I have a 78 ford with a motor that was put into the truck before I bought it and. I would like to know if their is any way I can tell if it is a 460, or a 429. I am pretty sure it is a 460 because the vehicle it came out of is a car and about 78 to. But I would like to know what the differences are between the 460 and 429 that i could see without taking the motor out or apart. The head numbers look to be D8VE-A2A. Any help would be appreciated

 

Take a closer look at the heads casting #, it may(or should) read D3VE-A2A. The only way I know to find out whether you have either a 429 or 460 without taking engine apart or out of vehicle sounds a little difficult, but is actually pretty easy.
Take out all the spark plugs, then bring the #1 cylinder to TDC(Look at damper to make sure)take a piece of stiff wire(romex style house wire works good) straighten out a piece about 10-12" long. Then insert into #1 cylinder, try to get it into dish-part of piston, and mark it where it comes out of cylinder head where spark plug threads are. LEAVE THE WIRE ALONE, JUST MARK IT. Now rotate engine at crankshaft 180'(use a tape measure to find the circumferance of damper from TDC mark to TDC mark, then divide by 2 and mark damper with pencil or marker, now you have a mark exactly 180' from TDC). Ya still with me?? Now place a mark on wire at same spark plug opening spot, this should give you a measure of stroke that your engine has. If it's 3.85" your in 460 country, if it's just over 3.50"(3.59" to be exact) you have a 429. You may have to do this a couple of times just to be sure. I hope this helps in any way.

Todd
BB79RANCH

 

 

if it came out of a 1978 car then it is definatly a 460 b/c Ford stopped making 429's in 1973.

Thats what I,ve read!

 

Tahnx for all the help, because it is nice to know what to buy parts for, even though i kinda had a feeling it would be a 460.

 

I bought what i thought was a 460 and when i tore into it found that it was a 429. The heads are a D8VE-A2A, and I can't find any info on the heads, just wondering if the original heads were switched or something weirds goin on..lol