I have a 460 all built and ready to drop in my 77 4x4 which has a top loader 4 speed. Only reason I went with a Big Block is cause I was told it would bolt up. Today at the track a guy told be that the bell housing for a manual it not going to fit
and neither will the engine mounts... WTF?

 

I thought they were the same 335 engine series. Check in the engine section Some FTErs must have done that swap.

 

My Bad, 351M, 400 are in the 335 series.60 is in the 385 series.

 

Bell housing bolt patterns are the same between the 351M & 460. The motor mounts are different though.

 

you need adapter mounts for the motor. I swapped my 351m straight out for a 460 using the stock 460 engine harness and some adapter mounts, but my 460 was out of a 2wd truck so I was ahead since I already had the right exhaust manifolds and accessory drive. I have a c6 and it bolted right up. Getting a 460 to work with a manual, I'm told, is a pain in the ***. It matters if your engine is internal/external balance and i've heard its difficult to find the right flywheel.

 

meant 4 speed. I hear that the bell bolts are the same but that I may need a special flywheel and or clutch or something? Or that the depth is wrong and that with a C6 its a easy swap but manuals are diff??

 

Lookin at these over priced swap kits.. L&L Products

From what I can tell.. The 460 crank bolt patterned should be the same (and anyone confirm?) BUT the 460 flywheel is both smaller and balanced differently. SOOO IF this is all true, I am thing that can just have the machine shop neutralize the balance of my 351m flwheel and fab up some mounts.. Sound like a plan?

 

What year is the 460 ? You need to find that out or look for a balance weight on the front of the engine. My 79 had it but the older ones don't, I'm not sure of the year they added it but it's right in the time period. If you know how it's balanced you can get some better advice on the flywheel you need and what to do with it.

 

Do a search here. There are many who have done it, and if you read through the posts you will find it is doable. It is not however a direct bolt in swap. My '79 had a 460 swapped in by a PO. He used a homemade spacer between the bell housing and the engine, and homemade alternator brackets. I think the motor mounts were adapted someway as well. I think I read here that you could use 390 motor mounts if you only used 3 of the holes?

 

Spacer???? I need to hear more about this...

The Engine is a neutrally balanced 73. I need to know if the bolt pattern for the flywheels now.

 

A couple of years ago I bought a 77 F250 4X4, manual transmission (NP435) in which someone had planted a 72 Lincoln 460 (by the VIN the original engine was a 351M). It always used a lot of oil and I had planned on rebuilding it some time in the future. The future turned out to be last February when the ring gear on the flywheel got so bad the starter would not engage the ring gear on the flywheel.

When I pulled the engine out I noticed there was a homemade 1/4" spacer between the engine plate and the bellhousing and another where the starter mounts. The bellhousing was and is the 351M bellhousing. The flywheel teeth were badly worn in several places and it was obvious the starter drive teeth were barely contacting the ring gear teeth depthwise. There were 146 teeth on the ring gear and I was never able to determine what it was out of. The clutch plate was a 3 finger type. There was evidence that the back edge of the plate had rubbed on the front of the clutch release lever so I suppose that is wht the spacer was there. that spacer totally negated the function of the dowels meant to prevent flex between the engine and the bellhousing. I don't know what the motor mounts were off of but, between the mounts and the engine was a 1/2" spacer on each side. Only 2 holes of the 3 on each side of the block were utilized.

After much research, I bought the 460 clutch disc, clutch plate, and flywheel form L&L. The ring gear tooth count is 176-correct for a 460. I bought extreme duty engine mounts from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard. Yes, all that was expensive but, it works correctly. HOWEVER, the one modification I had to make was to grind about .060" off of the front of the 4 bosses (bumps) in the bellhousing so the ring gear would clear them. I mounted the engine plate on the engine and then the flywheel, clutch disc and plate. Then I measured the distance from the rear edge of the plate to the rear edge of the ring gear teeth. Then I measured the distance from the front edge of the bellhousing to the front of the bosses and came up with how much I had the grind off of the bosses. I was able to eliminate the need for the 1/4" spacers which had been previously used.

I am sure others have used a different combination of parts in 460 conversions with less cost than what I did but, I can tell you it works as it should.

 

Here ya go, basically a complete write-up with everything you could need to know. With pictures! I know it is for a 390 -> 460, but it has all the info you need.

1973-1979 Ford Truck 460 V-8 Swap

I am in the process of trying to swap in a 429 in place of what used to be a 390.

 

Regardless of the parts you use in this conversion, I suggest that you take measurements to be sure that evrything is going to work. I expect the reason a 1/4" spacer had been previously used in my truck between the engine plate and the bellhousing is because of the clutch pressure plate rubbed on the clutch release lever. The pressure plate (3 finger type) which was previously used was about 3 1/2" tall when measured with the pressure plat laying on a table. The diaphragm type which I replaced it with was nearly an inch shorter which eliminated the rubbing. However, I still had the issue with the ring gear teeth hitting the 4 bosses on the inside of the bellhousing. Before you install the engine, I think it would be good to install the engine plate, flywheel, clutch disc, clutch pressure plate, and the bellhousing with the clutch release lever in it and then, with the spark plugs removed, be sure you can turn the engine over.

 

all good stuff thanks... keep it coming

 

I wish I had a picture or had taken measurements. I think the spacer was cut from 3/8" plate. It may have been 1/4 but it seems like it was thicker than that. It looked like it was made from tracing the bell housing, both inside and out and cutting it from a piece of plate steel. It was sandwiched between the bell housing and engine. I sold the engine, bell housing and transmission all together to a guy that was going to install them in a '74 F250.