steeet 460 build (daily driver)

I am looking to build a nice 460 street engine for my cougar and could use the wisdom here. This is a 79 cougar about 4500 lbs a 9 inch with a 2.75 gear. I have a set of d3 heads and will get the block soon. I am guessing ill have to go with a c6 unless i can find a aod. I want a nice idle with good vacuum. I was going to go rpm air gap and a 750 holley dp. I have read on the oiling mods some things to do but open for suggestions or parts for that matter. Nothing is set in stone yet as i am sure i could sell the heads i pulled. so fill free to advise away.

question on the aod , is there a non electric version so i dont have to pull in a computer? I know sbfs have electric and non.

Peace and love Ron

Here is a build tread on a one he might can answer some of you questions if he still on here http://www.429-460.com/t1195-1978-mercury-cougar-xr7


http://www.460ford.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131329&highlight=psquare75

A stock type rebuild with flat top pistons, an early timing chain, a recurved distributor, and a good valve job will really wake up your car. If you add a Performer intake, a good carburetor, and some headers with a cat delete exhaust, you will be surprised.


What is a majik455? You could get a Buick Stage 16 from a Grand International and put it into your car, and it would be much faster than any Ford junk. I'm just sayin'.......

the majik 455 is from the days of my poncho 455 ho in a firebird (i just kept the name) and majik460 was taken

majik455 wrote:the majik 455 is from the days of my poncho 455 ho in a firebird (i just kept the name) and majik460 was taken

its alright mine from "The dark days" of the past too...... I've seen the light !

majik455 wrote:the majik 455 is from the days of my poncho 455 ho in a firebird (i just kept the name) and majik460 was taken

Cool.

The AOD trans IS a NON-electric transmission ... the AODE is the electric version.
If using the AOD I would recomend getting the wider ratio and stronger internals from Ford Racing Performance Parts.

Use a flat-top piston and deck the block to .005"/.010" clearance ; THAT, (along with a "straight-up" timing set), will be the largest performance gain of a production D3VE engine which you can actually feel.

EDIT: A low restriction exhaust system, a 3.20 something rear gearset and other simple changes will mean a whole lot BEFORE other stuff will be much help.

Sorry ... Double Post

Still here, I'll post more later.

Ok. I have two (yeah, two, I'm a hoarder) 77-79 Cougars with big blocks.

78 XR7





And a 77 XR7





78

Carl (carsbycarl) built 523" "Street Bruiser" ~10.3:1 compression. Hyper pistons, on some worked DOVE heads I had hanging around with larger valves- Edelbrock performer, no spacer, Holley 850 (80531), Carter 172 GPH mech fuel pump, Comp Cams full roller rockers. Crane adjustable electronic distributor off an MSD 6AL. Spectre ram air box. Built C6 (extra clutches), 2500 RPM torque converter from Scott here, 3.5:1 rear gear, 28 spline trak lok on 275/50/17 tires (28.5" tall? not sure). Hooker 1 7/8" Super Comps to a 3" X pipe, 2.5" Borla ProXS and 2.5" tails.

77.

Mild 460 build, 9.3:1 compression. Forged pistons, head studs, C9VE heads.Crane 260HMV cam 216/228 .518/.513 Weiand Stealth, no spacer, Holley 750 (3310 with elec choke added), Generic aftermarket fuel pump, Comp roller tip rockers. Mallory Unilite with a Petronix conversion. OEM big block air cleaner setup (functioning flapper). Mild built C6 (Wide ratio kit installed), 2.47:1 rear gear, 28 spline open on 225 70 15s. Hooker 1 7/8" Super Comps to 3" Catcos, 2.5" Dynomax Super Turbos and 2.5" tails.

