[JRDUNB01]

Alright guys. I'm looking for some general help.

I've got a 71 Lincoln Mark III, 460, c4 trans, basically stock. But not really.

Bought it from a guy who bought it from my father one month before I was born.

I'd like to drag race this car one day, It's big, and heavy, and I want it to be a sleeper.

I Don't need to be farmtruck, but at the same time, i'd like to line up to a stock Camaro SS, or Challenger, or Mustang, and make the guy in the car next to me go WTF just happened.

The engine has been bored .030 over. Been "decked" (not sure what that means.) had .060 shaved off of the block, and .030 off of the heads. Has D3VE heads, erson comp cam, with valve lift of .495/.495, Duration @.050 Lift 214/214, Lobe Separation 111 deg.(I don't know anything about duration, and very little about lsa) Has Holley 750 Dual line, single pump on it.


I am still pretty new to this stuff, was sheltered as a child, and never could afford anything until recently.


What I Want to know is this.
Do I have a decent platform to start with? What should I do first? And has anyone ever built one of these engines on a budget?

Also, would it be better to work with the heads I've got, or go with aftermarket Edelbrock RPM performer heads.(I know they're about $3,000, but the kit comes with a cam.

 

[Scott66GTA]

I used to hang with a guy that had one of these- the guys in the stands would bet on the "Stinkin' Lincoln"... it is very heavy, but then again, there are a lot of opportunities to shave weight off. The front couch, er, seat is about 2-300 lbs, a/c stuff, spare, rear seat, etc. a set of 3:50 ratio gears would help. he ran his in the mid 13's with not a lot of mods. lotsa torque. your compression sound like it should be higher now. more cam and carb would work, aftermarket heads would really help. gears would be first in my book

 

[cuthrell]

i think Scott66GTA is on target.
the only thing i'd add would be a trac-loc and some wide rubber.

some info on the heads:
D3VE A2A heads - 460 Ford Forum

 

[turbo2256b]

I run a 460 in my dually a 515/525 lift DOVE heads ported 4.11 gears, 31.2ish tires, hooker super comps, 3" exhaust, An original Torker on it currently. Did run a dual plane and a Torker II. The torker II ran the best for performace even ran around town in 2nd gear down to idle speeds and pulled away better than either of the other intakes even idling down in 3 or 4 th. Have made some SRT 8 cars and trucks look sad even SRT 10s in trucks.

 

[zandifam]

I am no expert but it appears you have a good collection of parts to increase torque in a very heavy car which is a good thing. Before spending huge amounts of money I would try some small things. You could add an open spacer to the intake if you have hood clearance. If it likes that then you could eventually consider a bigger intake. My guess is that with the cam you describe you are making peak power around 5000-5500. If that is so your heads might not be a problem. The early heads like you have increase compresson and can be ported to support to support considerable horsepower. With that cam my guess is that those heads are fine.

You have a heavy car but you have a super burly engine that makes a lot of torque. My advice would be to keep it like it is but add a small blower or nitrous setup. You have a very strong block, rods and crank. Forged pistons would be good but if you are careful you can get away with what you have. Good luck

 

[turbo2256b]

D3s are the open chamber heads a 71 460 had flattop pistond stock OP dose not say what pistons are used. If there flat tops with D3s compression is going to be over 10 to 1. I did the reverse small chamber heads and reverse dome pistons. If the d3s are milled and the block milled compression might be in the mid to high 10s compression wise. The cam selected also will boost cranking compression.
It may have issues on pump gas.

Dont remember for sure but think there wasn't much room for hood clearance but might be thinking of later models

 

[JRDUNB01]

I don't know what pistons are used, but I know that without tubbing the rear ended, or cutting the quarter panels, 255's are the biggest I can fit. Which is what I have.

I did the math on it, if it has flat top heads, that top over the block .060(which would make sense with stock crank, and .060 off the block, because it runs 10.5:1 factory) it should be around 12.3:1

The car feels choked down, like it doesn't make enough power.
I've only been able to drive it a few times, but it doesn't want to go. Not even burn a tire from a dead stop.

I was considering rear gears at 3.50 and a 3000ish stall.
The tach shows it maxes out at 5600 rpm, and that cam advertises as operating range between 1600(I think)-4250rpm

 

[JRDUNB01]

Flat top Pistons, not heads.

 

[turbo2256b]

sTOCK IT HAD FLAT TOP PISTONS and the small combustion chambers 10.5 chambers 74 to 77 cc.
D3s have much larger chambers 90 to 93 cc compression 8.5.

Yours could be The D heads chamber reduced to what .030 takes off the 90 to 93 cc's. Now depends on the pistons flat top or reversed dome think there like 22 cc's. .060 OFF THE BLOCK increases compression also. So your a bit over 8.5 possibly a bit over 9.0 or your around 10.5 to 11.0 depends on which pistons.

wITH EITHER FACTORY STYLE pistons your close to max lift without notching the pistons on the intake side at least.

