351w or 460?

I have a 74 ford F-100 pickup that we put a 460 in about 8 years ago. It was tired when I put it in there and its about wore out now. Im going to pull the motor out BUT I cant decide between rebuilding the 460 or putting in a 351w. The truck will occasionally pull a car but need it more for going to get motors, rearends things like that. I have a 94 E-350 van I pull with and love it. But I would like to get better mileage out of my truck. So is a 351w going to get the job done or should I just rebuild the 460?

Well this is a 460 site......

Freshen and improve the 460.....

Rebuild it and make it a 429 stroke with a mileage/RV camshaft ... unless you're just looking for something to be a "beater". Then find a 351M.

I think I will just rebuild the 460 and follow Scottys porting on the d3 heads. I think whats killling the mileage is the truck used to be a I6 (my grandpa bought it new in 74 then gave it to me) and it has a 3.70 gear in it.

Whats killing the milage is low compresson, cam and ignition ignition timing.

A 351 will most likely get worse gas mileage then the 460. Everyone I ever owned has.

Since it's already in there, the 460 has 0 extra expenditures to install it. No core to buy, no mounts, no brackets, no new exhaust, transmission, hoses, nothing. Depending on how you do it, it's at LEAST $300 to put the 351 in your truck, and could be into the thousands.

Total cost involved, even if the 351 gets better mileage, would you really be ahead dollar wise?

Sat here and figured up the cost of the 351 swap in the 89 F150 daily driver that had a 300 i6, even having an engine sitting here, if I had to do it again I would just find a truck with a 351 in it. fwiw

Bigblockfox wrote:I have a 74 ford F-100 pickup that we put a 460 in about 8 years ago. It was tired when I put it in there and its about wore out now. Im going to pull the motor out BUT I cant decide between rebuilding the 460 or putting in a 351w. The truck will occasionally pull a car but need it more for going to get motors, rearends things like that. I have a 94 E-350 van I pull with and love it. But I would like to get better mileage out of my truck. So is a 351w going to get the job done or should I just rebuild the 460?

AERODYNAMICS. This is your biggest enemy! I have tried many different Ford engines in F-Series trucks, none of the later more aerodynamic frontal areas designs and it doesn't seem what series Ford engine you choose. As Randy of Roseville mentioned, use an economical approach is your best direction and use gearing to keep engine speed as low as possible helps.

The 1982 F-150 I have has seen several engine combos. 302-2V, 302-4V, 351W-4V and a 460-4V, all with C6. 10 to 15 mpg is all I could muster. I did have a 1972 F-150 with a 390-2V, 3.5:1 axle mpg was 10 or so. I changed to a 2.75:1 R/P the fuel mileage jumped to about 17 mpg on extended highway travel! But I have learned that was surely an exception. A C4 will increase fuel mileage.

To make a long line of B.S. a bit more concise, the Ford 385 Series you have is already fitted to the truck, just rebuild using inexpensive means.

Just my $0.02,
Dave.