Was 429 an option in 1971?

[1971fordsdad]

Ryan and I have the opportunity to race his '71 in a stock full size class desert race series. The only thing is that we have to use an engine that was stock or an option for that year and model. We currently have a '71 429 thunderjet motor in it. Does anyone know if that was an option in the '71 F250? If so, we will be able to inhiliate this class since hardly anyone will be racing in it and almost no one races all 7 races each year. And no, we are not going to tell people it is a 460.

[convincor]

I think your S.O.L.
Here's the vin data for 71 http://www.fordification.com/data-1971.htm
biggest you could get was a 390.

[1971fordsdad]

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I was just hoping there was some weird HIPO option that year and that we could sneak it by. Oh well, now we will have to race class 8. We will get beaten badly by those guys but the key is to race every race. Most guys only go to about half of the races. If we manage to accumulate points in every race, we will be in the running for overall season points.

[convincor]

win or not, still a bunch of fun!

[court1100f]

Hey there 1971Fordsdad why not getta 390 block and put a 4.25" Crank in it with some decent compression pistons and a .040 overbore and make it a 448Cid stroker FE???? Money permitting ofcourse......it'd look like a stock engine externally and you could kick some serious ass with that granted head work would also be necessary as would adequate exhaust flow from the headers back but that motor could be a beast with the right coaxing

[sgs]

For ten years I raced off road in northern Wisconsin. The big race here is the Crandon Brush Run. When we first started racing we raced class 6. Classes are different now but back then 6 was American built cars or trucks. Cars had the advantage of traction with trucks having the durability. There were often 80 cars in this class. As time went by off road racing changed to more resemble what it is today.

I progressed from cars to trucks, class 8 at that time. My last race car was a 1979 F150. I was always very competitive and finished high or won many of the smaller races, and took 2nd once at Crandon. Suspension is more important than horsepower and bottom end torque and gearing beat top end always.

My combination was a 390 built mostly from Ford factory speed parts. We used 12-1TRW pistons, 428CJ heads, police interceptor manifold and our cam was from a 63 427 dual 4V engine. This was directed through a C6 into a Ford 9" with 5.57 gears. There was no one who could stay with us out of a corner. Coming out of corners and the rough stretches were where we had most of our passes.

Build your truck with bottom end and torque in mind and it will be competitive.

Remember they don't give trophies for DNF. Top speed will only bust your truck up.

Good Luck and wish I could go back in time!

sgs

[court1100f]

Hmm good point thats why I suggested building a 448 More Displacement and a Long stroke 4.25 compared to even the 3.98" of a 428 so it would have alotta torque I don't necessarily care all that much about HP as much as I do Torque

[averagef250]

I do not think a 440+" FE would be a wise choice at all for a race engine. Baking the tires off is one thing, your on it for a few seconds. Put that stroker FE in an endurance race and see how long it'll run at 4000+ RPM swinging 4.25" of stroke around. Stroke is good for low end, but horrible for piston speed. Endurance engines do not run excessive stroke engines because they don't hold up to high RPM.

Simple always trounces over the top. The best engineered things have nothing left to simplify. You break a $5000 448 FE and where do you get another one? You put your $500 390 or 460 crank into the dirt or asphalt and a new engine waits on craigslist ready to roll.

If it were me, I would cheat a little tiny bit and get a vin tag and title from a dentside F250. When was the 460 first an option? 75 or 76 or thereabouts? Get a title/vin plate for a truck that could have had a 460 and stick the thing on your door jamb. If someone gives you crap about the truck being a 71 just say you rebodied it with an older body, but it's still the same truck ( essentially there isn't any difference anyway).

[DuckRyder]

This is way off topic.

Since the original question:

Was 429 an option in 1971?

Has been answered correctly with a:

No

This thread is now closed.