460 mild performance build

[ArdWrknTrk]

As promised I'm starting a thread as I put together a new engine for my F-250.

Some of you may remember my '460 repower' thread from March of '08 over on FTE when i spun a bearing on a cold February morning.

Following the lead of Scott Johnston (one of the best known porters of iron 385 series heads) and a damn good builder of big block Ford's.
He's placed right behind Jon Kaase in the Engine Masters showdown and is known on forums as 'The Mad Porter'.

Per his advice I'm going to be using a Holley 750 vacuum secondary carb atop an Edelbrock Performer intake with a recurved stock distributor and DuraSpark II ignition.
I will probably using a custom ground cam of his design and a valve train package of his or his advice.

I'm going to be porting the heads myself, while learning as much as I can from the various tutorials available to paid members on his site Parkland Performance Machine (formerly known as Reincarnation High Performance)

I snatched up a carb on Ebay a few weeks ago and bought some porting tools as well as a low temp thermostat.
Then, last week, a pair of D3VE A2A heads turned up on Ebay in Texas. They were about $145 each (delivered!) and described as old stock from a shuttered machine shop.

The price was great as shipping is $80-90 per head and these would not need any crack checking or machine work done.

I found them on my doorstep when i got home last night and took them over to my storage this morning.
Yep, whoever packed these didn't have a clue. (foam peanuts... really?!?!)
It literally took me over 40 minutes with long tweezers and alligator forceps to pick the foam out of all the water passages.


But then!!!!  As the sun came up I noticed something odd.
There were no drilling for thermactor ports.
Not in the ends of the head, nor any holes into the exhaust ports.
Dumbfounded.



This must be for a stationary industrial engine.
There are plenty of pumps in Texas. For farms, ranches and oilfields.....





THIS IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF D3 460 HEADS!!!!
WOO HOO
I HAVE A UNICORN, or two
I REALLY SCORED THIS TIME (for once)

[Gary Lewis]

Wow!  Pay dirt!  I would think the porting job will be much easier without the bumps.

You’ll remember the D8 small-block heads I ported, and those bumps were a huge pain. HUGE. Lots and lots of grinding, and I never really got them out completely for fear of hitting water. And then there was the question of what to do with the cross-drilled passages. But you won’t have to deal with any of that. 👍

[Ford F834]

Wow! Great score! I'm glad you came out ahead on this one... even though you had your work cut out for you extracting packing popcorn the sellers ignorance worked in your favor 😁

[ArdWrknTrk]

Some pics added to my first post.

Occasionally you find an item on eBay that's mislisted or the seller doesn't really know what they have.

Just getting a refurbished head for $145 is fantastic. I couldn't begin to get the work done for that.
Add in delivery and no core charge, well....

[ArdWrknTrk]

Gary, the bumps are there, just no holes to plug.

This works out, because Scott shows how to shape that hump into a vane directing the flow.
And shows numbers that it helps rather than hinders flow at the rpms and lifts I will be using.

[Gary Lewis]

Cool!  Even better. 😉

[ArdWrknTrk]

Next up is the bottom end.
After my last disappointment I've found a 1995 F-450 utility body truck with no paper.
The engine runs like a top and it's amazingly clean (rust free) for a northeast truck.

But it's got to go to scrap.
So I'm going to pull the engine and the Zf-5 (with parking brake)

Anybody want any interior or other bits from a truck of this generation?

[85lebaront2]

Jim, has it got full gauges? If so I can use the instrument cluster.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Bill, I'll try to get you a picture tomorrow.

You can have the whole dash if you like.

Hate to see a truck in good condition scrapped but the P. O. Is gone and there is no title or reg.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Do you need the plugs too?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Ok, aside from the exhaust this engine is ready to come out.

I called my buddy with a wrecker to lift it out in the next couple of days.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Here's the catch code on this brain.

[Gary Lewis]

Bill says I need an ML1-441. And I think a V.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, wherever this intake and harness goes the brain goes with it.
It is a 1995 MY F-450.
I pulled the harness right back to the plugs on the firewall.
From the load center box to the engine is all there.
But I cut the chassis side of the box and unbolted the feed cable.

This truck has a really nice radiator and ac condenser
I will swipe them and the shroud before we cut this truck into little pieces to get rid of it.

[Gary Lewis]

Good plan, Stan. 😉

[85lebaront2]

No, I have plenty of them, thanks anyway. Is the dash light blue or opal gray?

[85lebaront2]

Yes, that is a bank fired speed density system.

[ArdWrknTrk]

It's a grey interior.

XLT

Do you need some interior trim?

[85lebaront2]

Jim, all the AC stuff is factory R134, condensor alone is very useful. If you aren't going to use it I would be interested in the A/C lines and compressor.

[ArdWrknTrk]

If Gary doesn't speak for the compressor to go atop the serpentine PS bracket.

I cut the hose going to the radiator because I'm working in a construction lot and did not have my line wrenches (or any backup wrench and didn't want to twist the neck.)
But the compressor is yours if it's not spoken for. And any other bits of the AC you might want as long as I can get them out tomorrow.