Best bang for buck 460 recipes?

[hack job]

i have a 501 ford with a offset ground ford crank to except bbc rods( eagle) and je pistons with blue thunder heads fully ported and a decent sized roller cam with about 10.2:1 compression. two 4779 carbs on top of a ported weiand hi ram tunnel ram
it makes 735 hp at 6200 rpm and in my old spectra 6000rpm was good for 90mph i would say that there are lots of strong fords out there and they can be built for as much as a chevy. ( every one always says it costs more to build a ford) it helps to know what you want and to set a real goal that way you dont get off course while doing it and to consult people whom know what there doing. remember spend once and cry once good luck

[Squirtin Thunder]

One of the most inportant things with a BBF is to have the right style of cam profile;ie Adv dur and @.050, valve lift, and with the BBF it seems to work better with more exhaust Dur and Lift. Right there you can see 30hp - 120hp. Alot of people run a strieght duration cam and are satisfied, but they would be much more happy with split duration style cam(more Hp). The Wieand Stealth intake is one of the best for all around use for the BBF. Heads are very important also. The C8-D0 heads very slightly from 73cc-78cc. The D2 head is a very durable open chamber design of 98cc with a real long short turn on the exhaust, but it can be remidied from mild port work. I have had very good luck with the D2 head, some may say they suck but they work very well and they are very cheep. The D3 head is a factory closed chamber design of 91cc-98cc, they can work very well with a good port job, there is enough room to cut them down .030 and that will help increase the compresion. Every body knows that one of the best piston designs is a flat top. The best design is the single valve relief for the BBF. Remember Lighter is better. If you have a 429 it is best to get a new or good used 460 crank before buying pistons, there will be a $600 diferance in a light wieght piston price. Rods are getting harder to find, that is CJ rods, but the truck rod is almost identical. Bullnosing and wedging the crank will also help with oil control and wieght, yes by cutting the crank it does through the balance off, but they can add the mallory closer in on the crank which helps. The bigger the bore the more compresion you will have. By picking the right matched parts it is easy to creat 650=HP reliable economical power out of a BBF.
Jim

[LakesOnly]

IÂ’m looking to get some input on what...are good set ups or combos for an upcoming 460 jet boat motor build/rebuild. The only budget criteria for me is when the cost to achieve performance out weighs a reasonable expectation of reliability and longevity.
This is a 19Â’ family river jet boat that sees (and will continue to see) mostly part throttle (35-40 MPH) use with fairly frequent hard acceleration and the occasional full throttle high speed run. At this time it has run a best of 59.9 MPH GPS verified top speed with 5 adults, 1 full cooler and 20 Gal of fuel.
Thanks, Pete
Pete,
IÂ’d like to take a stab at this. I would like a little more info.
I would like to know what you have for factory iron, namely block and head casting numbers and even the intake manifold casting number. Will you use thru-transom exhaust or over-transom headers? Finally what brand pump and impeller do you have? Are you looking for a substantial speed gain? Is fuel usage a major issue? How do you feel about adjusting your valves once or twice a yearÂ…yes or no? I can offer a more specific answer to your needs once you provide the requested info.
If you believe you will continue to use your boat as you have already explained--but would just like some more power with your reliability--then your build is easy and can be accomplished with little effort or cost.
There are a lot of good 429/460 combos that work exceptionally well in a jet boat. At all performance levels. Great bang for buck and and the reliability issue is a non-issue for sure. There are only a few very simple key things to pay attention to on any 385 build, and the rest is about the build being comprised of good combo (parts match).
The 429/460 arrived in a luxo automobile in the late sixties at a time when BBCÂ’s were already at the drag strip in Camaros, ChevelleÂ’s and Corvettes, so almost no-one looked at the big engine in the Lincoln Continental (or T-Bird). Then, the emissions crunch of the 70Â’s effectively shut the door before much was learned by the masses about this engine. Generally speaking, in order to wake these engines up they need much more air, fuel and compression than as they were delivered from the factory. (This is especialy true of the marine 460's since the 1970's, than it is of the engines of the late 1960's.) Massaging these specific characteristics can awaken a stock engine to downright surpising levels. Add-ons after said massaging can give performance characteristics in return that will continue to absolutely give you your bang for the buck.
You will see a lot of 460 builds on this thread that work for the owners. This is because it is simple to get power from these engines. With that in mind, you can imagine what just the right combo of parts will do.
Please reply to my first paragraph and tell us what you have for block, heads, intake, exhaust, and how you feel about more tune-up servicing, etc. And please use the "Quote" feature when you reply to my post; I am offering advice and feedback on several other builds on several different other forums at the moment and want to keep track without scrolling up and down a long thread.
LO

