Fix or crate?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Fix or crate?
Just bought a restored 78 F-150 Ranger. Problem is the engine is all jacked up.
Was driving it and lost all oil pressure. My buddy is a mechanic and found that the crank shaft wore the thresh bearing down and caused metal to block the oil screen. Issue is I'm sure there is metal that made it through and is flowing around my engine, so just replacing the bearing and crank shaft isn't going to be enough. I got the rig at a decent price, so I'm willing to drop 5k into to get it back up and running properly.. or better.
So, here's the question as I'm more of an IT guy then mechanic and could use some in-sight. Do I get a crate engine or rebuild the current one. It's a 78 460 V8 Police Interceptor and honestly I'd like to keep something around (or higher) the same HP. If crate, any suggestions on type welcome, but remember I need to do the entire thing for under 5k. I'll need to replace clutch and flywheel as well.
If you can think of a real nice setup that gives more horse (will be mudding and cruising... no rock climbing) for the amount I can spend I'd appreciate it.
Thank you much,
Carter
(Pittsburgh Area)
Was driving it and lost all oil pressure. My buddy is a mechanic and found that the crank shaft wore the thresh bearing down and caused metal to block the oil screen. Issue is I'm sure there is metal that made it through and is flowing around my engine, so just replacing the bearing and crank shaft isn't going to be enough. I got the rig at a decent price, so I'm willing to drop 5k into to get it back up and running properly.. or better.
So, here's the question as I'm more of an IT guy then mechanic and could use some in-sight. Do I get a crate engine or rebuild the current one. It's a 78 460 V8 Police Interceptor and honestly I'd like to keep something around (or higher) the same HP. If crate, any suggestions on type welcome, but remember I need to do the entire thing for under 5k. I'll need to replace clutch and flywheel as well.
If you can think of a real nice setup that gives more horse (will be mudding and cruising... no rock climbing) for the amount I can spend I'd appreciate it.
Thank you much,
Carter
(Pittsburgh Area)
Member
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 37
Likes: 8
From: Warminster,PA
If I was in your situation, I would build the 460 you have in there. I would bore it .030 and get some good flowing heads for it and pick the cam that would suite my needs best. Slap a Holley double pump carb on it with a dual plane intake manifold and use a mallory unilite distributor. This way you can build it for your intended use and utilize todays technology to build a far superior engine to the original 460.