Both cars have their strengths. The 78 is obviously much faster, however it's much snottier on a cold startup (but it will start and hold an idle). As a daily, I know I'd get tired quickly of the 3.5:1, and exhaust noise is subjective. The 77, is an excellent daily driver. I actually used it as a daily from April until November or so last year. 20 degree weather, no problem. The Crane 260 is an old grind (previous owner built this car about 14 years ago). The Crane idles stock or near stock. I used the car for work deliveries and probably averaged 200 miles a week. It WAS thirsty. The wide ratio kit helped (probably made the rear gears feel closer to 2.70s or so in first), but off the line it's still a slug. I have a 3.0:1 trak lok I plan to install that I think will GREATLY improve all around performance. Right now, from zero to 60 the car is 'tame', but 65+ the nose will lift, the car gently buries you in the seat, and it just pulls. Great highway cruiser due to the gears. It runs on garbage (from no name stations) 93, I haven't tried 89, but I suspect with numerically higher gears, it'd be fine, as I haven't heard a peep from the engine.. The build has 65K miles on it, and it burns no oil and runs excellent, (oil pan gasket leaks but that's unrelated).

I reinstalled the OEM air cleaner in place of a 14" chrome job because in the cold weather climate I'm in (MA) the car took longer to warm up and it wasn't happy about it. I noticed no drop in performance, did see a slight (.5?) rise in MPG. Car averages 10-13 MPG.Right now the car cruises around 3K RPM.. at 80.

If I were building a 100% daily driver that I wanted to be able to hit cruise nights with, I'd opt for the gray car build, but I'd change
the intake to something less radical
do a numerically higher gear (3.0 or so and keep the wide ratio).
Add an X pipe.

This help?

very interesting read. Those cars sound like alot of fun!

Shane

that helps quite a bit, and thank you very much for sharing. where you able to drop the engine in without any mods? I believe its a big enough bay to hold it i was just wandering about motor mounts. I think a tbird had a 460 stock so ill just need to know what year and model to get or order them from. my poor car is slow from the start also and I know a gear change will help. I have a extra chunk right now but same as whats in it now , a 2.75 open :-(. so a 3.5 is to much gear for these things as a daily and a 3.0 is better?

3.25 - 3.50 will accelerate alot better.

majik455 wrote:that helps quite a bit, and thank you very much for sharing. where you able to drop the engine in without any mods? I believe its a big enough bay to hold it i was just wandering about motor mounts. I think a tbird had a 460 stock so ill just need to know what year and model to get or order them from. my poor car is slow from the start also and I know a gear change will help. I have a extra chunk right now but same as whats in it now , a 2.75 open :-(. so a 3.5 is to much gear for these things as a daily and a 3.0 is better?

Whether or not the trans you're going to use has an overdrive or not will help determine the best rear gear

majik455 wrote:that helps quite a bit, and thank you very much for sharing. where you able to drop the engine in without any mods? I believe its a big enough bay to hold it i was just wandering about motor mounts. I think a tbird had a 460 stock so ill just need to know what year and model to get or order them from. my poor car is slow from the start also and I know a gear change will help. I have a extra chunk right now but same as whats in it now , a 2.75 open :-(. so a 3.5 is to much gear for these things as a daily and a 3.0 is better?

Mounts are from a 72-76 Torino/Ranchero, 74-76 Cougar, Montego, or a 77-78 Lincoln Mark V. I think 72-73 Tbirds work. My mounts are actually from a bird, but I'm not sure on the year, I'm sorry. Trans mount is OEM, nothing special.

It depends how much highway driving you do and what transmission you have, as to what is 'better'. I think the 3.0 will be great with the wide ratio C6, but I daily drive the hell out of that car with typical Massachusetts "If you aren't doing 75 you're going slow" highway speeds.

The car with 3.5s and the stock geared C6, I tend to stick to backroads for now. No reason I COULDN'T do highways, just running at 3K+ for an hour with loud exhaust gets tiring quick IMO.

For what it's worth, The white car originally had a 351W and 2.47s. One of the first mods I did was the 3.5:1 rear. It helped somewhat, but the car wasn't a barnstormer by any stretch of the imagination. Actually.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4161105945085313481#

That's the 351W with 3.5:1 and zero mods. (ignore the dash it's been redone since then). As you can see, it was hardly 'fast'.