Ford 460 1988 carbureted in 30' motor home. I'm looking for ways to get low end power?
first you need to determine what kind of condition the engine is in. as long as the engine is in good shape then you can advance the cam by 8 degrees, which is what the factory retarded the cam by in the 70's to meet emission standards. while that wont add the amount of power you think it will, it will gain a fair amount of low end power. you will need a multi index crank sprocket when you get a good roller chain and gears.
but understand that going up hills in a heavy RV isnt going to be easy even with a modern powerplant. you have to remember that you are motivating upwards of 10,000lbs of weight. also when going up hills you should be in direct drive and not overdrive.
Ford 460 1988 carbureted in 30' motor home. I'm looking for ways to get low end power?
You dont need more horses, you need more torque. Go to a reputable shop and have your engine dyno tested and go from there. THere is no reasons i can think of why that engine can't pull you without embarassment.
Could be a simple thing like fuel mixture, timing, incomplete combustion, obstruction in air intake etc.... Do the simple things first, 90% of the time that is where the problem is.
It may not be the engine, could be the gear ratio.
Good luck. I would be interested at the outcome.
That engine is 20 years old, has it ever been rebuilt? The thing about an engine that is 20 years old with only 40,000 miles is that it has sat many of those years without being cranked. Which means the cylinder walls and rings get dried out during the meantime and get grinded together when you start it up again.
Might be time to freshin up the top end and might as well throw in a set of crank and rod bearings also... Do a compression check and see if it has good even compression across all 8.
port and polish the heads as well as port match your intake buy your self a good set of brass head gaskets and open them up to match your head porting and the intake porting work done, as this will give you more hp as well as torque, which is what you really need for your paticular application, hope this helps ya out
stinger5907
