Thanks to Scott Johnston at RHP

I recently completed a cam change, etc. on my truck and wanted to thank Scott Johnston AKA “The Mad Porter” at RHP for all of his help. He dialed in my combo and his customer service skills exceeded my expectations. A custom cam from him wasn’t much more than an off the shelf grind and Scott answered every “newb” question that I had every step of the way. His answers were encouraging and helpful and were NEVER condescending.

My truck is a 1997 F-350 Crew Cab - Long Bed - 460 CA model w/ mass air - E4OD - 4x4 w/ 4.10 gears and 33 x 12.50 tires. It is mostly used for towing a 10k pound fifth wheel toyhauler from sea level, over a 4k’ mountain pass and back again. The engine/truck has 100k miles on it and my goals were to increase the torque without having to remove the heads and to keep it CA smog legal.

Mods to date (no cylinder head work/chip):

John Wood built E4OD

Banks headers and big single exhaust (previous mod)

K&N air filter in stock air box (previous mod)

Cut air horns (previous mod)

BBK 61mm throttle body (previous mod)

Ported intake manifold by RHP

Kirban adjustable fuel pressure regulator at 44psi WOT (46psi w/ vacuum unplugged)

Custom Voodoo 61600 cam with 114 LSA by RHP
• Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 250/256
• Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 207/213
• Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .503/.535
• RPM Range: idle-5000

Upgraded drop in valve springs with +.050 locks on exhaust supplied by RHP

12 degrees initial timing

I drove the truck a few hundred miles to make sure that it was solid and then had the truck dyno'd at 229 HP/331 TQ at the rear wheels. Not bad for a smog legal engine with 100K miles on it and 33" tires, etc. that was rated by Ford at 245 HP/400 TQ at the flywheel.

I recently had my truck smogged and was pleased with how easily it passed CA’s strict emission requirements. CA does not check timing for my year, so I did not have to adjust that, nor did I adjust the fuel pressure regulator back to stock psi.

The truck has been running great (under 3k miles since completion) and getting 11.5 mpg highway and about 7 mpg highway towing 10k+ lb fifth wheel! (before mods was 10.5 - 11 mpg highway and 5 mpg towing…) The real test for me was pulling mountain grades (up to 6%.) Before the cam, etc. change, 35 MPH was the norm (with Banks headers, etc.) My truck/trailer combo will now pull the same grades at 45+ MPH (cruising speed-not floored.)

Am I happy with the results? Yes, very, considering the upgrades were mild and my expectations were realistic. I am the original owner of my truck and I wanted to stretch out its use for a few more years. In some ways, I wish that I would have purchased the diesel engine over the 460, but for my limited use it did not make sense. Maybe a built stroker engine in the future?

I am often amazed how people glean information from the pros on the forums and then turn around and purchase the recommended parts from someone else. You may or may not be able to purchase your parts cheaper from Summit or some guy on eBay, but they are not going to be there for you when you need help and have questions. For me, that pro was Scott Johnston at RHP, phone 253-988-6648, http://reincarnation-automotive.com.

Sounds like a very nice truck! I have a twin to it in a 93 version, non mass air ( I think). Its all stock, rebuilt trans and towing convertor. it gets 8-9 mpg empty. I have not physically did anything with it to improve economy yet.

great build an props to everyone involved

Desertracer, I have some questions if you dont mind. If you had the same set up and were going to use it for the same purpose but dident have to smog it what would you do diffrent? The reason I ask is I have a 97 OBD2 calif. 460 that I putting in a 73 crewcab 4X4 and your the first person that I know of that has expearince with this set up. Also would you buy the BBK throttle body again as its a fair chunk of chang for a little larger bores.
Thanks for any help
Mark

leadmic wrote:If you had the same set up and were going to use it for the same purpose but dident have to smog it what would you do diffrent?

The only thing that I would probably do differently would be the exhaust. Upgrades to CA residents vehicles have to be CARB approved, all catalytic converters and O2 sensors have to be in original locations and you can't install a dual exhaust unless your vehicle originally came with one.

At 100k miles on my engine, I wanted to replace the original timing chain and water pump. The cam swap, etc. was one of those, "by the way while you're down there" kind of things. The engine ran great and I did not want to do any major engine work or remove the heads; I did not mind doing simple upgrades. If I was having a new engine built, things would be different. The builder would have many more variables to play with. I was kind of limited because of my stock engine, my desire for it to run on 87 octane, etc.

By the way, it is not me that has the experience with the fuelie engines; Scott Johnston at RHP does. I relied on his knowledge and expertise and all I did was install the parts that he supplied or recommended.

leadmic wrote:Also would you buy the BBK throttle body again as its a fair chunk of chang for a little larger bores.

I installed the BBK throttle body long before doing the cam swap hoping to pick up the 7-12HP increase that BBK advertises. The installation was straight forward, but I could not set the TPS to the correct voltage without modifying the TPS (had to drill out the brass inserts where the TPS mounts to the throttle body to give more adjustment.) The end result is that the engine had better throttle reponse, but less torque, which definitely was not what I was looking for. Hopefully, it is working better after completing the cam swap, etc. Would I buy it again? No, unless someone had before and after dyno pulls verifying positive results. I would have put that $399 towards something else.

John

Desertracer, thanks for the help.
Mark

Great post and wow that engine bay is clean. My cam and dizzy came from Scott too.

I second the service from scotty, I build small blocks most of the time but a guy from church wanted me to build his 86 with a 460 to pull his 5th wheel camper. Scotty was nothing but great and that truck pulls like a freight train. The owner of the truck said everytime he pulls into rest areas somebody is asking him what he has in that old thing to pull them hills like that. He just tells them it's a stock 460, he said they look at him funny and he walks away. He said he just loves it when he walks right past them new trucks and they just stare in amazement. If your gonna build a 460 for the first time I highly recommend him and his products, tell him what you want the engine to do and then do what he say's and you will be satisfied. Enough rambling, but the truth.

Thank you for the good word gentlemen...

...and thank you for choosing to do business with RHP.





I am frequently called on to help folks get their trucks to pull a load more effectively. The stock carbed 460 of the 70's and 80's were real pigs.

I have a nice one owner 78 F250 XLT camper special. The stock engine has 112k and had never been apart. The original timing set with nylon teeth was still intact. Suffice to say if was disappointing at best even with a recurved dist and holley carb.

I recently did a very simple upgrade to budget ported (297/187@ .600" lift) Doves, stock rail rockers, performer intake, curved dizzy, holley 750 vac, and a voodoo 213/219 @ .050" ground on a 108 lobe sep in at 104 ICL. The pistons are only .019" in the hole at TDC from ford leaving me with a 9.3 to 1 static c/r and final dynamic c/r of 8.3 to 1 given my cam choice.

Suffice to say this 112k short block now will break the 16" tires loose at will at anything under 25 mph. This with only 3.54 gearing out back. Even with stock exhaust manifolding, stock y pipe and 3" magnaflow from there it still pulls like a freight train to 100 mph. I have hooker super comps but am too lazy to install them...

With headers and duals the combo should be making just shy of 400 HP and over or right at 500 pound feet of torque.

Point being that careful choice of the right parts can turn a dog into a bear pretty easily when it comes to smogged out era crap. Even budget ported D3's with a small dished piston like a kb 206 giving the same c/r would yield exactly the same results.