460 Ford Forum banner

460 Ford Vs. 454 Chevy

50K views 16 replies 15 participants last post by  Werecow 
#1 ·
This topic may have been covered already, but be that a Ford 460 and a Chevy 454 are similar in size and some people say in design. Which engine is better in performance? I Know it all depends on the build-up. It seems that Chevy performance aftermarket parts are much more abundant. My father-in-law just put together a 1970 Chevelle with a crate 454 Chevy. I want to be able to brag and tell him that my 460 Ford is faster and better! Ford and Chevy guys will probably be biased on there responses.
 
#3 ·
http://highflowdynamics.com/

It all depends on the build, for sure.
But bench racing seldom comes from clear and lucid discussions.

The big chevy is a pretty good engine and certainly is no boat anchor.
I prefer Ford stuff because I like Ford's willingness to start with a clean sheet in order to make a better product/vehicle. If they had kept plodding along with the Y block or FE, I'd be a chevy guy.
 
#6 ·
I certainly don't think anybody refered to the Ford as being a "boat anchor" just that the BB Chevy ISN'T.

The Ford IS considerably bigger in outside physical size dimensions and heavier.
 
#7 ·
460 builders gotta have a clue what they're are doing to build & run a 460. But with a 454, if you can't build it you can always find 250 experts anywhere you look that can & will build it, and rebuild it, and rebuild it, until the pistons swap holes & it has to be replaced. They call 'em "Blow Ties" for a reason, doncha see?. :shock:
Hand Grenade is also an appropriate name for them. So Build your 385 series right & you can stay out front to avoid the hot oil & flying debris when the Oragne Replacement Enginess catastrophically fail on a pass. . .
IMHO :roll:

FBp :lol:
 
#8 ·
If your waiting for a chevy guy to respond here,good luck.if there on here its to secretly find out what there doing wrong. :lol:.i can tell you on max effort deal useing oem heads and block,chevys will come up at least 50hp short of a ford.both motors having the same cu.in.There heads cant compete with a iron cj head. :wink:
 
#9 ·
I'm in no way a Chevy supporter but I don't think its fair to compare an OEM 454 head to a 429CJ head. Seems fair to compare an OEM 460 head such as the DOVE-C or D3VE-A2A to the basic 454 head. I've seen some bone stock 460's that were pretty lazy, same goes for the 454 Chevy also. Be interesting to see what the OEM 454 head flows compared to the OEM unported 460 head. Chris
 
#10 ·
Chris the 454's some came with rectangle port heads but still don't come close to the CJ heads. but buck for buck the 460 can build more power than the chevy cuz the ford parts seem to be stronger and I like the simetrical port layout better.

454 4.25 bore x 4. stroke
460 4.36 bore x 3.85 stroke

the 460 to me has better torque cuz the bigger bore, I think the 454 most cubes you can do is 496 safely. now the 460 you can go 552 or 557 stroker. with stock block... now the chevy after tha 496 you better start looking at an aftermarket block.



Randy
 
#12 ·
i have both engines and still have my old street race camaro with a big block chevy in it. now on block strenght its about dead even but thats a ford cj and a bbc with 4 bolt mains. on bore size ford is king but most pre 79 bbc will go to .125 over.you can go .100 and never worry about sonic testing. chevy has a better oil system,ford has a better rod stroke ratio. a standard chevy head has a good and bad intake port (non symetrical) the chevy guys spend thousand to get what we have stock. most of the time when chevy head flow numbers are posted it for the (good) port so the same head has different flow depending on which way the runner turns. deck height ford wins heads wiegh about the same block wieght is about the same compared to a tall deck chevy 10.200.a stock chevy rod is stronger than a fords chevy has stronger cranks due to a factory forged unit that i have personally seen run at 1150 hp.ford has a larger diam. lifter so that better. i only raced a chevy due to price and availability now i wouldnt go back to a chevy but i think without this web site a guy could still strugle with the ford its hard to find people like charlie and lem and randy m, paul kane just to mention a few
 
#13 ·
cougar1969 said:
Chris the 454's some came with rectangle port heads but still don't come close to the CJ heads. but buck for buck the 460 can build more power than the chevy cuz the ford parts seem to be stronger and I like the simetrical port layout better.

454 4.25 bore x 4. stroke
460 4.36 bore x 3.85 stroke

the 460 to me has better torque cuz the bigger bore, I think the 454 most cubes you can do is 496 safely. now the 460 you can go 552 or 557 stroker. with stock block... now the chevy after tha 496 you better start looking at an aftermarket block.

Randy
GM's been selling crate and marine engines with 4.47 siamesed bore blocks for a while now. They were never installed in stuff with wheels but they are a regular production item, there's even an emissions-legal 502 truck engine. The bare block is about $1600 for the 'production' version, about $2K for p/n 24502502, their equivalent to A460. They sell a 572 crate engine as well.

The 460 is a newer design with some obvious improvements over the Chevy. But.. whoever designed in the crazy crank snout must have been fired from Mattel.
 
#14 ·
HotRodLincoln said:
cougar1969 said:
Chris the 454's some came with rectangle port heads but still don't come close to the CJ heads. but buck for buck the 460 can build more power than the chevy cuz the ford parts seem to be stronger and I like the simetrical port layout better.

454 4.25 bore x 4. stroke
460 4.36 bore x 3.85 stroke

the 460 to me has better torque cuz the bigger bore, I think the 454 most cubes you can do is 496 safely. now the 460 you can go 552 or 557 stroker. with stock block... now the chevy after tha 496 you better start looking at an aftermarket block.

Randy
GM's been selling crate and marine engines with 4.47 siamesed bore blocks for a while now. They were never installed in stuff with wheels but they are a regular production item, there's even an emissions-legal 502 truck engine. The bare block is about $1600 for the 'production' version, about $2K for p/n 24502502, their equivalent to A460. They sell a 572 crate engine as well.

The 460 is a newer design with some obvious improvements over the Chevy. But.. whoever designed in the crazy crank snout must have been fired from Mattel.
IMO, that's the only thing GM has over Ford, aftermarket support. these GM guys don't look at it that way, but if they got the same lack of support that Ford did the tables would be turned. Why can't the aftermarket build blocks like that for Ford? Seems to me they would build some monster motors with Ford stuff if they wanted to but they don't.
 
#15 ·
Chevy motors/parts are easier to find and cheaper when you do find them. I think fords sound better but at the drag strip you see a lot more big block chevys and hemis then you do fords... bottom line, if your a Ford guy then you'll build a chevy eating 460, and if you're a Chevy guy, you'll do the same with your big block... this is coming from a Chevy guy, but I tried to kill the biases best I can.
 
#17 ·
Larger standard bore and better breathing stock heads will allow for better power production from a stock Ford vs a brand X. Biggest reason for power discrepancy is camshaft and exaust port design. Greater aftermarket support is the reason (we can all agree on) why you see more of them in racing and motorsports. Due to the fact that the aftermarket has so much support for brand X big block, small block and that danm LS because brand X decided to make them available in almost all of the cars and trucks they produced from 1966 to 2015. The 385 series Ford big block is from an engineering standpoint a better power producer and is more reliable at higher power numbers due to a stronger block, but like I said before... It's the numbers... More brand X big blocks were produced, thus more support.. As the saying goes "The junkyards are full of em..."
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top