Pulled my motor today and am planning a build for this winter. Looking for around 500hp
Stock 460 currently, planning on new intake/carb setup and OT headers.
Looking for recommendations on a build to attain the 500hp goal.
I have the D3VE heads so am thinking I might need to go to a different head maybe?
Any suggestions on internals? C/R? Can I get away with stock crank and rods?
500 hp with ported D3VE heads is possible. Doing this with pump gas is more involved. Early-style heads (a la D0VE, etc) makes this goal a little easier.
The crankshaft is certainly more than adequate for 500 hp. As far as the connecting rods, I've heard of them letting go at 4400 rpm while at part-throttle cruise and I've also heard of them surviving 8100 rpm in a mid truck....meaning, you never know. If I were building a 500 hp engine and using OEM rods, I'd prep them well (smoothed beams, new rod bolts, etc).
All that being said: pulling 500 hp for a jet boat from an OEM shortblock with dished pistons is not the most wise way to get 500 hp from a Ford (even if it is possible). This is because the 1973-up 460's came with dismal compression ratio, poor upper rpm exhaust flow, poor spark advance, and smallish carburetors. Take care of these things and the engine can be transormed very significantly. Good thing you are going through the entire engine because with careful planning 500 hp can not only be easy to attain with a lot of OEM parts but the same general long block can generate a lot more with simple cam and induction changes.
If you want to just do a top end deal (ported D0VE head swap plus induction, headers, distibutor work, and a timing chain) you can get to 500 hp in many cases, but since you have the engine out and are rebuilding...
LO
