My son was recently told that the best year for the 460 engine was 1995. We are wondering if this is true and if so why... We have many Ford Trucks from 1976 F750 to 1990's F350's. He has noticed that his '95 'seems' to be the stronger of bunch but has usually attributed this to tire sizing, age and gear ratios. He would be really happy if all his later F350's ran as good as the '95. I would be happy to hear any comments. With Kind Regards... John

 

1969 and 70 would be some good ones

 

Quesey you have that right for certain. One of our Son's Fords is a 1962 Falcon. All orig. and only 80K miles and he luvs it. Maybe it was because he always heard my wife and talk about how sorry we were that we sold her '62 in '69 as we made a move to Europe. Never should have sold that one. Then I had a '69 Cortina Lotus and sold it when we came back to the States in '71....haven't sold anything since :~).

 

The 1969 to 1971 versions although rated at the most horsepower were at 365 hp, but it was gross hp vs net on the 72 versions at/around 220 hp. So when people compare them they are using 2 different ratings. The 460 did not drop down 140 hp from 71-72, but it did drop some.

 

The 94 and newer 460's had a little bit better head than the 93-older efi motors. The 87-97 460 were all fuel injected and rated at I think 245-270 hp. The EFI heads are different than 86 and older 460 heads. The intake and exhaust manifolds are specific to the EFI heads

 

Aaah, but you are forgetting they also dropped the compression ratios down from 10.5 to 1 to a mousy 9.0 to 1 and then even lower as the years went on. So yes, the lower compressioned engines did lose a lot of horsepower. To cover up the disaster the government was creating with their emissions requirements, they changed the horsepower rating system to hide a lot of the horsepower drops.

 

I think one of the biggest hits the 460 had was the '72 & up timing chains where the cam retard was 8 degrees. I changed my 351Ms timing chain over and the difference was night & day. I always heard that change was good for 30 hp on a 460. And some 70s 460s dipped to 8 : 1 and some soucres say it was even lower then that. Hell, thats almost what a farm tractor has !

 

After reading the above post, is there anything in this world that our beloved government has mandated a change on that didnt screw it up afterwards or make it worse.

I mean like after the desaster over in Russia, at Tranoble that nuke melt down, what do they think they can change cause the damage has already been done.
That dont go away, some might can forget it but it still floating around.
Neil

 

what did you change the timing to then?

 

1971 400 timing chain.

 

Any pre 1972 timing set will set the cam back to 0°. However shortly after EFI came on the scene, a lot of engines went back to 0°.

 

the best years for horsepower would be the 1968-1971 460 engine inthe linoln or big ford cars those engines are 10.5:1 require premium gas 91 octane up .and have 365Hp (gross hp Rating) or y can tak a newer model 460 engine and install the older clinder heads on .. casting numbers (DOVE, C8VE OR C9VE ) WILL BRING THE NEWER ENGINE LOWER COMPPRESSIONRATIS FROM 9 TO 10.5 DEPENDING ON THE YEAR OF THE ENGINE U HAVE TO BEGIN WITH AND THE PISTON TYPE

 

Get an aftermarket timing set, like cloyes, for an older engine with no smog resrictions. Install it straight up zero. I built mine with a 76 block, 68 Lincoln heads, and several big brand parts. Cloyes, Isky, Melling, Trw. The Lincoln engine was over 500ftlbs of torque from factory. I had hardened seats put in heads. Roller rockers. I decided to keep it a torquey engine so i kept stock pistons and didnt blueprint it. Had spring seats cut for better springs and seals. the cam was cobrajet similar, and i did some porting and port matching. I was told an 850 carb would really wake it up, but i never went over a 750. I didnt get it measured but it was a real jumper in my 79 short bed. 2 1/2 inch pipes and turbos, it sounded like a boat engine. After writing this, i wanna go get it running, lol. That SOUND!

 

the high compression of the <1971 with the right timing would be a very strong platform. Some of the later 460s had better performance if they had to power an ambulance, My brother had one of those, but those are few and far between, probably 1 in 10000 or less. The high compression had the wimpy rods, not what I would recommend any performance from without upgrading they are more than capable of flying out of your hood at moderate pump gas builds, best is to find the newer hole engine andswap in good heads.