im new to this site i have a 79 ford f250 4x4 38 in swampers with a brand new 460 the motor was rebuilt stock i would like to add some hp would i be better off having my heads ported or going with aluminum what would be the cheaper of the two

 

My stock '77 460 ran great... for a 302. I finally couldn't stand it any more and pulled it apart. The biggest problem was the low compression ratio. The pistons were so low in the holes that it came in at 7.3 to 1, lower than the pathetic 7.5:1 it was supposed to be. Combine that with the retarded (literally) stock cam timing and it didn't have enough torque to pull the 2.73 gears that I put in it.

I installed a set of KB pistons at zero deck to achieve 9.5 to 1 CR with a very mild cam. Along with the Edelbrock intake and carb, the Hedman headers and the mildly ported (just a good clean up, remove emissions hump in the exhaust) stock heads that were already on it this thing really woke up.

Perfectly smooth idle with good vacuum and the mileage jumped up from the 8's to as high as 13 mpg on 87 pump gas.

Best of both worlds, waaaaay more power and more efficient

Tom