429cj rotating assembly

[Pastel Blue]

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[Jeff73Mach1]

I'm not knowledgeable enough on BBF's to comment on your concerns. I do wish you luck and would encourage you to do as much research on your own as possible. A sleeve in a block is no big deal-hell some people put 8 sleeves in a block to salvage it.

A sonic check of the block will reveal core shift and cylinder wall thickness. .060 should be safe, some are punched .125 and stuffed with stroker cranks.

If they can't do a sonic check of the cylinder walls then find another shop that can

Finding parts to do a 429 should not be that much harder than a 460-much interchanges I see the 429 Thunderjets available down here in the Southeast US on a regular basis-nothing wrong with their cranks and rods

 

[mjlan]

Not to start off negative, but if the shop claims to understand what it means to retain "numbers matching" and then suggests a striker build, that doesn't make sense.

Finding 429 stuff isn't impossible, it's all over craigslist. TRW (Federal Mogul now?) still makes. 429 CJ style piston.

Your stock parts can be saved, it just takes more money and labor. Let me know if your crank is used up, I can send you a CJ crank that I won't use any time soon.

A good forum is www.460ford.com, there are plenty of experts there, probably some shops that could do the build for you. There's a guy here in Warren who would be great, not too far from you in Ontario...

 

[Pastel Blue]

Not to start off negative, but if the shop claims to understand what it means to retain "numbers matching" and then suggests a striker build, that doesn't make sense.

Finding 429 stuff isn't impossible, it's all over craigslist. TRW (Federal Mogul now?) still makes. 429 CJ style piston.

Your stock parts can be saved, it just takes more money and labor. Let me know if your crank is used up, I can send you a CJ crank that I won't use any time soon.

A good forum is www.460ford.com, there are plenty of experts there, probably some shops that could do the build for you. There's a guy here in Warren who would be great, not too far from you in Ontario...

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[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I do not understand your fear of using 45 year old parts?? My boss in the shop I worked in preferred used parts that had been heat cycled over time to stress relieve and stabilize them. Before they had cryogenics new cranks, rods, blocks and heads were put in oven heated and then frozen in freezer to relieve the stress cycled several times. The factory just casting the blocks and machined and putting together with no stress relieve. We tried the ultra sonic stress relieve but it did not give as good a result. About every part on a race car now is cryogenic treated to increase the life. When we made gauges for use checking turbos they had to be held to -.0001" + .0000". If you did not boil the pieces and put in freezer several cycles you could not hold the tolerance.

If you inspect a connecting rod with magna flux and it is not stretched or twisted there should be no fear of using it. You always replace the rod bolts and nuts. Always shot peen them and have them resized and good to go. You are not going to be running 8,000 rpm on a circle track for hours on end. Send them out for cryogenic treatment and they will come back stronger than when they left.

At the spring show at Charlotte Motor Speedway this year I saw literally dozens of 429 engines and components. They are not a popular engine to build anymore so there are lots of them out there. I have posted you several links from this area with them for sale. Heck one of our newer members has piles of the 429 stuff in Charlotte, N.C..

There are people that can make you pistons in any increment you want does not have to be .03" .040" etc. It can be .045" it will cost you but they will do it. We had our own piston grinder that ground the elongated shape on the piston.

Back in the day of the flathead we use to bore the cylinders into the head bolt holes, sleeve them and go to huge overbore. Even today it is common with a stock block to bore larger than they say you can. They pour epoxy in the water jacket around the bottom of the cylinders to stabilize them since the walls are so thin. Yes that is just for racing but they hold up.

The age of a cast or steel part has no bearing on how good it is. Testing and measuring will tell you if it is good. NOS can be bad.

If you are afraid of buying online or without viewing contact the seller and meet at a swap meet or have someone check the parts out.

I believe the connecting rods in the CJ were the same in the SD, Super Duty Ford truck engines, same forging numbers and same football bolt. They are everywhere in junk yards. The SD even had a Forged Steel crank but has different snout diameter.

Put ads out there and push to find. You can put cl ads in any area of the world you want and you will get results. Heck a service block will not have a VIN stamped into it and can be stamped for any car. How do you think so many number matching cars are out there? They make them match.

Just my thoughts from my experience.

Now if you want a difficult time finding some parts find me a complete tunnel port Ford 302 or a tunnel port Ram Air V 303 Pontiac. I think they made 18 of the Pontiac and maybe 800 of the Ford.

 

[Pastel Blue]

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[TommyK]

I would contact Paul Kane. He will probably have a stock 429 CJ rotating assembly or know where you can get one. While there are no guarantees in life, he is a well known and reputable 460 builder and parts purveyor and if he sells you something will stand behind it.

You might also consider using a 429 truck crank which were steel. I know he has had those for sale in the past as well.