Hi all,

Just curious...I have a 429 that came out of a 73 Merc Marquis. It has 130,000 original miles, and I know that to be true because my wife's grandfather bought it brand new in 72.
Anyway, I pulled the engine and scrapped the car, too hard to find replacement parts. So now I have a disassembled engine all over the garage and am trying to figure out what to do with it. I also have a 76 F250 2wd with a 390.
So my questions for you experts are these:

1) Where do I look for casting numbers to ID the block, heads, etc. ?
2) How much can I build this thing up?
3) Can anyone provide me links to people who have rebuilt 429s in the past?

I appreciate any help/talk on this subject.

Rob

 

Head casting numbers will be on a ledge on the exhaust side of the head. Should be D3XX. Block casting number will be at the back of the block above the starter. Should be DIVE-XXX. Post what you find and the forum can tell you what they are.

I don't know if the forum search feature has been enabled, but if so or when it is, there are a bunch of posts detailing 429/460 builds.

 

OK, these are the numbers that I found:

Block - D1VE-A2B
Heads - D3VE-A2A
Pistons - D3SE
Rods - D00E

So my questions really are, what do I have, and what can I do?

Thanks for the reply.

Rob

 

You have a regular production 429 with good CJ/SCJ rods. You need to determine what you want to do regarding hp and torque in a rebuild for your application.

It will not bolt up to the trans in your 390 truck.

 

Thanks George...

I am not sure what I am going to do with it. I just found a very sound '65 Mustang with the straight six. Belongs to a girl getting ready to head to college. Body looks straight and there appears to be not rust. Haven't climbed all over it yet. She is asking 4K, which is not bad, as far as I know. A 429 will fit, from what I hear, although kinda tight.
There are just so many options, I am still thinking. BTW, I have the C-6 that was bolted up with the 429, so a transmission is not a problem.
Oh well, we will see...

Rob

 

Well I've built a 429/C6 to put in my '56 f100 street rod.
It should turn about 425HP. I punched it .030 over, put flat top pistons, stock rods, arp bolts and studs. Windage tray, rear sump, 72cc Edelbrock Performer RPM heads and intake. Comp cams 4x4 extreme, Edelbrock 750 carb, roller rockers. Engine is blue printed and balanced. Sanderson headers and MSD Iginition. Comp ratio calculates to be 10.1. Should be strong but haven't got the truck finished so I can drop it in and try it out. I don't think you can get a 429 in a '65 mustang. When Ford finally put a BB in the 'stang, they had to move the spring towers outboard to get enough clearance. That is if memory serves me, which it doesn't here lately.

 

8NRay is right, you wont fit the 429 in the 65' without some major modification with a sawzall. Even then you'd need to fab some custom shock towers or switch to coil-overs with a fabbed front chassis clip.

Ford widened the shock towers in 67' to accomidate the 390. They got wider still in 69' and again in 71'. 71'-73' are the only older Mustangs you would be able to drop a 429-460 in without much trouble. They made those years wide enough for the 429 so the factory could build the Boss 9s themselves. The 69'-70' Boss 9s were modified by Kar-Kraft to fit the fat blocks.
Just a lil' Stang history lesson.

 

If you want to put the 429 in a car, why not hack up a fox chassis Mustang. You can buy kits with motor mounts, oil pan, and headers from Jeg's and bolt it in. Or you can be like me, install an oil pan off a van, chop up some truck headers to fit, and delicatley "modify" the fire wall to acomondate the sheer massiveness of the 700# BB! Check it out at: http://home.att.net/~ambroberts/Frankenstang/ The motor is in the car right now and should be running in the next day or two. Most of the parts are from the junkyard and I have less than $2000 invested, including the car!

 

http://www.heidts.com/index.html
These guys have everything to swap a Mustang II front suspension, get rid of the shock towers and fit any motor you want in a '64 1/2 -'66 Mustang. The trans tunnel might need a little work if you are going to use a C6 and the 8" rear axle will have to go.

 

Hey guys, just a gentle reminder here. This forum is for engine building and how that pertains to Ford trucks. The original question was perfectly cool...but has somehow switched to swapping a 385 series engine into a passenger car body. This is not the forum to do that in. If this continues I'll have to lock this thread or have it removed. I LOVE swapping/ modifying just as much as most of you do...but I have to enforce the rules of this site...or I lose my Free job here
Deen

 

Install a 460 crank and pistons.
Instant hp increase. No other mods needed to do this.