hay everyone, i have a rebuilt 460/c6 that i want to install in a fairly light car, my problem is im not sure what, im leaning towards a fox body. has anyone here done this swap, whats the cheapest way to do it, who sell's swap kit's. and how hard is it to install in a fox chassis ?, will plug changes be impossible. will the 8.8 rear hold up ?. whats the best year to use for this swap ? any help will be appreciated thanks.
Hooker makes a kit for the swap. You'll need a hood scoop or bulged hood to clear the distributor. The C6 has ribs on the back of the bellhousing that you'll need to "massage" the firewall with a hammer to clear. Other wise it will go in. StuK
David...
I don't remember the companies that have swap kits available, but you could probably do a Google search for "460 swap kit fox" and find plenty of information.
From what I heard years ago, the 460 will physically fit between the shock towers, but the things you will have problems with are...
Brake booster is in the way Big block C6 doesn't fit in trans tunnel without some mild massaging Spark plug changes are going to be a mofo... run some platinums and change them less often. You may have to pull the engine up a bit to change them. Not sure about any kind of radiator/fan clearances. Steering rod may also be slightly in the way
There are obviously workarounds to all of this, as I've seen a couple 460s in Fox chassis Mustangs.
If you're looking for the lightest possible Fox chassis car, any no-option coupe/notchback Mustang ('79-93) will work just fine. Find one with no power anything with a good body. Before you step on the fun pedal even one time with the 460 in there, get some good subframe connectors, full length weld ins, at the very least. A coupe is the most structurally sound of the Mustang bodystyles by design, but the torque of a healthy 460 will twist it into a pretzel the first time you hook up. I've seen coupes twist up with the stock 302 just by being driven hard.
You'll be changing a lot of things, so you might as well go after the cheaper 4-cylinder cars if you can find one. You'll need new front suspension anyway, but the chances of a 4-cylinder car being twisted are far less than the chances of a 5.0 car being bent up. Check for stress cracks where the windshield meets the roof, and check the roof where it starts to connect to the rear of the car for wavy, stretched looking spots. This is a telltale sign that the car's been abused. You're going to need the strongest chassis possible.
The 8.8" rear end will take a good deal of abuse before you break it. It can also be built up with a better locker, stronger axles, and such, for not too much money. Depending on how much you're planning on putting through it, I'd say it'll do just fine. If you plan on working the 460 up some and putting really sticky tires on it, you'll probably break that rear pretty fast. Go with a 9" made to fit a Fox if you're looking for bulletproof.
Hope that helps some. Someone else may have the specifics on the actual swap details..
JS
There are no cheap engine swaps...... there are bad ones that started out as cheap ones but managed to get expensive and remain bad. As a baby-boomer, I lived through the tail end of the "anything fits anywhere" era - the motto then was 'you can put any motor you want in there as long as you have a big enough hammer'.
The 8.8 is a fairly strong diff in it's own right and can live behind a warmed over 460 as long as you don't "shock" the diff too much. Smooth applications of power are easy for most driveline parts to withstand.... spiking the throttle will cause a hammer effect somewhere in the drive train that can lead to catastrophic failure of the weakest link in the chain.
If our fabricator ever gets the rag out of his *ss, Project 'Runner will feature a narrow 9" banjo with Strange billet axles and a Richmond spool..... this is my definition of bulletproof.
-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net
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