Greetings all. I have a question regarding my 71 Ford 3/4 Ton with 460 (1975 I think). I use it for pulling a trailer- cow hauler. Low compression motor and fair performance at best. Has anyone tried a turbo charger on a motor like this? ANy information you could provide on that would be greately appreciated. Thanke

Ron Zaccagnin
Colorado

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 09-Dec-01 AT 01:37 PM (EST)]Your motor is made for pulling at low rpms. You would have to rev it up for a turbo to kick in. Plus, having the engine under boost for long periods of time would be hard on it. Most supercharger and turbo kits are for lightweight cars that rev high and only use the boost for short bursts of power. Now a diesel engine with a turbo, that's another story. They are designed heavy enough for boost for long periods.

 

Thanks Franklin! Im really in a quandry as to what to do about this motor. I might just bite the bullet and get a Dodge Diesel. THe 460 just does not cut it. Thanks for the info! \
Ron Zaccagnini
Colorado

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 09-Dec-01 AT 10:07 PM (EST)]Find yourself a set of older heads (69-71). Bolting them on gives you about a point more comp. Also a little bigger cam will help. Also lots cheaper than a blower or turbo setup.
Upon edit.... Try posting over in the 385 series engine board, many very helpful people over there.
:7

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-Dec-01 AT 01:01 AM (EST)]Ron, You might change the timing chain and gears out for an aftermarket set that has a three key way setting on the crank gear. Set it at 0. Your factory crankshaft timing chain gear retards the timing 8 degree's which hurts the bottom end power, which is what your having problems with. This was done for emmission reasons. Or you can specify a stock crank gear with the Ford part# C8SZ-6306-A. This is an early model gear before the retard was made into them.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-Dec-01 AT 07:26 AM (EST)]I have an article out of Hotrod magazine where a guy took a smogger motor like yours and rebuilt it to stock specs (although he used better components like forged pistons, slightly larger cam, etc). Anyway, he took two Turbos off of mid 80's Thunderbird V6's and a pair of intercoolers off of Saab Turbos'. His engine cranked out 714 ft. lbs of torque and almost 500 hp!!!! He said that he had barely over $3000 in the whole setup. You can ask around at the Yahoo group "Junkyard Turbos" and find the guy and get all the details. Turbos at the junkyard are dirt cheap and a doggy 8:1 460 is perfect for slapping a couple of turbos on.

 

I'm with bigsnag on this one. If properly engineered a turbo set up could give you precisely the power boost you want. The turbocharged 460 in the Hot Rod article made maximum torque down low like below 3000 RPM. Only question would be whether or not your old engine could handle more power, but that would be a question with any performance enhancement.

 

Bigsnag, would you be willing to Fax that article? If so my work Fax number is (541)416-8889. Does it state how he richened the fuel mixture with our non-MAF injected trucks or was his vehicle carbed? I'm not willing to part with the factory injection at this time. Thanks, Deen

 

Thanks for all the response. I see several sets of DOVE heads available - what can anyone tell me about those? Thanks in advance.

Ron Z

 

Snag- I'd like to get a copy of that article also, if you can do that. Thanks. Fax is 719-748-0129, and you'll need to put a cover sheet with my name on it...several people use that. Thanks!.
You might let me know whether or not you can do it. My email address is:

rzacc(No Email Addresses In Posts!)

Thanks loads!

Ron Z

 

Gentlemen,

I can fax the article to you. It will probably be tommorrow evening until I can get to it. If I remember correctly the gentleman built an air tight box that he put carbuerators in to accomplish fuel delivery.

Neil

 

Deen,

I just faxed the article to the number you posted. Let me know if you didn't get it.

Ron,

I attempted to fax a copy to you, but the fax machine got an answering machine when it dialed the number you posted. If there is a different number I can send it to let me know and I'll try again.

Neil

 

Fella's,
I can fax or email the article at some point, just not until at least this weekend. The magazine is at my dad's house. He wanted to read the article. I'll have to go over there and swipe it.

As for the engine, it was a carb set-up and he did, in fact have a custom sheetmetal box fabricated to enclose his carb. Non-MAF engines are not very amenable to changes especially radical changes like a SC or turbo. I was looking in my newest Ford Racing catalog and noticed a MAF cnaversion kit for Gen 1 lightning's. It had everything you needed, including a new air box cover, a large 80mm mass air meter, 30 lb. injectors, a complete wiring harness overlay, and of course the computer. I don't know why this wouldn't work on a 460. It is just measuring how much air in coming in and injecting the proper amount of fuel. That's the basis of MAF. As long as the firing order is correct, it will inject the fuel into the correct cylinder. The kit was $1000. The reason it is for the Lightning only, AND the reason I believe it will work on a 460 truck is because the Lightning's came with an E4OD tranny. The same tranny that is in the 460 trucks. Since the computer controls the engine and the trans it is important to make sure the kit is for the proper tranny. Anyone out there know of any reasons why this kit wouldn't work???? Thanks.

JJ

 

I can't remember which one it was but a guy put a turbo on his 460 in a station wagon. For some reason he was only getting somewhere in the 300HP range but he had about 750ft.lbs. and was running 12's. He said his turbos were not setup right, mismatched or something but that is a pulling motor.

 

Rat,
The article you speak of, is the article I referenced above. It was in a Mercury wagon. He was having fuel pump problems and wasn't able to feed the beast properly above about 3500 RPM's, hence the low hp numbers. He has since worked those problems out. I don't know whether he has re-dyno'd it or not. Still yet, it's pretty tough to push a lead-sled like his wagon down the strip in under 14, let alone into the 12's!!!