or so? I'd like to get 10 but I dont know if that is possible.

 

I had 9 different machineshops tell me to run the comp 270 cam in my 460 so I did and love it I dunno what you are saying about it being a bad cam for them???

 

if you had 9 different shops tell you to run that cam you had 9 different shops that know how to build small block chevies give you advice. Yes the cam will work ok just like any opther cam is going to be better than stock but you aren't doing the engine justice running that cam, and with a dual pattern cam would have been even more impressed with it

 

ford big blocks like dual pattern cams....period...listen to what monster is telling you, he is right



"That some good info. The cam I posted up it pretty much right in between the 2 you have tried so I think I will go with it. What kind of gas mileage do you get? I have a 77 F-150 4x4 4 speed. Probably 8mpg or so? I'd like to get 10 but I dont know if that is possible."

i drove my truck about 150 miles on the interstate the other day, 70 mph at about 2650 rpm, 5.13 gears, 4 spd, 44 tsls. headers roller rockers etc. I got 10 mpg on the nose...i was impressed. i timed the run, and i know my speedo is 5mpph off, so i figured that error into it as well

i made the sdame run last year with a holley carb and got 8mpg, this year with my quadrajet i got 10

10 mpg, 473c.i w/ a 5900 lb lifted truck on 44's w/ no overdrive impresses me

 

(found this thread in a search)

I'm going to put a 3rd agree-ance on this. FORD's (including stock small-blocks) love a dual pattern cam, favoring the exhaust side. Single patterns are alright for supercharger'd fords though. A Comp xe262h-11 like monster mentioned or ONE STEP bigger will prolly make you happy. Seems well suited for YOUR application, the one you have up top there seems a little big to me....


Cams should be suited to application NOT what "sounds" cool when you step on it. Like when your truck gets louder but doesn't move at a "loud" rate of speed......similar to most cammed chebies and 99.1% of Hogs (Harley Davidson motorcycles), get louder, but don't move anywhere any time soon. Sound good at idle though.


FWIW, I run a comp Xtreme Energy xe266HR in my street car w/ AFR 185cc heads.......fricken awesome, the heads are technically too big for the 302, but the cam brings all the torque down to a street car range, and when it hits.......hold the F on! (around 2200rpm which comes on fairly quick w/3.73's). I could have 20-30 more HP with something like a xe282hr but nothing would really happen till 3000ish rpm's......and It's a street car so I like gobs of torque down low, 'cause its not to often I'm above the 5500rpm range.......gets FAST by then for public roads.

 

OK. Excuse my ignorance, but what is meant by a dual pattern cam? Is it when the valve opening ramp is a different profile than the closing ramp? I'll be in the market for a cam for my propane 460 bebuild soon and I'm trying to suck up as much knowledge as possible. I've been advised to use a cam with a long closing ramp on the exhaust to ease the valve on to the seats (seats on propane systems have a tough job). Less overlap has also been advised.

 

A dual pattern cam is just a cam setup with different lobes for the exhaust and intake, a single pattern will use the same lobe profile for both

Edit: what your talking about is using an asymetric lobe profile, meaning the opening and closing sides of the ramps are different rates. For that you need to talk to the cam maker and see if they have an asymetric lobe in approx the proper duration, and lift your looking to go with. You probaby will end up going with a custom ground cam, but if you do some searching someone might actually make a cam off the shelf intended for use with propane since it is a common conversion.