I got into a conversation with a buddie of mine the other day and the sobject of modding a 4.6 came up. The question was which is better a 2v, 3v or 4v head and which would be the best to work with knowing it must be street drive able and have good power and torque. This combo would see some track use but mostley on the street.. Steve

 

4v simple

 

NA, I would say 4 valve, no question. Forced induction is a different question. Depends on Compression, pistons, combustion chamber CCs, intake and on. However I'm as qualified to dole out advice as Ted Kaszinsky so I'll shut up now and let people who know what they're talking about post accurate reasonable responses.

 

4 valve with Turbo, WIN ALL DAY LONG!!

4 valve anything, WIN!

 

4valve can make the most high rpm horsepower hands down. It makes less average tq though than the others in an equal build.

3v heads are the best of both worlds, and they're SOHC which makes them way cheaper to mod. They'll support 7000+rpm and still make good low end tq.

2v heads are torque monsters but peter out in the top end.

No head is better than another. They all have their uses. Street cars should bias toward the mid-range RPM's. Trucks bias to the bottom rpm's. Race cars bias toward the very high rpms.

 

Dyno queens bias toward 4 valves, haha.

 

1. Find 5.4 4v Navigator motor
2. place it in mustang
3. mod to taste
4. crush people with your giant *********



(1.5 make large amount of moddifications so that everything drops in correctly and works properly)

 

Hey Steve, this is a pretty good read on the 2v.
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2...ot2V/index.php

 

Honestly I think the 4v heads are wasted on a 4.6. They don't really show their stuff till you slap them on a bigger inch motor otherwise you're stuck with mega high rpm's to show that big power potential. Even just a 5.0 stroker kit on a 4.6 is enough to really show a difference with 4v heads and decent cams. Ford never should have wasted effort on the 4.6.

Making 5.4L and 6.8L was fine and would have fit just as well in all of the 4.6 powered vehicles.

 

I agree with those statements but for us 2v owners thats all we have (without a motor swap). I think the motor was developed as a powerplant for mulitable vechicles and spec'ed for the same reason. Barring forced induction and nitrous, the motor has limited power, torque and rpms in its factory configuration. I think the 4v heads were overkill on this platform as you said but with the advent of aftermaket heads and internal parts it can be a fun little motor to have on the street and even more fun with a power adder of some sorts. It is what it is.

I think it comes down to this, how fast do you really want to go and how much do you want to spend. If you compare appples to apples its still a pretty stable platform for 350-400 horse street motor.

 

Thanks for the info Tuff 4.6, my son just gave me the Seah Hyland book. It is very informative.I guess the kind of power I was thinking about is in the 425-450 range
using no power adders. I am sort leaning towards a stroker kit to bring the engine up to 5.0 l. then using a set of hot rod cams and a good intake (not sure what to use in this area as of yet). The rest is going to be a slow process of trial and hopefully not too much error. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated... Steve

 

Wow the 4.6 isnt that complicated as i thought.

 

You'll never get a 4.6 to 450rwhp without a power adder. RPM's required are just too high. You'd have a cam that wouldn't idle below 1200rpm.

To make a streetable 450rwhp modular with no power adders: You'll need 5.4L bottom end, built to support 7500rpm. Short runner (cobra R) intake manifold, modest cams of 230deg duration or so, "stage 2" head porting, 42lbs injectors and a slew of other things. Just to get there in a 4.6 would require RPM's to exceed 8000.