D0 a compression check that should help ball park A COMPRESSION FIGURE

 

[JRDUNB01]

sTOCK IT HAD FLAT TOP PISTONS and the small combustion chambers 10.5 chambers 74 to 77 cc.
D3s have much larger chambers 90 to 93 cc compression 8.5.

Yours could be The D heads chamber reduced to what .030 takes off the 90 to 93 cc's. Now depends on the pistons flat top or reversed dome think there like 22 cc's. .060 OFF THE BLOCK increases compression also. So your a bit over 8.5 possibly a bit over 9.0 or your around 10.5 to 11.0 depends on which pistons.

wITH EITHER FACTORY STYLE pistons your close to max lift without notching the pistons on the intake side at least.

D0 a compression check that should help ball park A COMPRESSION FIGURE

I'll have to double check when I get home, but I'd swear the placard under the hood says 10.5:1 CR on it.

 

[JRDUNB01]

D3s are the open chamber heads a 71 460 had flattop pistond stock OP dose not say what pistons are used. If there flat tops with D3s compression is going to be over 10 to 1. I did the reverse small chamber heads and reverse dome pistons. If the d3s are milled and the block milled compression might be in the mid to high 10s compression wise. The cam selected also will boost cranking compression.
It may have issues on pump gas.

Dont remember for sure but think there wasn't much room for hood clearance but might be thinking of later models

Open chamber heads are not ideal for performance correct?

I was thinking about getting this with tax returns. Edelbrock Power Package Top-End Kits 2045 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

Anyone have anything to say about it?

 

[cuthrell]

Don't spend any money until you've figured out what's wrong with the current setup.
The bone-stock 460 in my old smog-era '76 F250 would embarrass a lot of the cars on the street.

 

[turbo2256b]

The factory sticker on the engine or rad support or were ever that says 10.5 is the factory engine. Based on your build list your engine is no longer factory. D3 heads didnt show up untill 73. You dont know what pistons you have best move at this point do a compression check.
You could have so much compression already it wouldnt run all that well on pump gas

 

[cuthrell]

Doing a compression test doesn't determine the compression ratio of the motor.

A compression test measures the amount of compression the cylinder will hold with the valves closed.
It only tells you whether or not your valves/rings are leaking air.

 

[turbo2256b]

Doing a compression test doesn't determine the compression ratio of the motor.

A compression test measures the amount of compression the cylinder will hold with the valves closed.
It only tells you whether or not your valves/rings are leaking air.

Tue but to some extent it can help determine some things. If compression is like 160 say its probably rather low compression engine 180 190 probably rather high compression.
A cam can also tweak the results the OPs is a straight up cam could possible raise cranking compression something with more duration and overlap reduce cranking compression.
Its OPs best bet before tearing the intake and heads off to see whats up.

 

[turbo2256b]

Other issues piston to deck height is either .010 from 68 to 70,
.020 70 1/2, .032 in 72. So how could .060 be milled from the deck?
Might be a good idea to look at the block casing # and date code above the starter it might not be the proper block for the year of the car. Not sure what piston to deck is on newer blocks.

 

[cuthrell]

I agree, the OP should do a compression test to see what may be wrong internally.
It would be a tough pill to swallow to buy aluminum heads, only to find out that the rings are shot.

If the compression test comes back okay, I would start looking at carburetor, ignition, and timing to see what may be wrong.

 

[JRDUNB01]

if the d3's didn't show up until '73 then why would someone put them on a 71?


i'm thinking about taking the heads off and doing a DIY port and polish. I also just want to take stuff apart and try to learn more about what I have, and see how stuff comes apart, and goes together.

Main problem with that is I cannot find any torque specs anywhere on these. Also I wouldn't know exactly how to measure the combustion volume, nor the dish/dome of the piston.

 

[turbo2256b]

oNE OF MY GUESSES is its a newer block like my 86 maybe as the 71 engine was toast. Newer blocks piston to deck is listed as .186 below.
So decking it .060 would be possible so would taking .030 off the heads. doing both would raise the compression. How much would depend on flat top pistons or reverse dome. The decking and head milling would reduce the amount of lift the cam could have. Remember a guy had about a 71 still stock had valves just barely touching the pistons (the flat tops) wit h.525 lift intake.

 

[cuthrell]

ok- this is 100% my opinion, so take it as such.

DIY port-and-polish isn't the best place to start learning about motors. You run the risk of ruining your heads.

If you want to take something apart (which is very educational), get a junkyard engine, or some ruined piece off Craigslist.
Right now, you have a running car- I'd keep it that way as long as possible, and learn on something else.

This is how you measure the combustion volume of a cylinder head.
You can do the same thing with the piston dish.