hey yall im fixin to rebuild the 429 in my 79 f-250, andways im lookin for torque more than anything because i pull a 2000lb pendulum hitch trailer wth a 5500 lb bobcat or 6000 lb tractor up and down lots of hills, and i am in search of a good all around truck motor, my 429 has the high rpm power, but i want it down low, anyways, i was thinking a very mild cam with a performer intake and reworking the heads to stock (the motor is out of a 71 thunderbird) with flatop pistons, will this put me close to the 500 ft lb mark, if not, what would?

thanks



1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

Since you are rebuilding your BBF, why not install a 460 crank? You are installing new pistons anyhow, right? So put in a 460 crank with 460 pistons, everything else will interchange. You can probably pick up a "turned" crankshaft and bearings for about $150-$200 and with the new pistons you just picked up 31 more cubic inches.

Todd
BB79RANCH

 

Todd is right...go with the 460 crank. Also dump the 36 in. tall tires for around 31s or change your gearing to 4:11s or 4:56s if you "have to" keep the big tires.


Deen Hylton
Ford F250 460 C-6, K&N, Headers, Dual Exh.,Comp. Cams,Shift Kit
Pioneer CD w/Bose Speakers.
Other Passion: Blown 77 Corvette (Sorry Guys/Gals)
How I can afford to Drive the above: 93 GEO Metro

 

some of my thread must have got cut off, i originally said i was going to buy the forged rebuild kit from paw for a 460 with a crank and pistons and everything, some 4.1 gears are up after the engine rebuild, plus the name of the thread is 460 build up, anways, how much do i need to do to this 460 to get 500 ft lb's out of it at the lowest rpms i can



1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

It is actually pretty easy with a 460. You'll need to stay below 9.25-9.5 to 1 compression ratio to allow use with pump gas. Go with a cam that has 230' or lower advertised duration @ .050" of lift and if possible use a "dual pattern cam". The 460 likes a cam with about .015-.020 inches more total lift and 10 to 15 degrees more duration @ .050" lift, both on exhaust side. An aftermarket dual plane intake (Wieand #8012 or Edlebrock RPM #?) should do the trick. Take out exhaust bump in port with die grinder 15 h.p. & 20-25 ft. lbs. gain (at least). Bigger valves will awaken this beast, 2.19 intake & 1.76 exhaust. Headers will help, ! 7/8" primaries with 3 to 3 1/2" collectors, 2 1/2" dual exhaust. Roller rockers will help with power & friction, but aren't necessary. A 750 or even the new 800 cfm Edlebrock carb would be perfect, just as long as it's a vacuum secondary unit (put in the heaviest spring for the secondaries, Holley). Upgrade to aftermarket ignition for more complete burn I.E.(more power, more MPG). There are a few more factors to consider, but these that I have mentioned should undoubtedly get 450-475 h.p. and over 500 ft. bs. torque. I hope this helps in any way.

Todd
BB79RANCH

 

my heads are off a 71 429 outta a thunderbird, will they still have that bump in them? i appreciate the advice, anyone else?


1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

Yes, your heads will have this "bump", unless some previous owner did the port work for you. It is VERY resrictive to the flow in the exhaust port. You could have "thermactor" heads, though unlikey, which were made in '70 or '71 (early 429-460 heads that had the thermactor/emissions ports in either end of head as well as a port drilled into exhaust bump to allow oxygen into port for more complete burning of mixture were generaly designated for California emissions) and of course in later years had this same type of system with more wide spread use. You probably have DOVE-C heads, look for this casting number just below the valve cover gasket rail and just above the exhaust ports, roughly in the center of the head.
These are pretty good heads as far as 429-460 heads go and these heads are becoming rare. A step up would be CJ heads or better yet the new Edlebrock heads. I hope this helps in any way.

Todd
BB79RANCH

 

Thanks man, I guess im fixin to get started on it




1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

save you self some money. you don't have to spend the extra money for forged pistons. you can get the same performance with cast pistons i've always used them and they always go well past 100,000 miles even for .060 over bore. never a problem with the pistons!! i'm assuming you were leaning that way since you said a forged kit. trying to save you some money. C.J.

 

What your talking about building I basically got. Mine is a 71 T Bird 429, performer manifold, had the 750 Edlebrock and it ran fine. Now running a 850 Holley and it still runs fine. It just doesn't run by the gas station very often. Bored .30 over, Hooker comp headers, SS valves, Comp cam(Give them a call and give them your specs, wheel size, carb, tranny, differential and use and they will recommend a cam), and removed the smog bump. Would have gone with the crank if I had known it a the time.
Didn't do any port matching just cleaned up the exhaust. Really makes that 429 breath.

The headers and the smog bump gave me the biggest boost. When I removed the bump I actually had to change mufflers. I had two chamber Flowmasters and when the bump was removed they got so loud I had to go to three chambers. It makes a huge difference.

Hope this helps

Dennis
55F100

 

CJ is right, you'll save yourself about $100, maybe a little more if you go with cast pistons. The only reason I would use or recommend them was if you were using the "N" word....NITROUS.


Todd
BB79RANCH

 

Thank you all, i am going to wait till school is out to start on this, but i know exactly what i want to do now, and ill take your advice cj and go with the cast, this motor will hardly ever see 5000 rpm anyways


1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

ohh ya, are the l&l headers any good, i would love the benifits of headers, but i hate the leaking some of them do..are they hard to install, are they quality, thanks..


1985 F-150/351Ho/4wd/6inch with 33's
1979 f-250 429/4spd/6inchwith 36 inch buckshot mudders

on a quiet night your can hear a chevy (lol,you can watch a dodge) rusting away

 

Just a quick note, you can run on pump gas with 10.25 - 10.5 compression. I have about 10.4 compression in my 460 and it runs great on 93 octane. No spark knock, doesn't run lean, spark plugs look great. I have about 550 ft. lbs. of torque, comp cam (matched to Edelbrock Perfomer cam), Kieth Black Hypereutectic flat top pistons, stock crank, double roller timing chain, fully adjustable valvetrain, DOVE-C heads, Edelbrock Performer Intake, and a Holley 750 vaccum secondaries. Good Luck.

TBirdGuy

"Stuck with a m*par, Settle for a ch*vy, Happy with a Ford!!!!"

 

hi Tbirdguy, i've got a question for ya. how long haave you had your motor running? the reason i'm asking i read some stuff on the hypernumeric pistons making some noise when the engine is cold. have you ever noticed this? i'm just curious to ask someone who runs these pistons.