I recently happened across a few 360's a 400M and 460. I'm wanting to build a beefed up motor for my '85 F150 and wanted some advice on these choices.I'm not planning on much more than Cam Carb intake and exhaust mods . How about some pros / cons on each ? Thanks Y'all

 

Well they were all good truck motors back in the day. You are going to get the most support for the 460 as it was used the longest vs 10 years for the 360FE and the 400 for only 5 or so.

All three have completely different tranny bell housings than whatever is in your 150 now. The 460 swap will use the most "factory" parts as they came in your body style F250s and such.

Adrianspeeder

 

well thats good to know. each of these motors has their tranny attached. I believe the 460 is backed by a C6 .I'm going to run the numbers on the truck today to be sure. Thanks for your reply...and thanks for your service to this Country.

 

400! ours was bullet proof!

 

If you could find the brackets out of an 80-81 F-2/350 that might have come with a 400. Otherwise a 460 will spank a 400 every day of the week, and be more common with parts.

Adrianspeeder

 

I'd say it might depend on what you intend to use the truck /motor for

if staying totally stock I might say go with the 360 - the guys who had them back in the day swore by them

400 ? only if I were gonna mod it with some of the really nice stuff ya can get for em now a days

460 if you want to build a complete beast but they weigh in around 650 pounds so that's somthing to think about

351c, M, 400, 429 and 460 all share the same bellhouseing pattern so transmissions will always be easier to find for those motors

 

Not all 351Cs, many had the small transmission bell housing, the C4 or small block C6.

 

An FE 360 was always a bloated pig. Low on power, big on gas use. It was never a good idea for an engine in any platform. A similar 350 GM engine would blow the doors off of an FE 360 any day with any load and use less gas, for an example. The 400's were not comparable to the competition either. Some ran long but more often than not they were a short life engine. The 460 is a great engine but an even better 385 series engine was the 429. If you intend to hot rod some or pull reasonable loads, the 429 is the engine. Obviously the 460 with the longer stroke develops more torque but you can turn a 429 much faster without damage. If the 460 you're looking at has crankshaft issues, drop a 429 crank in it. If it's a good crank, build on it. You can also, if you just want to get crazy, turn this engine into an EFI unit. With the larger performance injectors and a decent cam, headers, you make 600+HP pretty quick.

 

yep
a buddy and I put a '71 mercurey 429 in his '81 duelly
with the 4.10 or 4.11 gear in it the thing was a total giggle fest everytime some punk
in a 5-0 pulled up beside it at the lights

it was still quicker even after he added the 4x4 set up in the front end

the only mod to the motor was one of those bathtub body holley carbs

 

Totally agree. The only problem would be coming up with a 429. So many have been "consumed". Lots of 460s still around.

 

buy a 460 and an aftermarket 429 crank ? - though all I seem to find is stroker cranks / kits for 460

although spending on good heads might be a better idea

 

Tons of great info..thanks yall. I don't plan on going racing or hauling anything more than some *** . I plan on making her a cruiser , kinda "old school hot rod" . She is my daily driver so i want some sort of efficiency but i LOVE HP.

 

Oh..and Bluejay, I just got a tip on where a 429 might be. gonna go check it out