Ok, until now I have been keeping my 400sbc a secret, I told one other person but now am coming out with it, I just have one question and a little story to tell...

2 weeks ago I was at the junkyard found a 72 Chevy Van of some sort of, saw it had an engine in it.... Ask the guy at front to see if it was a 400, and he ran the casting numbers and wala, it was... So I scrounged around the van and found the keys... the darn van started... It had no tranny, driveshaft, or rear-end, the rear part of the block was held up by 2x4(what do yaw know other people use 2x4's also)... but anyways, I went to the guy and he said $175 including borrowing his cherry picker....

I then took it to my buddy Steve dad's machine shop; I paid him $100 for the hot tanking only... because it cost money for the solution... Other then that the block has been completely reconditioned... I'm looking for some nice heads, maybe some vortecs for now, but.... The block is still in pieces, I am ordering pistons and bearing and all the goodies soon....


MY question is with the cylinder walls "Siamese" they are relevant to cooling problems, how can this be overcome?




Shane


ps, forgot to mension it wont be going in until spring or later, i still need to rebuild a tranny and the such, suspension mods and all...

 

deleted...

 

huh?

 

As long as you get a good radiator and a 160* thermostat you will have no cooling issues.

 

Steam holes, or cracking..


I want to see a picture of this soon to be future lawn ornament that never gets done.

 

I still want to see the 454 BB.

Have you ever tried a damn search. Of all the people here running a 400-based platform......just do it right.

Oh, and this sentence:made me laugh.

 

I dont have cooling issues with my 400sb bored .030. I dont need to run a 160 stat either. Do a search to find out some good combos. If you dont do this right the first time you will be spending more money later on. Is it a 2 bolt main or a 4 bolt? Bet you didnt ask. One is weaker than the other and isnt worth building up if you ask me. I wouldnt have any other motor than a 400sbc. I love mine and will build another when I am done playing with this one. No BBC's for me. So search away.....


PS: Your stock tranny will not hold up long to a 400sbc. You will need an upgrade. The spending never ends....weeeeeeeee

Edited per five7kid's request...

 

yes, its a 4 bolt main...

the guy hot tanked the block, and all those goodies, i pretty much came up to him and asked what needs to be done, and he said dont worry i'll take care of it, just give me $100... so i did and yesterday i went to take a look at the stuff and it dont even look like the same parts....

I hope this project gets done my spring, but i will be needing an HSR. or MiniRam/LT! no doubt, the 400 wll choke under a TPI....

 

haha

 

i can see it now

"hey d00ds i got a piston in"

"hey guys my pistons in upside down, why?"

"hey guys i got another piston in, what are these ring things for are they important?"

"iunno"

 

How much power can a stock rear end hold up to? Won't you have to re-do your entire exhaust system too?

 

this just goes to show you why there are laws set in place against inbreeding, dating your daughter, marrying your mom, and so forth.

 

thats not a sentence.

 

no guys i'm serious, i'm hoping to install nice ford 9", and just custom fab some mounts like a buddy of mine did in florida.. other then the basic installs like suspension mods, i will be having people do it all for me. I dont trust my itchy fingers on a piston for my life...

I'm hoping for atleast 1hp per cubic inch... i think thats an ok goal too...

Te junkyard here has LT1 intakes for $20, that'll be cheap enough...

A 9" i claled him and for the housing and driveshaft(yes i did say driveshaft) its $100.

Other then that a roll cage is a must, SFC, springs.... all the goddies are soon to come by spring, working all three of my jobs steadily i make upwards to $600-700 a week, so i can afford this...

 

A stock LT1 intake needs machining to fit on top of a gen 1 SBC.

 

i know lt1intake.com

 

so this motor will be pretty much stock bottom end, weaker 4-bolt with vortec heads and a LT1 intake made to fit?

doesnt really justify the need for a 9" rear or roll cage.

 

Ok, that collection of words compiled into a phrase.

