ford blocks

[Ralph Brunt]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_018-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_012-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_011-med.jpg http://

[Ralph Brunt]

i was pulling out a block from pop's garage for my 502 build and what do i find well 460 4 bolt main roller bearing cam never have seen the cam bearing set up in person my mouse is taking a crap so it's hard to post more picks but i'll try ralphhttp://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_012-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_011-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_009-med.jpg never seen one o-ringed like thishttp://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_008-med.jpg

[Ralph Brunt]

he's got a boss 429 i'll take pics of tommarow just neet stuff for us ford guys to look at thanks for looking ralph

[Ralph Brunt]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_013-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_016-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_015-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_014-thumb.jpg just took this one in today for hot tank line hone and boring.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

According to a buddy of mine, the boss motors were the only ones to use threaded freeze-plugs. The blocks otherwise are supposed to be the same dimentionally (bores) as the 460's. Cool, first time I ever saw an actual roller-bearing cam setup. I never thought they existed till about a year ago when I was in a discussion of the like in here.

[Blown 472]

Is that svo cast in the side of the block??

[dmontzsta]

Man, that is awesome, pull something out of there for me.

[LakesOnly]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_018-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_012-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_011-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_008-med.jpgHere's what ya got...
The first block (above) is an A-460 block, and yes Blown472, that's an "SVO" cast in the side of the lifter bank. That SVO denotes the vintage of the casting mold, but even though SVO is defunct that marking is in the new A-460 blocks sold today.
Also noteworthy is the fact that the block is cast & machined for 18-bolt heads. This tells me it's not too old...perhaps an early 1990's casting or newer. The date code is in the lifter valley (number/letter/number).
Some of the advantages to the A-460 block includes the following:
18-bolt head capability (production 10-bolt heads fit as well)
4-bolt main caps on 2, 3 & 4 main caps
siamese bore wich allows boring from the stock 4.36" bore all the way to 4.600" bore. (Add a 4.5" stroke and you get 598 cubes). Yes, it has water jackets.
Screw in freeze plugs
Needle roller cam bearings
Primary mains oiling gallery
(more)
Couple of things to think about: 1) A stock block weighs about 220 pounds and this one weighs closer to 290 pounds. So unless you need all that extra block material to hold a 2000HP blower motor together, then you might want to rethink your options or perhaps bore that baby to 4.500" and effectively shed about 40+ pounds. 2) The needle roller cam bearings primary advantages are that they plug off 5 oil pressure "leaks" in the engine by way of blocking off the oil feeds to the standard cam bearings. The other advantage is that if you have insane spring pressures on your insane motor and the motor sits months off season, you need not worry about the film of oil being pressed out from between the cam bearings and cam journals. Disadvantage is that they rely on splash oiling and are not recommended for engines that will idle for any period of time. By the way, those camshaft needle roller bearing sets from Ford are maybe just $30, but modifying a stock block to accomodate them is hundreds of dollars. Lucky you, you only need new bearings pressed in.
(By the way, when chebby came out with a block that had camshaft needle bearings and racers wanted to replace them, the chebby dealers didn't even stock the part. Where did the parts dealer send the chebby racer? TO FORD. :D Today, chebby stocks the bearing themselves...)
You mentioned that you also have a Boss 429 block. The casting number of that block should be C9AE. You will find many similarities between these two blocks. For example, both have screw in freeze plugs, priority mains oiling, big overbore capability, etc. (The Boss block ought to go to 4.500" without sonic check.) The A-460 block is derived from the Boss block; that is to say, that the engineers at Ford looked to the C9AE Boss 429 block when establishing a foundation from which to design a new race block. I believe the A-460 block can accept more of an overbore, but interestingly it has 4-bolt mains on 2, 3 & 4 only, while the Boss 429 block has 4-bolt mains on 1, 2, 3 & 4 (not on #5 main). This feature might lean me toward the Boss 429 block for a heavily overdriven blower engine (having the 4-bolt main on the #1 front main cap).
Today, the A-460 block sells through Ford Motorsports for about $2100. Depending on the condition of the Boss block, a collector/restore may pay big bucks for one.
To me, that A-460 block looks to be in outstanding conditon. Like it sat idle for years, undisturbed. A quick Thermo-blast cleaning and it will look as though it was cast yesterday (inside and out).
LO

