69/70, 429 4V Powerup options?? (Got a Pic now...)

Gotta 69/70 Galaxie Convertible 429 4V 360HP & 476 Ft. # Torque... HP @ 4,600 R's and TQ @ 2800 R's... Edelbrock/Carter 1406, 600 cfm, auto choke carb.


What are some inexpensive HP uppers for this all stock car?

FE

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FEandGoingBroke on 6/3/05 12:43am ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FEandGoingBroke on 6/3/05 11:21am ]</font>

I forgot to add that this motor comes sans power adding stickers....
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I would start out with headers and a good set of mufflers. Also a good flowing air cleaner with a cold air setup.

Yeah, I'd definitely start with headers and dual 2.5" exhaust with some good mufflers. After that, probably an intake manifold like a Performer RPM or Stealth if it will fit under the hood. The standard Performer intake is supposed to be the same height as a stock intake, and would be a step up if the other intakes won't fit.

Possibly the biggest improvement you can make is for free... you can clean up the intake and exhaust ports on the heads. The exhaust has lots of room for improvement. The bad part about porting is it's very time consuming, and you gotta pull the engine halfway apart to do it. If this is your daily driver, you'd be best to buy a cheap set of used heads and do all your porting on them so you can do the swap in a day, no down time. Then once you're done you've got the cost of new gaskets, and also if you wanted to go the extra mile you'd have a good valve job done before you put them back on, which would cost a little too.
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Good luck on the headers. A set of CJ manifolds will work $$$ I've used an CJ &amp; SCJ intake in the past &amp; they are a nice piece &amp; can be had for around $100. This engine, if you don't care about economy, will love the biggest carb you can throw at it too!
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The intakes are great, leave them alone other than clean-up and valve job. The 385-series exhausts suck. Knocking out the Thermactor bumps, cleaning up the bowls and killing the flash will do a world of good; tests from "the day" had them accounting for 40-60 hp, depending. Hardened seats will let you run unleaded, but will drive up the cost.

By the time you do the machine work for anything more than that, you could prolly just score a set of iron Kaase CJ heads, but that would be a much more radical engine build.

As long as they are off, ya might as well stab a little bit of cam in there, nothing too extreme that's going to make your Galaxie shudder like a hat-backward 5.0. Something like the old Police/CJ should do fine.

Then go after the exhaust system, 2.5" all the way, and make sure you have enough carburetor on it. A 750 is not too much; just take your time and follow the instructions to get it to sit down and idle cleanly.

Then, go after the convertor (stock one is as tight as a tick in a whiskey barrel) and the rear axle (3.25-3.50 was factory for police and trailer tow; a little more won't kill ya)

Good luck!!!

First the 600 carb is costing you HP. Preformer is about as far as you want to go until you get above 5000rpms. Carb chokes the engine's airflow. 750 will give you about 20Hp in itself. Get a oilpan windage tray. Better oiling control and 10-15HP. Regular timing gearset. Duraspark II dist. Electronic ignition and a .045" gap plug will give you better HP. Use the lifter valley metal tray with intake gaskets. It keeps the oil off the bottom of the manifold. Comp cams roller tip rocker arms will help. Do the heads as stated before. Cleanup the intake side and port out the exhaust. Headers are available and dual 2 1/2" exhaust pipes. Mufflers are a big issue. Get ones that actually flow, not just advertise they do, as many do. Shift kit in the trans with a external cooler. Big electric cooling fan. Probably has 2.75 gears non posi, 28 spline unit. 3.25 posi unit for highway use, or 3.50 gears if mostly street driving. And find anything in the car that doesn't need to be there, loose weight from the car. If you decide to spend a few more $$$$, CJ valves and port job will net you appx. 60HP, (Ford's) words.

Thanks for the info guy's. The owner will be here and I'll be in CA. when or if he does any of this... Here's a pic of the finished car. It was in my shop for 3 years waiting to get done until I showed up and finished it in 3 months! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_spin.gif[/img]




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