Free 460 Ford-what would you do?

72ish Gran Torino Fastback or station wagon. 460 screams 70s not 60s l. 

Find a 1972 Torino to drop it in.

A lot of car needs a lot of engine.

From what I'm reading for my own ideas, a 460 using stock (but obviously massaged and worked) D0VE heads and a dual-plane with a Qjet could easily go over 400HP/500tq even with stock pistons. But what could you do with a little more, like maybe bigger valves and higher compression? Can these still do pump gas on 9.5:1? It seems like if you toss $1,500 in parts at a 460 in aftermarket pistons, cam, intake, and bigger valves you could get close to 1HP:1CC and still have decent reliability and sleeper stock look.

Also, best car to use it for is a early 70s Torino.

I worked on a string of the Ford fastbacks including a couple of the early 70's ones with original 429 motivation so can confirm the plug & play aspect. I liked the Cyclone the best, never saw either of these again after they left, presumably got repainted and are out there somewhere.

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You may have seen my 460 powered creation...

The engine started out just like yours- some low compression lump from a motorhome.  Heads are not D0VE heads, but pretty much any early 80's truck head isn't bad, if you port the exhausts.  I did go with some flat-ish top pistons; the 429 has the same bore as the 460 and early 429's had higher compression pistons, so those are a cheap swap.  Or for ~$400 you can get a set of decent Keith Black pistons.  The Cobrajet spec 429 cam is a good one; there's better obviously for more $$$.  460's love headers, we don't have them because of clearance and cost.  Still sounds really good with dual 2-1/2 exhausts.  The chassis for the above car is a 1975 LTD; they had the 460 as an option so that made that easy.  The 460 is the biggest, heaviest of the typical big block engines, so keep that in mind.  Also, a higher-lift cam can cause the rockers to hit the stock valve covers- we dimpled ours from the inside for clearance. 

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

That is a car that looks cool but is absolutely a horrible idea for a 385 engine for space reasons.

See: 3 piece headers, having to modify the valve cover for brake booster clearance.  Also, headers preclude you from having power steering, since the ram takes up so much space.  And if you want a modern transmission, you have to do floor surgery and figure out how to make a crossmember.

The '72 chassis is much nicer, in part because it was engineered to take the 385.  Downside: The only good looking one is the '72.  They got fugly fast.

The '77-79 Thunderbird/Cougar is the same chassis.  The '72-76 Thunderbird/Mark IV is the same chassis with a longer wheelbase.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Thanks, both of you. It's so wild to me that in the 70s the domestics had so many V8s but frequently couldn't fit them in half their lineup- I seriously thought a Torino would take a 460 with little issue.

And huge second on the ugly part, good goddamn the "personal luxury coupes" look awful. Only when they're Rat-rodded or Mad Maxxed out do they look good whatsoever.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Ford seemed to be engineering their chassis around their engines as much as the engines around the chassis.  The 221 was small and cramped in order to fit in an early 60s Fairlane and Falcon.  They made the cars bigger as they made the engines bigger, and not always in the right order .  While it is technically possible to put a 351C or an FE in a '65 Mustang, you're not going to have a good time.

Thanks for all the input folks.   I really like the 1970 Torino better than the 1972 and they did offer the 429 engine in the 1970.   Did the engine bay change for the later Torino?

In reply to wawazat :

In 1972 it went to body on frame, no more shock towers.  And power steering integrated with the steering box instead of a hydraulic ram and a control valve on the center link and hoses everywhere.

Thanks Pete!

The 1969 Ford LTD and Galaxie (along with their Mercury cousin) wagons ditched shock towers and used the Ford 385 Series big blocks in 429 in3 displacement.   This thread helped me hone in on that platform so thanks all!

You need it to pull this fat chick around.

Based on actual events I would think of all kinds of fun applications for it, stick it in a buddies shed, move 2,000 miles away and forget I had it until 7 years later when he discovers it in the back of his shed and askes me what I want to do with it at which point I'd give it to him.  Just one more example of why it's often best not to emulate my behaviour.