I was over my friends house today whose building up a 460 for Ford Galaxie project and had a few questions.

whats the highest compression ratio you can run on a 460 and still use pump gas. Around here we can get 93 pretty regularly, and occaisonally run into slightly higher octanes....over state lines into MA or RI usually the highest i can find is 91 octane...so that becomes a factor once out of state.

also how much can these blocks be worked over? He said the previous owner told him it was bored .040 over on the first and only rebuild...which seems kinda high , but i've never worked with a big block so i dont know...

he's getting aluminum heads/intake to replace the heavy stock castings, so hopefully that'll lighten it up a bit. He's also gonna stroke it out to like 545ci and throw a beastly cam in. He's hoping for 500rwhp after all is said and done. Any thoughts? suggestions?

 

Call Kaase..

 

Watch these videos http://www.spike.com/full-episode/bu...ig-block/31583 http://www.spike.com/full-episode/fo...back-for/32053 http://www.spike.com/full-episode/46...ls1-carb/32439

 

COMPRESSION RATIO depends a little on the cam profile and valve overlap. I have a 429, same basic engine and run 93 Pump gas with 10.5:1 without detonation. I'm running a pretty mild cam and stock cast iron heads.
CYLINDER BORE, the 385 series engines are a thin wall casting. I would have the block checked sonicly to confirm how much cylinder wall is left. I had a 460 Block that I was gonna use for my build and it had been bored .030" over. The sonic check showed two cylinders had been cast a little off center and would need to be sleeved to bore any more. I decided to get a different block.
Kaase is the best source for the 385 series engines!

 

Nice to see you come back around tarafield.Yeah Kaase is the man but not cheap.He even made boss 429 head that fit a normal block but to use in any early mustang would take shock tower cutting.

 

I learned a while ago that if you want to make stupid power then you call the guy who makes the most reliable power with the engine you want to build. Even if you dont buy his engine or have him do the work, most will help you out and they are always willing to sell parts. Some people wont talk to you unless you give them a credit card number and buy something, if they want to sell parts and maybe entire engines, then they take the time to answer your questions. The guys who dont take that time, dont last long or simply fall behind in development.

Building a 545 isnt a simple thing, so you call the guy who knows what he is doing. Sorry about the short answer.