Thread: 460 Panther Marinetec motor

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Originally posted by CV Gwin
Thank You Paul, I very much appreciate your sharing your time and vast knowledge on Ford engines....thanks again!

300HP (perhaps) is not what I expected. That seems kinda weak for a BB gas drinker like this engine. I truly thought it would be somewhere around 375+. Many friends have 350 SBC that are putting out about 100HP more than my 460 BBF! As you know, the 455 Olds marine engine puts out 390HP. Guess I'll consider swapping out for an Olds marine (plentiful) and gain 100HP cheaper than messing with this BBF. Regardless, I thank the members of this forum for their time and excellent reading!

Switching to a different brand engine is not only an expensive proposition (because of all the engine specific marine hardware involved) but you will have a less reliable engine and not much more power.

The horsepower rating I gave you is a real world estimate. I am basing it on the notioin that your engine was probably never apart and is over twenty five years old. They were rated higher than what I am stating. The 390HP rating ot the Olds motor is not real world, it's total BS.

I have owned two jet boats with Olds motors and know others that have also owned them and let me tell you, they are known in the jet boat world among most unreliable choice, and for being ticking time bombs. They often spin rod bearings. I am being completley truthful when I tell you that my friend John build his Olds motor 6 times in a row and blew it up six times in a row. Then he bought the 460 Ford, rebuilt it and had a great season last summer.

As lousy as the Olds motor is for a jet boat, one nice feature about them is that they came with rather high compression (in the boats). The Ford engine in your boat has perhaps 8.2:1 compression ratio and therein lies the reality of your horsepower rating, but don't overlook the potential of your engine. My boat has the same block heads and crank as your engine and my boat goes 85 MPH, and produces between 550-600HP naturally aspirated. I don't know of a chevy or olds that could get anywhere close to that utilizing the components that my engine has in it, nor would they be anywhere as reliable.

Getting 375HP from your Ford-powered boat can practially be done in your sleep, and be the most reliable out there of the mtors your mentioned. If you really wanted to go crazy, you could double the HP your engine is putting out now.

Advantages of Ford over Chevy

• The Ford block is finished a little nicer than the chevy; for example, the head bolts are counter bored so if you deck the block you dont have to counter sink/thread chase the holes--already done.
  
• (people on the boat forum successfully) using blowers and turbos on stock rods.
  
• large cube stroker cranks from stock oem cranks...
  
• They have the same canted valve design as the Chevy and the 429/460's are dime-a-dozen everywhere for dirt cheap. And I mean dirt cheap.
  
• We don't have to search hi and low for a tall deck block, all Fords are "tall" deck [10.300+"]
  
• ...symmeterical ports for better fuel distribution.
  
• The Ford cast crank and 2-bolt block power threshhold is alot higher than the BBC.
  
• BBFs can run bigger cams as it is located higher in the block than the BBC (the BBC cam lobes actually HIT the crank counterweights if you go too big)...
  
• BBFs have bigger diameter lifters for a more "friendly" cam profile for flat tappet cams...
  
• BBFs can make good compresson ratios with flat top pistons [chamber CCs range 72cc to 96cc] We don't need huge dome pistons to get a 10.5 to 1 C/R..
  
• BBFs have a 1.71 rod ratio...
  
• BBF's make a 514-521-540" engine with stock parts and do it for under 3K...
  
• many blocks can be bored to 4.500"...put in a 4.500" stroke crank and it makes a 572" engine for just under $3K...can ya do that with a stock block Chevy? (Answer: Hell no. And by the way, unlike the chevy the Ford's block does not nedd to be clearanced for the crankshaft to do this.)