I have a 351M in my '78 and I just bought a 460 to replace it with. We have alot of work to do on the engine, and it is a little bare boned. Here are some questions/concerns I have:

I am going to need a new carbeurator. Which one should I buy? I'm not looking to turn this into a fast truck, or anything special. I am mostly looking to save some money, so a fuel efficent carb will be nice.

What about things like fan blades, mounts for the alternator and power steering? Will those be interchangable?

What about the exhaust manifold? I've never messed with my exhaust manifold before, so any advice will help in this area.

I'm sure to have more questions later.

 

Very little will interchange between the two. Power steering pump and the alternator are about it. Perhaps the fan might, but I think the water pump shaft on the 460 pump is larger in diameter.

As for the carb, it depends. Some earlier 460 intakes require a spreadbore carb, and it would be worth the money to buy a new intake and carb together rather than replace the spreadbore. I am partial to Edelbrock myself, and recommend the Performer (not the Performer RPM) with a matching 650 or 750 CFM carb.

Make sure you get truck exhaust manifolds, especially for the passenger side as the car one will not fit. I got new repop ones off E-bay for $100 the pair, including shipping. Used ones tend to be warped, and they are expensive to have machined as the iron is extra hard, so this is a good buy, in my opinion.

Is your 460 internally or externally balanced?
I recommend also you install a straight up cam timing set, and give serious thoughts to the cam you might want to install, since you will likely be into the engine top at least.

I put in the straight up cam gears and an RV camshaft, and am real happy with it. I stuck with the factory designed (repop) manifolds instead of headers, and I am happy with it, too.

Come visit the great guys on the FTE 385 board for more details - they can give you more and better details.

 

While a smaller carb sounds nice on paper, you don't want to run an engine lean, and a small carb will do that. Running lean melts pistons, thats bad. None of the brackets will fit, only the PS and Alternator as mentioned above.

 

Get an Edelbrock 650 carb.

The distributor swaps over.

You will need a 7 blade clutch fan and a larger rad for that 460 as well.

Make note of the water pump nose size when getting a fan clutch.

 

Isnt the starter the same too?

Tim

 

No. it physically Looks the same but the innards are different.

Check in the Tips & Tricks thread

 

351M/400/429/460 all have the same starter. Makes sense because they have the same bellhousing. For instance, if you build a stout 400 and need a tougher starter, you can run a mid 80s 460 starter with the solenoid on it. It is a tougher starter and will turn over a higher compression motor. I'm running one on my 79, because I didn't feel like shelling out $200 for a high torque mini starter. I have plenty of clearance with my headers so it works out, some headers may not work with that starter, I know Thorley headers won't, but my Hooker Super Competitions will.