Nanner is my 73 F100 that currently sports a stock 1996 efi 460 and E4OD trans. Long bed to short bed conversion and Crown Vic front suspension. This thing is fuuuun, but it needs to be more fun. The efi engine is torquey, but it is far far far from fast.

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The last plan was to install my 552/C6 combo straight from the Mustang into the truck because it was a proven combo. But because this thing is so nice to drive around town, I just couldn't bring myself to put a snotty, solid roller cam, Dominator fed engine in it. That would totally kill it's 'run-around-town' appeal.

So, after much deliberation and bench building in my mind, I finally settled on what I want this thing to be and to do. It needs stop-and-go driveability and more power when called upon. That points directly to building a turbo engine.

• First off, the EEC-IV computer has to go. It is tough to deal with and is not boost friendly. I have a Megasquirt that I was previously only using for ignition control on the 552 that will be going in it.
• Secondly, the stock efi 460 engine, particularly the rods and pistons are not particularly boost friendly. The 552 short block (forged pistons, h-beams, etc) with a mild hyd cam will be topped with a set of slightly modified D3 iron heads. This will get my compression ratio down to a more boost friendly level. (9.6:1) The CR with the aluminum heads was 10.87:1, so I sold them to a guy that really really wanted them.
• Thirdly, I love having OD, but it's hard to pass up the ridiculously reliable C6 I have sitting in the shop. Besides, turbo motors tend to like highway gears so I'll swap the 4.30 center for one with some 3.25's or so.
• Fourthly, the factory EFI intake is not great, so I will be adding bungs to to my Victor, similar to what I did for the BB Ranger project many years ago.
  
• Fifthly, factory exhaust manifolds are the current plan.

What turbo? After reading A LOT of info on the web and on here in particular, I decided on an HT60. I didn't want twins and I didn't want to spend a ton of money. Will it work? I guess we'll see. Haha.

This thing is large.
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Power goals? I am figuring it will make 400+ on motor, and should make 600-ish on pump gas at 10 psi. Rpm max will be low, likely around 5000. I'm not trying to build the ultimate F100 or run 8.50's at 160 mph. Low 11's would be great and high 10's would be fantastic, but the goal is more to have a ridiculously fun driver than a quarter-mile killer.

 

The 351 is the way to go if your looking for a fun driver. It won't be too nose heavy and upset the balance when you compare to a BB. Checkout fitech, Holley ,the e4od will need some upgrading and might need a trans controller

 

Super cool project!

Is that the ebay HT60 clone or a real deal? Do you know the wheel specs and housing sizes? Is it a standard T6? I was always curious why we didn't see more of these. They can be had for under $300 and are basically a 76/78. I've heard claims of them weighing in at 64lbs!

FWIW I'm pulling 30" radials on 3.10 gearing and did just fine with my glide street/strip car.

My "Street car" is a TH400 with a 2.73. I use 3rd as OD only as It will do 140 in 2nd gear! Turbos pull the gear just fine. Even rolling into it in 3rd on the highway it's damn quick for a "Street car" IMO.

Good luck!

 

It is the clone. $244 after using an ebay discount code.

It is a heavy sob. Shipping weight was 60 lbs.

26cm housing. Don't know wheel sizes. Flange seems to be close to a T6. The bolt pattern is a little wider.

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That's a big boy! Like a 2.01 AR going by the diesel forums conversions.

 

Yikes. Well, maybe this 9.0L engine will spool it ok.

 

Awesome build! Looking forward to seeing more of this, as well as final results. '67-'79 Ford trucks are my all-time favorite truck body style.

 

A little more on the truck. I bought it several years ago off Craigslist for $500. It barely ran. I did some work to it and got it to where I could ferry my kids around town to mow lawns. In the meantime, I picked up the efi460/e4od combo for cheeeeap. The engine/trans sat in my backyard until my my oldest decided he wanted the truck for his first car. We toyed with all sorts of ideas. Drag race, prerunner, corner burner and we finally decided to make it a short bed, do the CV swap and put the efi engine in it. We worked together on it for the next year and it was finally ready the day he took his driver's test. He drove it for about 2 months and quickly figured out he wanted something with more seats and AC. Haha. We found a low mileage Jeep Cherokee so I traded him the Jeep for the truck because he funded all the work we did to the truck. We put in a roll cage (originally planned just a main hoop and door bars so we could attach shoulder belts) and later, a seat from a 99 Dodge Ram with integrated seat belts.

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Wish I could make that pic rotate....

