big block swap

[mikeE72]

hey everyone ive been thinking lately of swaping a big block ford such as a 460 or 429 into my 88 ranger. i already have a 90 single cab shortbed with a 86 5.0 ho motor with an aod trans which runs pretty good but in order to make serious power with it i would need to heavily modify it shortening its lifespand. that is why i have been thinking of doing a bb swap in my 88. also i know that many of the 460s were low horsepower motors so i was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction for which years made good power. also how much harder would swaping a 460/429 be than the 302. thanks

 

[RangerFabWorks]

Check out www.bigblockranger.com

 

[mikeE72]

hey thanks. i remember seing your truck when you first got it done a while ago but for some reason i didnt think it was a 460 definetly a work of art though. also idk if anyone knows but what were the 429s that came in the cougars and are there any special casting numbers or anything i should look for. i know the dove heads are saposed to be good but i found one with heads that said c8ve or something like that and they were the closed chambered heads are those any good?

 

[RangerFabWorks]

hey thanks. i remember seing your truck when you first got it done a while ago but for some reason i didnt think it was a 460 definetly a work of art though. also idk if anyone knows but what were the 429s that came in the cougars and are there any special casting numbers or anything i should look for. i know the dove heads are saposed to be good but i found one with heads that said c8ve or something like that and they were the closed chambered heads are those any good?

its not my truck, its a trs members truck

 

[Mac]

You asked about how much harder to do the 429/460? Not quite a bolt in like what you already have. Why not just rebuild what you have into a 347? Sure a lot more cost effective (depending on how power crazy you want to go). Good usable power out of the 347.
Dave

 

[TS6034]

hey everyone ive been thinking lately of swaping a big block ford such as a 460 or 429 into my 88 ranger. i already have a 90 single cab shortbed with a 86 5.0 ho motor with an aod trans which runs pretty good but in order to make serious power with it i would need to heavily modify it shortening its lifespand. that is why i have been thinking of doing a bb swap in my 88. also i know that many of the 460s were low horsepower motors so i was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction for which years made good power. also how much harder would swaping a 460/429 be than the 302. thanks

You want a pre 72' motor if your just looking for an engine to stick in there. After that, they were the "smog" engines and detuned for emissions. But if you plan on rebuilding the engine, find a mid seventies 460 as they are everywhere. The D3 heads aren't bad, minor porting and they can support upwards of 700hp. Check out http://reincarnation-automotive.com/

You can bump up the compression with new pistons and most importantly, a straight up timing set. The smog motors came with the cam timing retarded 4* to meet emmissions standards. Alot of people have woke up stock engines just by changing the timing sets to a late 60s or early 70s one.

 

[t120r]

I'm swapping a 429 into my 1990 SAS'ed supercab ranger. There is an easy way (expensive) and a hard way (cheap). Feel free to PM me if you want to know the easy way. Go to www.bigblockranger for the cheap way.

BTW: Cheap doesn't mean crappy. He did an awesome job with his 545 ranger.