Go BIGGER or go home! (454's or Fords older dumptruck engine?)

It seems I can find a 454 anywhere from $500 to 1000$. We have a custom body shop in the back of the Tattoo shop and the guy who runs it keeps giving me cool and interesting ideas to run with.

Anyways, one of the things he mentioned is how Ford had these old dumptrucks with engines that you could pull and throw into a car. This got me REALLY interested. However I dont know what they're called or what their specs are.

I am going to be messing around with engine upgrades in the future anyways. Since I dont know as much as I'd like about engines I could use a second opinion or some thoughts on why I should or should not.

Cheers!
-Andrew

 

We had a dumptruck behind our shop at work, with a 390. Supposed to be a low RPM torque monster!

But it will be very hard getting them between the shock towers. You will need to remove the stock front suspension and put in a mustang II type front end.

 

I' dont have a problem with the extra work at all, lets see if I can find what I want now!

*begins note taking and comparisons*

 

A lot of the dump trucks used a specific truck engines and were sized as 330, 361 and 391 CID. I know there were some differences. Probably just as easy to find a 429 or 460 though.

 

FE block series. 352-360-390-410. The bigger truck versions just had a 1 on the end. 361-391-411. To my knowledge the 352 was used in both cars and trucks and didn't have the number change.

And as " maverick 1970 " stated, there was a 330-331 ( both this and the 360's were gas sucking dogs )

 

Excellent thanks alot guys! Im going to start researching now! I'll post back later with findings!

 

Just as easy to get a 460 out of an old car, more cubes than GM's 454... A better idea is to build a SBF stroker, easy to install, makes more power than the big blocks.

 

Back in the late 50's they had monster motors in the 750 and up series trucks. the smaller motor was a 477 cube and the bigger one was 534 cubes however I can't see why anyone would put any of the commercial truck motors in a car unless they were building a redneck stump-puller and even then they would have to add a whole lot of weight.
They were wound out at about 3800 but they didn't know the meaning of "can't pull" My first dump was a 1958 10 wheeler 850 Super Duty with the 534 5 sp and 2 sp rears.

 

Build an SBF stroker on a 460 or my 302?

 

There was a old t bird here with a 429 running in it no papers for 500bucks if your gonna go into mii susp. I could call and see if he still had the car if you want

 

That sounds awesome for 500, however I'm still debating.
Id prefer a 454 or a 396 over a 429. (Im not pretending I know what I'm talking about, I actually dont know haha)

 

I looked at this years ago. 361 391 and 411 I think. Machinist told me they have oil issues if you can get any RPM out of them. They were built heavy for truck use and low RPM.

 

Long story short: stick w/ the small block motors. Putting and old FE block in a Mav "IMO" is a step backward unless going w/ one of the newer crate motors.

 

Well I dont have any official plans for a crate atm. Also no go on the 454 you think?

 

I wud stay away from the old, heavy, wide big block engines and go w/ a small blk Ford. If I were thinkin Cheby it wud be w/one of the LSX engines. They are all over the place and reasonably priced.
These engines are more logica/practicall for the light unibody Mavs... IMO
There are 3 folks on this forum I know who have the LS engines in the Mav's.
What wud u be looking to gain by putting in the 454 or 460+ engines?