My son recently bought a 1980 F150 4x4 with 79k miles and its a mint unit! Someone at one point transplanted a 460 in it. When we got it home and running decent (points welded themselves together and timing was 32°) I noticed it was kinda sluggish for a big block. I checked the head castings and found it had the horrible D2VE-A2A heads so we were a bit disappointed. So him and I chatted a bit about squeezing some hp out of the poor ole girl and we decided the cheapest route would be to force some air into it. I've been researching the best option for a turbo as we want to only run a single since plumbing gets more involved with twins but peoples opinions are all over the place. I plan on throwing a single plain intake on, converting the edelbrock 750 to a blow through, and looking at a comp cams 268H camshaft and then port the heads on the intake and exhaust sides. What is everyone's thoughts on a HX55 for a single? Thanks!

 

https://www.theturboforums.com/threads/1978-f150-bbf-s480-now-going-coyote.383603/

Here is one with an ht60 https://www.theturboforums.com/threads/nanner-gets-an-ht60.385114/

Definitely doable. The 80 is a little different under the hood but it won't matter. You really want to open the ring gaps, see my build about that.

There are other 460 builds as well

The hx55 is small on the exhaust side for a 460, even an anemic one. Look for an s475 (genuine or knock off). With the mediocre stock cast pistons and rods you want to avoid low RPM boost, bring it in after 3k and shift before 6k.

Adding a set of c9, d0 or d3 heads would do a lot for it, my experience was the lower compression configurations just weren't that much fun. If your near Denver I have ported c9's and D0's, as well as a hot side.

 

How much more oomph you want? I'd lean towards a HCI package. Very easy 500+hp.

 

I'm with Disney... I came to the conclusion that unless you want 800+hp a turbo 460 isn't the way to go. Good ported factory heads, or aftermarket ones a nice street cam and the right intake makes a real fun truck with a lot less head scratching. Also these old trucks need a LOT to make them really drive well at turbo big block power levels. You need a brake upgrade, period regardless of what you do to the truck, factory braking system is not up to the task of todays traffic. Also remember there is no ABS, no traction control, essentially nothing between the driver and the engine to keep it tame... being able to light up the tires on the highway with the c6 in third is pretty fun until it suddenly isn't and you have nothing to protect you in a crash.

 

Here's another good 460 one using mostly stock parts.

https://www.theturboforums.com/threads/65-mercury-comet-turbo-big-block.383732/

 

The truck would mainly be used for crusing and hauling. The plan is not to run it very hard, my son and I are pullers so we fully understand our ways around engines and vehicles and I also have been an auto/diesel tech for the last 23 years of my life. So with building this we wanted to bring the boost on down low for low end to pull a car trailer, haul loads or maybe even hit up a local truck pull every no amd then. This isn't going to be a race truck by no means.

 

I don't think the stock bottom end is going to hold to up low speed boost. Give it a shot, I blew up a few for various reasons, one due to a bad block, lost two more 385 engines to pistons, have yet to hurt a rod but I didn't let the boost start building until at least 3k. If you want to reliably tow at low RPM you are going to need stronger pistons, and probably rods. If you want to keep it budgety throw in a cam that will carry to 5500 rpm, something like comp 34-227-4, or even something smaller. It will help with the lack of compression in the engine and should make peak torque early. Size the turbo to peak boost around 3k, that will keep the cylinder pressures reasonable while still making good torque.

 

After more research I've decide to go with 2 gt45 turbos. What size wastegates are recommended and also would one blowoff work?

 

One blow off will be enough. If your running eBay gates the generic 44mm ones will work fine, disassemble, deburr add anti-seize reassemble.

 

Thinking about it, twin GT45s on a 72 engine seem really large. That engine only makes 212 HP, it would do fine on a single GT45. Look at something smaller. Its usually easiest to size turbos to HP, the 460 is big but the mass flow isn't going to be much with that low power output.

 

Thanks for the input B E N! I actually only have one gt45 at the moment anyways. I was going to try and run to see what would happen