Alright well imma a lil' clueless when it comes to motors. I know of a guy who builds motors. I think imma have him build up my motor since people have never had complaints against him. But anyways he has a 2 400 SBC that never been rebuilt. I'm bout to purchase one soon as soon my refund comes in

400 SBC owners, so far i have this in mind.

*400 bored to 406 or a bored and stroked 400???
*TPIS Mini Ram
*AFR 210s or 220s, bigger??
*Forged Lunati Crank
*JE 10.5:1 Compression Pistons
*30# Injectors?
*58mm Throttle Body (what brand is best?)
*Prom definately needs to be custom.
*What cam is best? Custom grind or naw?
*What Roller Rockers are good or best?

My exhaust should hold up. Got Borla right now. And ive got some coated non air SLPs 1 3/4" headers here in the living room.

Am i missing nething here? Help a brotha out

Thanks,
Nate

 

anyone?????????

 

Well, you asked.......


Do the machine work on the 400......If the stock GM crank is in good shape, keep it. Have the oil holes chamfered and get it cut ( if needed ) and polished.

ARP rod bolts, have the rods resized.

Good pistons, Good bearings and rings.

Scoggin Dickey Vortec TPI intake. Pro Topline Vortec replacement casting ( improved flow over GM's and already have screw in studs ).

Pick a cam that makes ranges around 2500-4500 RPM.

All the free TPI mods, and snag a set of aftermarket runners.


This would be a torque MONSTER, and would be worth an easy 350-400 HP to the flywheel, and probably realy close to 500 ft/lbs of torque.

Just my 2 cents.


HTH

 

I'd run the MiniRam like you have in your list. I wouldn't bother putting TPI on a big motor that I intended to actually make some RPMs and power, no matter whose intake.

You'll need bigger injectors than 30#. Those will only feed a 400 enough fuel for about 5000 RPM. With a MiniRam you have the possibility of using the full potential of a stock short block (unlike TPI) and then some. I'd suggest 36# minimum.

PROM will definitely need to be custom; even better would be a better computer in the first place (Haltech, Accel, Speed Pro).

I'd recommend a cam with about 235° of intake duration, and about 10° more exhaust than intake duration, and all the lift you can possibly get; set the heads up for .600", and get as close to that as possible. Use a roller (duh) but of course it won't be the factory's stupid hallucination of a roller (duh again).

Use the Comp steel roller rockers, 1.6 ratio; get 1302s, or if you're really flush with cash, 1102 (or 1103 which are 1.65 ratio)

A good forged crank, some decent rods (H-beams, Manley or something), about a 3600 RPM stall converter.

Build it for horsepower. Screw a bunch of "torque", anybody can get lots of torque just from the cubes; yo don't have to go out of your way to get that. If you're going to put some heads like that on it that actually flow, the only way to take advantage of the flow is by turning enough RPM to use it. The MiniRam will support that kind of flow, and allow you to build a horsepower motor with some RPM potential instead of just settling for a tractor motor that has the usual big grunt off the line and then peters out after that.

 

thanks alot for the feedback..

its goin to be fun seeing what the mini ram is capable of doin in the upper Rs im goin to look into some roller rockers right now in the jegs/summit book to see more less on what i need and to give me an idea.

u mentioned about upgrading my computer. whats so good bout a new computer? i dont know much bout computer/ECM but if i need one ill get one.

i totally agree with you on the torque part. anyone can make a tractor motor..lol. my whole focus on this project is 'Horsepower'. and of course TQ comes with it

 

BORLAZ06,
The only thing I think you will be missing is your ability to have your car ever pass a smog test and or be legal out here. While the miniram is a nice choice and easy to swap back to tpi if you need to deal with emissions, You might want to really look into you cam options since they are not as easy to change for smog, the headers are not real fun to deal with either.
Other than that sounds like a nice combo.
Good luck!

 

Good point...

I assumed, with "MiniRam" and "no AIR SLPs", that it was already decided it wouldn't be a street car at all, since a MiniRam and no-AIR headers are impossible to license in CA. If it's going to run on the street, about your only choices are TPI {barf} or a SuperRam which is not much better; the SR can run OK but is an incredible PITA to deal with as a a daily driver that you yourself will be servicing.

 

its still goin to pass smog

how bout the computer. stock one aint good enuf?

 

Won't pass the visual if it doesn't have EGR (the MiniRam doesn't) or if it doesn't have AIR on the exhaust (duh). That's before you even get to the dyno part.

Have you ever taken a car through California smog?

Sounds like you have some serious decision-making to do.

 

yes ive already been thru smog twice. passed with flying colors.

ive known bout the dyno smog for over a year. sounds like they might do it. its not somethin imma worry bout cuz i know someone who owns a shop and does smog. serious decision making. yea then no. i know people. trust me.

 

Check out this month's Chevy High Performance. Great ideas that you could use. Note that the 400 built is using Vortec heads with a single pattern cam. If they would have used a dual - pattern cam, they could have squeezed out even more!