88geetee

nOOb here!

Building a 460 for my F250 to pull my 8000# car trailer. Not a hot rod motor, I want something that will pull my trailer effortlessly at 70-75mph (3:55 gears/T18) and give 8-10 MPG.
What I have so far;

1973 passenger block/crank/rods
E6TE-DA heads
GM style HEI (Proform)
Flat top pistons
"Pulling" cam (comes with the engine kit).

I traded for a Weiand Stealth intake. Would this intake be beneficial or should I re-use my cast iron one? Weiand says it makes power from idle to 6800, this engine will never get over 4000rpm, cruise around 2800rpm.

jwko

I think the stealth intake would work great for your 460

88geetee

Thanks!

Paul Kane

Between the two intakes in question, absolutely positively use the OEM factory iron intake. The Stealth is all wrong for a low rpm torque motor pulling 8000 pounds and the iron intake will serve you far better from 1000-3500 rpm in your particular application (and where you tow motor will spend most of its life).

The E6TE-DA heads would benefit from some porting (particularly on the exhaust) and believe it or not this may help fuel economy too.

With a zero decked block, the flat top pistons will put you at about 9.5:1 which is bit high for towing 8000 pounds unless you don't mind using 92 octane premium fuel.

Paul

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Rlzegers

Paul is right. I read the same information about the Weiand Stealth and assummed it would be good for my towing application. I'm disappointed in the low end response and later learned that either an Edelbrock Performer (non RPM) or just the original cast intake would have been a better choice. I do find that the new engine does pull very well over 2500 rpm with the Stealth but below that the bottom falls out of it. I'm running a NP435 4 speed tranny with a Gear Vendors overdrive behind it so for me keeping the rpm in the sweet spot isn't difficult but I do wish it had more low end grunt. I'm towing a 10,000 pound 5th wheel. I have a Lunati 00096 cam, DOVE mild ported heads, dished pistons. I'm running 92 octane and get 7-8 mpg towing and 10-12 when empty.

Hope it helps.

Oldtrucks

I just installed a Weiand Stealth intake and a Summit 750 CFM on a very stock 1977 460 in a 77 F 350 C6 auto and a 3:73 rear, 33,12.50 tires. Also replaced the timing chain with an early straight up chain. My question is. Did I hurt myself with the Stealth intake? I will be changing to a 4:11 rear end soon. I like to tow at about 3200 to 3600 RPM.

Rlzegers

I'll start off by saying Paul is the authority here and what I'm offering is just my experience. That being said on my 1978 F-350 with the NP435 manual 4 speed and a Gear Vendor OD I find anything under 2000 RPM is pretty weak. From 2000-2500 RPM is okay but it starts to come in nicely above 2500. In my case I'm towing a 10,000 lb. fifth wheel and pulling hills using third-over (third gear while in overdrive) works well. I do really miss the low end grunt however and feel the Weiand Stealth has a lot to do with that. I most likely will switch to an Edelbrock non-RPM Performer somewhere along the line. Because you already have the Weiand installed my advice to you would be to try it and see what you think. With the 3200-3600 RPM range you might find it works for you.

Just my thoughts...

Ron

fasthauler

Paul is right. The biggest mistake guys’ make when designing a towing rig is putting on Hi-rev intake manifolds, cams and headers. You are much better leaving the stock iron intake and exhaust manifolds on. They are going to give you much better low-end torque. Leave either the stock grind cam or a RV cam in. You are not building a racecar; you are trying to make a pulling machine. I have been towing a 7500 lb. trailer for 30 years and the best thing I did was put oversized manley S/S valves in the heads and ported out the exhausts. Leave the intakes alone. Get those smog bumps out of the exhaust ports and you won’t believe the difference in the pulling power. Also 2 1/2" dual exhausts with straight thru mufflers. I also pulled the weak Dana 60 out of the rear and put 10.25 Sterling out of a 96 F350 in it. I changed out the gearing to 3.73 while I had the sterling apart. I also ended up putting a 750cfm Edelbrock on it.
This truck will pull any of the summits in So Cal at 65mph without a problem. It also accelerates like a car from a stop sign with the trailer in tow.

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Gary 86 T-Bird 3.8 77 F250 460 Hauler

Oldtrucks

Thanks for the replies. One thing I forgot to mention is the exhaust system. The head pipes from the stock manifolds are 2 1/2 inch I brought those together into a 3 inch baffle style muffler and 3 inch out to in front of the right side rear wheel.
My other work truck is a stock 429 set up the same except with the Edelbrock Performer 460 intake and a 750 CFM Holley 3310 vacuum secondary. It has a dana 70 4:11 rear end and it likes the 3200 to 3600 RPM. It must by a charicteristic trait of these 385's to not want to pull very well below 3000 RPM in basicly stock form.