Thread: 454 or 460?

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I think the bad part about 460s are the heads. I remember a 460 build that Car Craft did a while back and the differece between stock and aftermarket head was huge;100+ HP or something. Also I believe parts generally cost more. I built several 454's; you just can beat the imposing look of those wide valvecovers. I'll have to go for the Chevy.

Originally Posted by falconvan

I think the bad part about 460s are the heads. I remember a 460 build that Car Craft did a while back and the differece between stock and aftermarket head was huge;100+ HP or something. Also I believe parts generally cost more. I built several 454's; you just can beat the imposing look of those wide valvecovers. I'll have to go for the Chevy.

The late 60's early 70's heads including the dove heads did some pretty good stock horse power without any tweaking. I'm also willing to bet that after market 454 heads will easily increase horse power by 100 over stock too. It's why they are made aftermarket.
I'm not a more power nut, so I'm happy with my 460 with stock heads, that still is putting out a tremondous amount of power. I'm not baggin the 454, hell every kid in highschool seemed to be building them in the 70's, just saying, as Paul has above, the 460 seems seriously missunderstood engine. Ford also got the distributor placement right!

Originally Posted by stovens

The late 60's early 70's heads including the dove heads did some pretty good stock horse power without any tweaking. I'm also willing to bet that after market 454 heads will easily increase horse power by 100 over stock too. It's why they are made aftermarket.
I'm not a more power nut, so I'm happy with my 460 with stock heads, that still is putting out a tremondous amount of power. I'm not baggin the 454, hell every kid in highschool seemed to be building them in the 70's, just saying, as Paul has above, the 460 seems seriously missunderstood engine. Ford also got the distributor placement right!

I have to agree on the distributor; I'd much rather have it right there in the front.

Originally Posted by falconvan

I think the bad part about 460s are the heads. I remember a 460 build that Car Craft did a while back and the differece between stock and aftermarket head was huge;100+ HP or something. Also I believe parts generally cost more.

Car Craft March 2006. You should also know then that once the magazine came out, they also got deluged with an BIG onslaught of angry letters from 460 engine builders crying foul.

The REAL truth:

• That article was not written by engine builders, it was written by magazine reporters that don't know engine building. Don't believe everything that you read, falconvan.
• Car Craft is driven by advertising, and one of there biggest advertisers is Edelbrock--yes, the same company that provided the heads used in the "iron versus ported aluminum" article. Hmmmmm.
• The iron head flow numbers were so dismal that they appeared virtually as bone stock, as-cast flow numbers. Whoever ported the factory 460 iron had their HEAD up their ASS. Also, they started with "smogger" D3VE passenger car heads, while the Edlebrock head is tailored after the Super Cobra Jet head. Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight. Nevertheless, the portwork was little more than smoothing & blending, and incidentally even the lowly D3VE heads--ported correctly--have been able to hold their own in the performance world.

If I (or any of several other 460 iron head porters) supplied the heads to go up against the Edelbrocks, that "Edelbrock sales article" would have been debunked before it went to print.

Paul