460 work truck guestimate

[cv67]

1990 Ford 1 ton work truck

Freshly rebuilt
Stock bottom end 460, heads recieved the basic valve job etc
Edelbrock performer, EFI, smog legal headers dual exh 3"
Elgin E-967-P (ES1086R?)not sure what the 2nd number pertains to

486/512 lift
204/214

281/296
lobe center 107/117

Assuming its a HFT cam
Anything else the guy could do to pick things up a tad?
Has MSD keeps it under 180, passes Cam smog

Slick looking work truck, bed removed and an aluminum skaug type bed installed.
Hate to be a time waster just curious.

Engine builder told him 450hp (know the shop), hate to burst his bubble but guessed it would be much less with a strong tq number

[pdq67]

Too small a cam! That's an old-school, "Performer"!

Drop in something like a 210/210, (I think a 260 HE?), or even up to a 218/218, (268 HE), and max. lift and go!

What's others think here?

pdq67

[JoePorting]

It's a work truck. Why hotrod a work truck??? 300 hp and 400 torque should be good enough.

[Roadknee]

I’d guess 350hp and 450+ torque. Heads are weak for 1 hp per CI. I worked in a machine shop 30 years ago and we rebuilt several 460s in camper haulers and tow rigs. These were good stock rebuilds with the early timing gears. Most ran OEM cast iron 4 bbl intake, 600 Holley, recurved distributor, manifolds and dual exhaust. Customers were happy and often reported 10 mpg empty or loaded. Speed limit was 55 back then.

[mag2555]

It's a good thing you slapped headers on that motor because the stock Intake to exh ratio on those heads of basically 2 to one is pathetic for that size motor!!
If you don't have the heads bolted on yet I would knock them apart and installed larger Exh valves with some valve bowl clean up work getting done.

On the Intake side those heads in stock form flow enough to make 66 hp per cylinder, or well over 500 hp , but if you see 320 hp with the Cam / lift your running your doing well!

[cv67]

heads on has about 100mi. Bugged him about fixing the weak spot on the heads
Why build a work truck? Cause he can I guess. Passes smog at least!
What do you think with moderate port work and a HR cam he could gain.

[My427stang]

Is that a factory EFI with the 2 "radiator hose" type feeds to the air box? If so, about half way down is a pair of silencers that look like trumpets, barely bigger than your thumb for ID, you hack them off and they breathe a little better. Not magic, but it is a restriction. If it's aftermarket EFI, then disregard

I would say the best thing you could do for the guy is head and intake work, and the advanced level, again, if factory EFI, see if you can get a Quarterhorse chip or Tweecr chip in there to do some laptop tuning on top of it.

I agree the cam is a little weak too but might be OK for the use, but I think there is more to gain if you get it breathing and tuned. If I were to go with another cam, hyd roller would be easy, but I think I'd prefer a flat tappet to allow a quicker lobe, and with the heads off, measure chambers, calculate compression and get something with earlier intake lobe without getting too radical, but go easy on overlap for the EFI, especially if it's the stock narrowband O2 sensor. The key would be to know the static compression and deck clearance to determine how tolerant it will be of earlier cam timing

BTW, I see no downside of building a work truck, especially if the guy lives in it. You spend your day in something, having it do what you want is a good thing.