[LakesOnly]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_013-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_016-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022460_015-med.jpg
This C9VE-B block is the way to go for your mild 502. It looks really well preserved, too.
I have a C9VE block that I wish I had the old pictures of...it was so scaled up with rust that it appeared as though it was dropped into the ocean for a day and then left in the sun to turn into an orange ball of rust. But after a themo-clean, it looks like this:
http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/350C_deckhford.jpg
http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/350C9_Block.jpg
http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/350C9_crkcaseford.jpg
It's like new again. Hot tanking degreases only and this may very well be enough for your build. Before cleaning, my above engine block would appear to most to have been nothing more than a rusty throw away part, but thermo blasting heats the block up hundreds of degrees and everything just falls off...in the water jackets, in the oiling passages, etc. Then it's blasted clean until it looks new again. Fifty-five bucks for me.
LO

[steelcomp]

That SVO block looks like it's already bored out to at least 4.500
Nice find, although from the looks of it, it'll need complete re-machining. :D
The o-ring groove is done that way because there's no room between cyl's for two pieces of wire. It's called "S" grooving.
Lakes...don't know if you're familiar with the old school "hot tank". It was a very caustic base that would get anything as clean as new again, but did it chemically, instead of mechanically. Unfortunately, most, at least here on the left coast, have been outlawed. Those were the only way to go!! :D

[Ralph Brunt]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_037-thumb.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_033-thumb.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_035-thumb.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_029-thumb.jpg i stand corrected thanx to lakes the other block that i thought was a boss is really another svo block

[Ralph Brunt]

and yes steel it is allready at 4.500

[Ralph Brunt]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_037-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_033-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_035-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_035-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_027-thumb.jpg

[Ralph Brunt]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_024-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_023-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_022-med.jpg http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_015-med.jpg

[LakesOnly]

Lakes...don't know if you're familiar with the old school "hot tank". It was a very caustic base that would get anything as clean as new again, but did it chemically, instead of mechanically. Unfortunately, most, at least here on the left coast, have been outlawed. Those were the only way to go!! :DThat's what thermo-blasting has replaced. Touted and environmentally correct because there aren't any solvents used.
LO

[LakesOnly]

Well, hell Ralph, you're not gonna like hearing this, but I was just in your neck of the woods picking up parts from Probe Insudstries in Torrance. Rest assured that I am kicking myself too, as I would have loved to hang out with you and Ralph Sr. and mull over those parts you have. :D I'll be back really soon; I do this "LA Parts Loop" every few weeks nowadays.
By the way, here's an interesting comparo of the passenger car block vs the A-460 block:
http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/350C_deckhford.jpg
In the above photo of my passenger car block, you'll notice that there are two oil passages, one on each side of the camshaft. These feed the lifter bores, but the passenger side gallery also feeds the mains. (You can actually see this gallery's embossment in the front of the block, feeding the #1 main from the pass side lifter gallery above.)
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/12022more_460_033-med.jpg
But in the A-460 block, there are three galleries around the cam. The two in the normal location are for the lifters, and the thrid (lower) one is dedicated to the mains only, hence the term "primary mains oiling."
Not to worry, though. I know guys turning 8000-9000+ rpm with stock blocks; your 502 will run fine. ;)
LO

[SmokinLowriderSS]

My buddy at work corrected me. According to him those 4-bolt main blocks with the threaded freeze plugs were Ford's NASCAR BLOCK from the good old days of big block & hemi NASCAR racing.
He kept muttering something about it being rare, and valuable. We agreed till he said something about it being better off in a Grand Torino or some such thing instead of a boat.
Cool find rwyyattb. :cool:

[Ralph Brunt]

well guys i posted these picks/finds because we dont get to see things like this everyday here on h/b the motor you see with the heads is a 548 i believe. have to check with my dad it goes in his 95 t-bird super comp car i will post a few picks this weekend i know its not in a boat but still cool to look at :) i've got my block in the shop as of friday for machine work should be back in a couple of weeks ready for mach up. thanks for looking ralph