460 Build for my Bronco

[79broncojosh]

Just started building the new 460 for the tired one in my 79 Bronco.
Got it bored .030 over, mid range crane cam, porting and polishing the heads, and getting a new 4BBL aluminum intake and carb. Nothing to special, just showing the current project!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i love those old broncos, and yours even has a big block! i have a few pics of my motor when i was building it for my "little" project on page 11

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/513280

 

[Maniak]

Just in case you haven't read about it yet..

Stick in a early timing chain.. From a 1971. aka a straight up timing set. That moves the cam timing forward 7 degrees. Gives your more low end power.

Also, 0 deck the block if you can, it will help bring the compression back into the upper 8's. The 78/79 have the lower 8.x compression

And of course, check out 460ford.com if you haven't. Lots of high horse power stuff there, but you can learn quite a bit from them..

edit: In case you didn't see it, some of our 460 rebuild pics are here.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246498&highlight=quadravan

~Mark

 

[79broncojosh]

Yeah I am actually building 2 460's right now. Mine came out of a 77 van that had been used to haul a horse trailer so it was pretty tired. I had it line bored, cleaned and checked and bored .030 over. Crank was turned .010 over and polished and had the rotating assembly balanced. I also put in new valve springs for the new cam and porting and polishing the heads. Should be a pretty good runner compared to the 200k mile motor I have in there now thats been abused A LOT!

My buddy is building one from an 80's truck ( also in my garage!) to go in his 78 F-150 mud truck. Pretty much doing all the same stuff as I am accept he didnt line bore and stuff (bad idea) but his was in a lot better shape than mine was, should be alright I guess.

Thanks for the timing chain tip. So I just get that earlier year timing chain and thats all I need to do?

 

[Maniak]

Yup.. 1972 (I'm 90% sure thats the right year) to the FI motors all had the cam timing pulled back 7 degrees. That helped emissions but kills low end power. Putting a "straight up" timing set which is what is in the 1971 gets you back the low end power.

Another mod I read about after I built ours is the speed hump thingy in the stock heads. They added this little hump in the exhaust port for emissions which from what I read should be pulled out to help the heads flow.

Which intake are you going with? Edelbrock Performer, Victor Jr? etc? From everything I "read", the stock intake was actually the best for low end power. Just about every aftermarket intake hurt low end power, some kept it at stock. Since I wanted low end power I stayed with stock. Heck, I even have a low stall converter in the van to keep down the heat in the trans. The Vans primary job is a tow rig, so I built it that way (smallish carb too).

If I were to do it all over again, 0 decking, pulling the speed hump from the exhaust port and getting rid of the waterpump bypass to intake hose are the only things I would do differently.

Oh yea.. If you can, get your distributor recurved for your application. Its a couple hundred $$ to get it done but you can get the curve set for your use. In our case, we are going to have the timing come in earlier but cut back on the total advance. There is a site out there "on the net" that even shows you how to recurve a duraspark distributor.

~Mark

 

[79broncojosh]

Not sure of intake yet, thats a month or so away. My main reasoning for it was to save some weight and make it a little freer flowing. I know these things breath good stock, kinda hard not to when you can run a golf ball through the ports!
I have been trying to decide what to do cam and intake wise because I like my power low to mid range, but sometimes in the mud there is no other way out than to just mat it, and let it throw some mud!
My stock one I have now does ok but most of its power is at like 3000 rpm and lower, you can actually feel it kind of start to fall on it face after about 3500. But it uses as much oil as gas and has seen 6,000 rpm on more than a couple outings!! It makes a lot of noise but always gets me home.

 

[Maniak]

For low end power, I went with the Lunati vodoo 61600.

You can tell that when you get near 5000 rpms that it falls flat on its face. In our case, its exactly what I wanted as I don't ever want to spin the motor more than 5000 rpms, especially with a bunch of the motor being right next to my leg.

~Mark

 

[79broncojosh]

I might get into recurving the distributor and stuff after I get it in the truck and running good and stuff. Gunna be a little short on funds for awhile with me getting a new truck next friday to!

Il make sure the guy takes the humps out of the heads when doing the porting job, although I hope he would know to do that already!
I was actually looking into (when I can afford it) to getting a MSD ignition system or something so I could put a rev limiter on it so a dont put a couple extra drain holes in the pan my new $2,000 engine.

Good to know about the intake though, I might just take in and have it cleaned and surfaced and just use the stocker for awhile and see how it does. I just really sucks climbing up into the engine bay of a lifted truck with big tires, carrying a 75lb intake!

 

[Maniak]

Good to know about the intake though, I might just take in and have it cleaned and surfaced and just use the stocker for awhile and see how it does. I just really sucks climbing up into the engine bay of a lifted truck with big tires, carrying a 75lb intake!

Could be worse.. on the van someone has to stand in front and lean in and hold the intake out at arms length while someone else catches it from the dog house area and then both of you put it down..

We had to do the same with the heads. The heads "hurt" much more doing that. I was the "catcher" and that was bad enough.

~Mark

 

[79broncojosh]

Yeah these things are beast and everything about them is heavy.
Any clue on how much the assembled 460 weighs in stock form.

I know I have a 750 lb engine stand and it was bent over enough that I was kinda worried about it breaking!! So I got a 4 wheel thousand pound stand and that one still bends over pretty far!!

 

[Maniak]

I don't remember how heavy it was (I never weighed it).

Our engine stand wasn't anything special. Its an old one thats been around for years.

The engine stand we have has a diagonal brace between the vertical and the horizontal bar which I expect contributed to how well it held up all that weight.

You can see what I mean in this pic.

I was more worried about the strength of the bolts holding the engine to the stand. I was afraid a bolt would break or the block would break. Most of the time the heads were off since we couldn't remove or install the motor with the heads on. The only time the motor was complete on the stand was during the dry fit phase.

~Mark

 

[79broncojosh]

Yeah my 750lb stand didnt have that brace but the 1000lb stand does, but what flexes on that is the actual spinning plate the engine bolt up to. Its holding up though so I guess its alright. Just worries me when you flip the engine over to stab a piston and that thing flexes back and forth, my heart drops every time!
I like the paint scheme by the way! Mine is going to be black and yellow to to match the truck.