[Rockit]

I have it seems like a lot of 460 heads that all have D3VE on them .Some of the motors that I have are '77 lincoln,'79 link, '75 link and a '79 van.I think according to the code they are all '73 lincoln heads! My question is did they make a large production run and continue to use them up,or what? JIM

 

[mustangboy]

Sometimes if the basic part was left the same, the casting number remained the same until there were some changes made to the part. Thats why the little date code is so important when trying to identify certain parts.I'm stumped as to why all your engines have the D3VE code though as my books list this number for 72-74 429-460 heads and had it changing to D4VE for 75-78 heads with the bigger chambers.

 

[Mike_R.]

Ford continued to use the D3VE heads throughout the 70's on all the 460's. I've never seen a set of D4VE heads on a 460. There are some books out there that have false part numbers.

 

[mustangboy]

I agree with you about the books but the one I quoted from is usually very good.(Tom Monroe's how to rebuild your 351c,-460) I have another one (high performance ford engine parts interchange) that is absolutely full of mistakes.It has a hp formula in the back that says a 3000 lb car running 100mph in the quarter is making 425 hp!yeah right!

 

[Rockit]

Well, What I'm hearing here is I have small combustion chambers, The Thermactor bumps in the exhaust ports,so if the bumps were ground off maybe I'd have a cheap head for moderate street use? JIM

 

[ltyrsports]

The '72 D2VE heads are very different than the '73 D3VE. The combustion chambers are huge on the '72s. The D3VEs are the standard 460 head, decent but not great. There were a run of D43E heads that were the 460 Police Interceptor head in '74 & '75. These are very rare though. Good heads, but hard to come by. There are also D2OE-AB Police heads from '72 that are awesome pieces, but again very rare. The D3VEs can be very good with some work. Not as good as earlier 68-71 heads though.

 

[Mike_R.]

I think I metioned this a while back, and I'm not saying this to step on anyones toes, just to try and get the correct info out there. The Tom Monroe book is correct about 50% of the time about the 385 series part numbers. It's a great book for rebuilding, but the part numbers are not trustworthy at all. For example the only CJ head produced is D0OE-R. The C9VE mentioned in the book is a passenger car head, not a CJ head. A police interceptor head is D2OE-R, but the book shows some other weird part numbers. I don't have it front of me. Me and my brothers have owned about a dozen 429 and 460 police interceptors from various years and they were all D2OE-AB. The block part numbers are also hit and miss. this book was written a long time ago and I think some of the part numbers may be theoretical rather than actual.

 

[mustangboy]

Since were talking about the Tom Monroe book he has a good quote in his book,its a little long but appropriate.He says casting numbers are helpful but not 100% accurate as parts with the same casting numbers were frequently machined differently,thus generating different part numbers which don't appear on the part, so we must use the numbers as well as the physical appearance of the part to identify it.(end quote)I also like to try to figure out the date code as you usually know the years that the engines were produced and can eliminate some possibilities that way.I'm sure there are exceptions to most of these numbers as any ford lover will admit ford sure liked to change things over the years.Its also extremely helpful to know the vehicle it came out of but if your just trying to identify a part(at a swap meet or something) nothing beats an experienced eye for sure.

 

[Get Bent]

The '72 D2VE heads are very different than the '73 D3VE. The combustion chambers are huge on the '72s. The D3VEs are the standard 460 head, decent but not great. There were a run of D43E heads that were the 460 Police Interceptor head in '74 & '75. These are very rare though. Good heads, but hard to come by. There are also D2OE-AB Police heads from '72 that are awesome pieces, but again very rare. The D3VEs can be very good with some work. Not as good as earlier 68-71 heads though.

I am rebuilding a 460 in my F-100 and the head #s are D3VEA2A.
How do I know which they are?

 

[Get Bent]

Wondering if anyone can tell me what year D3VEA2A was?
Also what to do to them? I have a 79' F-100 stepside with 460 - C6.
Who-ever built it the first time, put a 280H comp-cam, Weiand Intake, 780 Holley, Hedman hedders, 3" to Flowmasters.
Just want to do the right thing at the machine shop!

Thanks

 

[DanH]

I agree with you about the books but the one I quoted from is usually very good.(Tom Monroe's how to rebuild your 351c,-460) I have another one (high performance ford engine parts interchange) that is absolutely full of mistakes.It has a hp formula in the back that says a 3000 lb car running 100mph in the quarter is making 425 hp!yeah right!

mistakes in print , are you sure about the old days performance ? were you there then ?