[core attitude]

it helps to know what you want and to set a real goal that way you dont get off course while doing it and to consult people whom know what there doing. remember spend once and cry once good luck
To be honest I might be in the minority here as far as my goals. After years of dirty hands for one reason or another, turn key reliability is the number one goal for this build. Now that being said, if increased performance can be built in at a reasonable cost, then all the better. I do not have any "speed" goals set, in fact I am quit content with the current speed, but what man in his right mind wouldn't spend an extra $500 for say.....a 10 MPH gain, and I know that the secrets are here on this forum. But as I stated in the original post, this is a "family river jet boat" so weekend wrenching is something I would like to minimize........and the family seconds that.

[core attitude]

Pete,
IÂ’d like to take a stab at this. I would like a little more info.
I would like to know what you have for factory iron, namely block and head casting numbers and even the intake manifold casting number. Will you use thru-transom exhaust or over-transom headers? Finally what brand pump and impeller do you have? Are you looking for a substantial speed gain? Is fuel usage a major issue? How do you feel about adjusting your valves once or twice a yearÂ…yes or no? I can offer a more specific answer to your needs once you provide the requested info.
If you believe you will continue to use your boat as you have already explained--but would just like some more power with your reliability--then your build is easy and can be accomplished with little effort or cost.
There are a lot of good 429/460 combos that work exceptionally well in a jet boat. At all performance levels. Great bang for buck and and the reliability issue is a non-issue for sure. There are only a few very simple key things to pay attention to on any 385 build, and the rest is about the build being comprised of good combo (parts match).
The 429/460 arrived in a luxo automobile in the late sixties at a time when BBCÂ’s were already at the drag strip in Camaros, ChevelleÂ’s and Corvettes, so almost no-one looked at the big engine in the Lincoln Continental (or T-Bird). Then, the emissions crunch of the 70Â’s effectively shut the door before much was learned by the masses about this engine. Generally speaking, in order to wake these engines up they need much more air, fuel and compression than as they were delivered from the factory. (This is especialy true of the marine 460's since the 1970's, than it is of the engines of the late 1960's.) Massaging these specific characteristics can awaken a stock engine to downright surpising levels. Add-ons after said massaging can give performance characteristics in return that will continue to absolutely give you your bang for the buck.
You will see a lot of 460 builds on this thread that work for the owners. This is because it is simple to get power from these engines. With that in mind, you can imagine what just the right combo of parts will do.
Please reply to my first paragraph and tell us what you have for block, heads, intake, exhaust, and how you feel about more tune-up servicing, etc. And please use the "Quote" feature when you reply to my post; I am offering advice and feedback on several other builds on several different other forums at the moment and want to keep track without scrolling up and down a long thread.
LO
LO,
Thanks for the response, in order to keep this tidy I will get all the info together and post it as soon as it is complete.
Pete

[460 jus getn it]

http://www.***boat.com/image_center/...39t_smotor.jpg

[Some Kind Of Monster]

Lookin good 460!!!

[460 jus getn it]

this is my bbf. .30 over forged slugs stock rods and crank. dove-c heads fully ported weind stealth intake. cam is 230@.50 .543 lift 110 lobe sep.berk 12jc b impeller droop and diverter. im hopping to get a honest 400hp if not more

[Squirtin Thunder]

Good lookin BBF !!!
Jim

[OkieDave]

Stroker kits are inexpensive for the BBF. nothing like an extra 97 or so cubic inches to increase the power in a jet boat. especially if you go to a bigger impellor at the same time. I have a mild 557 in a 18' gull-wing style boat that turns 5400 rpm on a Aggressor AA and goes a little over 90 mph. I have another 557 with roller cam in a Cheyenne and it has a 9.5 inch AT impellor. it turns 5200 rpm at well over 90mph without nitrous and 5600 at something over 105 on the bottle. both have performed flawlessly this year. they do have 12:1 compression so I run 50-50 mixed AV gas and 87 octane. with the large impellors, they don't use a lot of gas. both stroker kits came from mustang depot for $1,469 each. forged Probe pistons, 6.8" steel H-beam rods, 4.5" nodular iron crank. rings and bearings.