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from what i have read the horse power changes greatly but torque stayed much the same and with a big donk like a 429 or 460 its all torque and the power means shit cause it gets all its torque at about 1500 rpm all 500 foot pounds
The quote is by Carroll Shelby, you may have heard of him - and its "Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races." He won a few races.
He's talking about road racing, not drag racing. That'd be the difference.
The only big-block car I've driven was an XD ute with 460/C6, fully eng'd. It was pretty dozy state of tune, built for towing, but there was no disguising the torque and the owner said he could beat WRX's. Also the big motor was fantastic at holding the front of the car on the road, you could really feel the extra weight.
Think very carefully if the BB is the way you want to go though, as it's a biiiig step and everything from fuel to insurance to parts will cost more.
One thing people often dont realize about the 429- the stroke is a scant 3.59 inches- close to that of some small blocks(460=3.85"). I think what makes a bigblock so torky is not just displacement- higher deck=longer rods=straighter angle to the crankshaft= more torque at same pressure on the wristpin...pistons pushing straighter helps rotate the crank, unlike stroking a small block to the point that most of the force is sideways against the cylinder walls.
Only 3.59 inches, yet still made 480 ft/lb (STOCK).
Something very few people seem to know about, wrist pin holes were offset about 1/16 inch on the early 429CJ to give even an even better angle on the powerstroke. (Service/replacement pistons were on center, so right/left pistons could interchange). The 1968-70 4 barrel versions were somewhere between 10/11:1 compression depending on what book you read, but that compression is had with flat top pistons- much less likely to have detonation problems than a hi comp.smallblock with popup piston domes. If you can find an early one, jump on it.
Aside from cost, a possible drawback to the big fords is the very large bearing diameters- nice and strong, but at high rpm the surface speed really gets up there- I remember reading long ago, a guy in the south named John Kaase that builds tractor puller engines up to around 800 cubes, was saying a stock iron crank 429 2 bolt would tolerate 8000 rpm all day due to the strength/short stroke, but bearing speeds were a bit of a worry- on some of his engines he cut the cranks to use BBchevy bearings and custom rods or something like that...remember the 429 was designed to be tweakable for the big oval nascar tracks- hundreds of miles at 7000 rpm...
Kits are available to take a 429/460 to 514 or more at a decent cost, but personally, I would stick with the short stroke and crank the rev limiter up...the short stroke will give you great engine life, and let you wind it up like a smallblock.
Port work, and cam are needed anyway you go, valve springs and ignition good for over 7000 rpm wont cost much more- much cheaper than stroking, and wont stress the bottom end nearly as much. I dont know, but I'd be pretty worried about cranking a 514 much past 5500...unless you got real deep pockets. strokers make more torque right off the line too, so traction issues are more of a concern(fix them, and wheelie bars will be a concern-ha)
Just in case you hadnt guessed, I'm a bit partial to the 429...think its the greatest thing ford ever built(early 351 4v was perfect- but the 429 is almost a scaled up version)
One thing that I have to concede- these things are heavy. the intake on mine must weigh about 70 pounds. Aluminum intake a must, aluminum head$ also would get you near (iron) smallblock weight. The power should make up the difference in a straight line, but youll feel it in the corners.
For a street car, I think mild bigblocks are the only way to go- put a cam in that will still idle on a cool morning and pull enough vacuum for the brakes, a quiet exhaust, and the power will still be there. No turbo delay. No waiting to hit 4-5000 rpm before it really starts to pull. No high rearend gears you cant drive on the highway. Just slam you in the seat off idle without making enough noise to wake the neighborhood. Drive it to the track, have fun, drive it to work the next day. If you want more power, add nitrous at the track.
My mom got up to 17 miles per gallon highway with a 1969 galaxie 360hp 429- whenever she kept her foot out of it. That big old boat would peg you in the seat like an airplane taking off. Someday soon that same motors going in my 69 mustang...
Massive stroker bigblocks are as cool as any tricked out race motor, but cost a fortune, and can be as fussy as anything thats built to operate on the ragged edge, not fun for everyday.
"To each his own", but to me the sound of a smallblock with raspy glasspacks and a lopey cam has little appeal...you just cant beat the feel of massive amounts of smooth, off idle torque...and big engines just sound better.
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I tell you, after driving the 460 XD I can see why big blocks were so popular in the States when gas was cheap, it was just so effortless. Easily pulling 2.7 gears and a real deep note.
its the effortless low down power that im realy after in my ute with a 2.77 rear it will be good on the highway and still have lots of grunt off the lights ect im going 460 as thay seem to be more plentyfull at the inporters ect
Hey guys, mine will do 14.2 I have mild cam 750vac, 2500stall and C6 and was runnig 3.0s gears with locker and still wheel spin hard out of the trap. Is definatly capable of 13s. Just have to sort out getting traction and launching. I love my babe, cause you can jump on it and it'll light up anywhere with no brakes. Got to love big block torque.
I've had a mild 460 kicking round for a while now. Has got some flat tops and mild hydraulic cam. With a full manual C6 and 2000rpm stall, was running 12.9 in my old coop, now is in my brothers ZJ Fairlane, quarters are down to 12.8 at 107mph. Not bad for a 9 year old motor! Has an 830 annular on it and MSD ignition and dizzy but not much more. 3:88 gears and a full spool. Good cheap reliable fun!!
P.S I once drove the coop with the 460 from Adelaide to Newcastle and back down the east coast. Was great fun but cost shitloads in fuel!!!
Most 460s were not performance motors and would not put out anything near 500hp stock.
Most of them in pollution trim would be hard puahed to knock out 200 Hp but with moutains of torque.
The 429 Thunderjets were rated at around 360HP and in reality put out about 325HP. The 460's of the same era (1968-1970) were about the same.
HP dropped off slowly after that due to emmissions reasons, but not suddenly down to the 200HP number that you mention. The reason for the 200+/- Hp rating was only because in 1972, the HP rating system was changed from SAE HP to NET HP rating system, that's all. My low compression, regular gas 1974 460 still smoked the tires in stock trim.
Also, yes, rub a little bit on the factory iron and they will really wake up dramatically, a la Jeckyl & Hyde. 450-500HP is a walk in the park for a 460, and 600HP with the factory iron passenger car heads is not uncommon these days.
Re: 460 ok but how much HP and 1/4 will it make??
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