 

Cool project. I've always liked the old Fords, but disliked the front suspension. The cv looks like a nice fix. #ad

 

The CV swap is the best thing ever. This truck started as an F250, so anything we did was going to require major parts swappage. The CV lowered it, gave it better brakes, and rack and pinion steering. Win, win, win. It drives ridiculously nice.

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Going to catch up and show some of the stuff I will be using that was previously on the Mustang. I was using a MS-1 with extra code to control the ignition. Worked awesome. The best part is I can tune it using MSDroid loaded on my phone. No laptop needed.

36-1 wheel setup. Ford mod motor wheel from Oreilly's and billet hatchet weight. I actually didn't end up using the hatchet. I needed to r&r the hatchet several times to get the wheel on right and it fit the crank waaaay too tight. It would have been super hard to get off once pressed on.
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Used a hole saw to enlarge the center hole.
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Fits perfect.
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Welded it to a stock steel hatchet and made a simple mount for the Cherry sensor.
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Tight fit, but it worked great.
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Coil igniter the triggers the coils.
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Coil mount built by a friend for his tunnel ram equipped BBF. He switched to COP's. I bent it to go over the dummy distributor.
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This stuff won't look near as cool on the truck though. Haha.

 

Like the coil bracket.
The wheel looks pretty good too.

 

552 pics from when I built it a few years ago. RPM 4.5" cast crank, RPM h-beams, Probe 22cc dish forged pistons. Rings gapped for N2O, but I only sprayed it a couple of times.

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File fitting rings.
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Shortblock
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I have considered just using one of the stock 460's I have, but that just seems like I would be making more work for myself later on.

 

Very cool build, I like the crown vic swap and I have thought of doing the same to mine.

After having built my 78 f150 with the 460 I completely agree with this. In fact I wish I wouldn't have spent the money on all the 460 forged stuff and swapped in a 351 instead. I just couldnt stomach replacing the freshly rebuilt C6 and brand new custom mounts plus redoing all my plumbing. If I was where you are I would absolutely put in a 351. Better fuel economy, cheaper to build, better transmission options, lighter, easier to fit the turbo, easier to fit A/C... all around better for the street.

I run an s480 1.32 A/R on mine and I feel like its about the right turbo for a street 460, it worked well at 472", and was a little like an on off switch on the 429, but I don't think it would be adequate for a 552". I am interested in how the HT60 performs.

 

If I had a 351 handy I *might* consider it. It currently has the '96 460 in it and I have the 552, a stock 460, heads, cranks, manifolds and 2 BB C6's all at my disposal. Just going to stick with what I know and have plenty of.

If I was going to change engine platforms though, I would put a Gen3 hemi in it so fast your head would spin.

 

SURE FUCK IT. Cop shocks, cop brakes, ford body, chrysler motor. Mutts always live the longest anyway.

 

Did you ever measure the impeller wheel?

 

Yeah, it is the same as reported elsewhere. 74/109 -ish

Camshaft:
The big question is: does it matter much for an engine this size that is not looking to squeeze out every last available hp? Probably not. lol But, since I have to buy a cam, I might as well choose one that more suited for turbo use than one of similar size with a lot of overlap.

I had an example of a custom turbo cam spec'd by Randy Malik for a D3 headed 460 (65 Comet build) so I drug out the old Desktop Dyno 2003 and plugged in all the engine and cam info. Then, I went about looking all over for a cam with similar design criteria, like minimal overlap (~10 degrees), that created a power curve that was identical or very similar. There are two that I found that I would consider as possibles. One is a Lunati "BareBones" cam p/n 10340102 and the other is a CompCams X4270H. These two produce power curves that are almost identical to one another and are very very close to the custom cam. Both are hyd flat tappet.

Lunati Cam specs:

• Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 290/300
• Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 224/234
• Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .543/.569
• LSA: 112

Comp Cam specs:

• Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 270/278
• Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 226/234
• Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .554/.574
• LSA: 111

Leaning towards the Lunati.

 

Tough call since you dont' know what kind of back pressure you'll see on that sucker. I'd go with the first choice as well. Maybe even one with less overlap. 5* at .050 isn't a lot, but depending on the the lobe profile that can still be a healthy amount. I like to shoot for zero overlap at .050 with a nice symmetrical lobe if it's an option. Esp. for a hydraulic cam "street car".

 

Thanks for the input. It doesn't help that this engine is pretty darn big to start with. It's dang near the size of 2 Ford 4.6L mod motors. haha