I am building this engine up for better street performance. That is why I want to go with the Edelbrock Performer series. Most the time it will be off-idle to 4000 rpm. I will use it for hauling stuff to the junkyard, and for helping people move. Some trailer towing but not much. Mainly I want it for the sound of a V8 under the hood. My current transportation is a VW Rabbit GTi, and although I love the gas mileage the performance is non existant. My job is 18 miles from home so the rabbit will be good for that, The F250 will be for my days off, and maybe a camping trip or two. )

 

Sounds like a mild build with the Edelbrock Performer Package would great for your usage. If you have emissions heads any port work that you do to them is going to give you significant performance gains and will be worth your time.

 

id also swap out the rear end gears... 4.56 is way high... id swap them out for 3.54s or 4.10s... especially if youre doing any highway driving and have less than 37" tires- if you have 33s with 4.56 rears youre revving 2900 rpm at 60... way too high... same tires with 3.54s puts you at 2250... much more sensible rpm for your build... if you have smaller than 33" tires your rpms will be higher... if you had say 235-75-15s with 3.54s youd be revving 2550 rpm at 60, with 4.56s youd be revving 3300 rpm... way way too high

 

Gary,<O</O

Thanks I would be verey interested to see what they did to the smog humps. <O</O

I don't know if the under cut valves will do that much in a street / low rpm set up. That being said I am running them, can't hurt.. I bought Ferra 5000 series stainless steel valves, I was told they are the same ones Trick flow sells.<O</O

Nighteyez,<O</O

The Edelbrock Performer Package should work great for you.<O</O

darrin1999 is right about your rear gearing. 3.54s or even a little less like some where around 3.11 I don’t know the exact numbers but you get the idea. You might look at doing a conversion to a 5 speed or a beefed up e4od.
Bill

 

One more question, the machine shop said they only need to put hardened seats on the exhaust. They claim that the intakes do not get hot enough to require hardened seats. What is your opinion? Gary

 

<O</O

“One more question, the machine shop said they only need to put hardened seats on the exhaust. They claim that the intakes do not get hot enough to require hardened seats. What is your opinion? Gary”<O</O

Gary,<O</O

I have been told that to and it makes since. The problem with the exhaust side on a stock late model head D3VE is the seats are induction hardened this process does work but it is a thin area of hardening that you most likely will cut through doing a valve job. I was watching when they made the cut to install my hardened seats. The cutter made about 2-3 turns and you could tell it was hard metal then broke through. Not verrey thick at all.<O</O

I may be wrong but I don’t think the earlier heads had hardened seats at all. I am told the incoming charge cools the intake valve and seats enough you won’t have a problem.
Bill

 

Thanks for the response Bill, I just wanted to make sure they were up to speed. These guys are usually pretty good. They rebuilt the V6 in my wifes T-bird and after 160k it still doesn't use any oil between oil changes. They have done quite a bit of work for me over the years at reasonable prices, but I think they are trying to get some extra Christmas money out of me now. They have magnafluxed the heads, new stems, hardened seats and sized the seats for the new valves. The smog bumps were previously removed. They are wacking me for $390.00 for both heads. I hope that is not to far out of the ballpark.

I was going to port and polish the heads as soon as I get them back but read an interesting article on porting and polishing myths. I am going to post it as that on a new thread so that I can get several comments on it, so you might look it up and see what you think.

Gary

 

Gary,
That dosen't sound to bad of a price. Don't forget you will need to do a final lapping of your new valves before you assemble the heads. I like to do this last so I can be shure I have a good seal and the valves go back in the the hole they were laped in after final cleaning.
I am still intersted in seeing what they did to remove the Thermactor hump aka the smog bumps. The thinges I did when "porting" my heads was based on flow bench data, Not on porting and polishing myths.
Bill

 

I will take a picture of the exhaust port as soon as I get the heads back and show you what a clean job they did on the smog bumps. I will post it on this thread so everybody can see them.

Also did you lap the valves with a compound or just lap them dry? Gary

 

I use a "fine" laping compound. You need to be shure you get it all out of your heads after you are done. Have you ever done this operation?
Bill

 

I'm not really sure that in this day and age that you really need to lap the valves after a precision valve job. But, hey do as you like, it won't hurt a thing.

 

I did a lot of lapping in the old flathead days. A lot of porting and polishing as well as relieving. We use to shine the intake ports up so bright that if you spit into them it would come right out of the valve port. Things have changed so much in the last 40 years that I was wondering if the need still exists to lap valves.

Anybody out there ever heard the term relieving?

Gary

 

I would figure out what heads i had first then go from there ,later model heads require more port work to generate good flow than earlier model heads . also as you are just wanting basically a low rpm/torque motor you may find that over working the heads on the exhaust side hurt your low end torque. for most people a good solid lower end with a mild cam ,intake and carb combo is more than enough . my first 79 f150 had a 460 and i had a lot a fun with it with basically a stock engine and some light performance mods it was set up like this and didnt break the bank buliding it
78 460 block and bottom end
flat top nothing special cast pistons trw i believe
dove-c heads mild port work and egr ports epoxied ,arp studs
edlebrock performer RPM intake
holley 750CFM -3310 (i know somebody will say something about vac secondaries)
comp cams 282 solid lifter camshaft(ordered complete cam kit easy way to do it matched springs come with cam and includes double roller timing chain
headers ,dont remeber what kind had truck 12 years ago and ive forgot, hedman i think and old school 2 chamber flowmasters the kind that were really loud and that they dont make any more as i recently found out much to my dismay

 

Gary,<O</O

The current experts now preach to leave the intakes a little rough as it helps air flow. Kind of the old golf ball dimples theory. Don't ask me I couldn’t make up this stuff. <O</O

As to the term "relieving" I am not shure how you are using it lol can you use it in a sentance <V</VYou know like "When I was relieving my self on the electric fence a shocking thought crossed my mind."<O</O

TR, I don't know why you have so much faith in a precision valve job. When any part is machined there are tolerances. they may not vary much but to get a perfect seal on the valves you need to lap them.<O</O

Nighteyez, I hope you have gotten some basic info hear even after we have done a good job of hijacking your original thread.

Fordtrking,
Sounds like an interesting build for it’s day. I think there are a lot of better cams out there now that are tailored to the 460. I would still go Hydraulic for the street.
Bill

 

bill- the leaving the intake rough isnt for air flow, its for fuel flow- to keep fuel suspended in the air, theory is a smooth surface will attract fuel and make it stick, a rough surface will keep the fuel suspended because it keeps the air more turbulent... if you ran a dry fuel like propane or cng you should polish your intake for better dry flow