I located a complete, and fairly solid 429 out of a '68 Tbird. I have a '56 Merc pickup that is going to be the recipient of this motor. I am wondering what experiences/suggestions are out there for ensuring that I can cruise with the bad boys but not have to spend every weekend tuning the thing. I see kits for aluminum intakes and heads as long as money is no object but I am not convinced I can't get more bang for my buck by taking another route. Any thoughts on a good, clean build for these 429s? I am also looking to mate it to a 5spd of some variation if you have thoughts on that. My Merc' currently runs the original 292 with the stump-puller 4spd.

 

Hi, I just finished my 429 CJ rebuild. I installed a Edelbrock Performer intake, lifters, Performer plus cam, Valve springs.Bored the block .030", milled the heads by .030", new valve seats, Timing set, Forged TRW Flattop pistons, new stock rocker arms and fulcrums, Oil cooler, remote Oil filter, Holley 750cfm Legacy carb., Hooker Super competition Headers, Hooker Competition Exhaust package. I polished and ported it myself. Am very happy with the results.
All the Horses the 1977 F100 can handle.
GOOD LUCK!
HeavyMetal (Rod)

 

I have a 74 F100, with a 360 in it. Did you convert the F100 to the 429, or did it come stock with the 429?

 

My Dad and I are in the middle of building a '56 Pickup with a 460. I assume a Merc. is just a rebadged version of the same truck, I believe they were only sold in Canada? Anyway, you don't really need aluminum heads to make one of these pickups run hard, they're pretty light (we're guessing 3200-3400lbs.) Our motor uses Dove heads ('70 and older are best) with mild porting on the exhaust side and bigger CJ intake valves (2.19") with cleveland exhaust valves (1.73"). We run a 750cfm Holley, an Edelbrock Performer intake, 9.5:1 TRW pistons, 1 7/8" headers with 2.5" exhaust, and a Crane Cam. Cam is most important to determining the engine's "character", ours is pretty mild with 272/284 duration and .518/.513" lift (pn 343901). Super ford ran this motor with 430hp and 530ftlbs of torque, ours should have a little more due to more port work. Run it with a 2000rpm stall converter and 3.50 rearend gears and it will be all you need. Actually, this is probably torque overkill, you could probably go with a Performer RPM intake and a little bigger cam, this would kill low rpm torque to help traction, while helping it pick up topend power. Hope this helps.