Go ahead, let him do all he wants. I will suggest a full tube chassis instead with a fabricated shell. That poor poor car....never stood a chance. I am going to say it now. That car is doomed.

 

You do know that the 4 bolt blocks are the weaker ones, right? Of course you dont, otherwise you wouldnt have bragged about it being a 4 bolt. You should look for a 2 bolt instead

A 100 bucks a for a 9", which what kind of driveshaft? Doesnt make any sense, is it one from a van, like the engine?

edit: non tech removed

Shane, please post pics. Put up or shut up.

 

Then you wasted your money on this 400sb. A 4 bolt main is crap. A carb would be better for you and less expensive. You have no idea what your getting into.To build it to put back in the van would be fine but not for what you want. When will you learn that cheap and horsepower do not belong in the same sentence?

Edited per five7kid's request....

 

Sorry about my other post. It was meant to be in another thread.

Why are you guys being so harsh? I don't keep up to date on this board so I wouldn't know.

 

Do a search on his user name,this kid finds every performance part or car under the sun for a mere 200 dollars.

Every week a new project is started, but none are ever completed.

Everyone put your boots on, its going to get deep in here if you know what i mean.:lala:

 

i'd love to know who sponsers all his spending habits on all these parts he claims to buy..

"goodies", good lord child, think of a new word.


i reiterate my original sentence.




this is the main reason inbreeding is a bad thing.

Shane, quit sniffing glue, dont eat any more paste, no plastic baggies with paint in it, and no more drinking "Uncle Jeb's" special moonshine.

 

Shane with your ****ty track record here, it's to the point where anything you say will go under fire. Ever hear the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf?"

 

It's like the boy who cried wolf.We all understand having dreams for your car.You have to do your home work and always try a first before starting a thread you know you will be ripped for and then locked.Show us some pics of aaaaalllll this stuff you are doing and maybe everyone will start to believe you.

 

Couple of things come to mind:

1.) Assuming he actually did buy an engine....I have a mental image of the complete longblock still w/ the heads on, crank/rods/pistons still in, being dunked into the hot tank. Later: "d00dz, why wont my new egnine start?!?"

2.) In reality, there's probably no chance he actually bought it. Probably doesn't even own a car....little 13 year old kid with unsupervised Internet access looking for attention.

 

I cordially invite you all to edit out all non-tech content from your posts on this thread. For some of you, that will mean deleting the whole post.

You aren't helping. Try ignoring it. It might go away.

 

therckid:

I'd recommend you prove via photo or saleslip that you have done what you claim. Otherwise, don't waste our time and bandwidth.

 

Shane -

If I were you, I'd drive your car to your friend's dad's mechanic, and tell him that you want to splay the caps on the 400SBC (that's your only choice really), and after that, you want to swap the heads, intake, etc over to your 400 from your car, then you can still drive your car around, and you wont have to worry about insane power goals that you'll have to upgrade the whole car in order to drive.

This way you can upgrade everything ELSE while you can still drive the car, then add some heads/intake on the car LASTLY.

I really see this being the only way you can get it done man. Be reasonable, do you really think you could stand having that 400 SBC standing around until Spring? I dont lol, I know I wouldnt be able to atleast (but then again I've been waiting for a engine for my car for the past 3 months or so)

 

He would need a lot of chamber opening for those 58cc heads on a 400.

Shane--its not gonna come cheap. Perhaps a set of 350TPI heads, reworked would be good. If I were you, I would get rid of the 4 bolt block for a 2 bolt, but its not absolutely necessary. Good luck with the project.

 

My bad, I thought he had some aftermarket 350 heads in there already... probably i just got confused with an older post of his...

 

DONE......

 

Wow being a little tough on the kid arent we?

 

dont worry, i expected this "Type" of feedback, its not like i look forward to it, it just innevitable...

ut back the the question, why is the 2 bolt better, the machine shop guy said that my crank was forged, and he seemed very surprised about it for some reason,, unknown to me...

 

Instead of listening to people about fantasy parts its real simple..post some casting numbers or even (*** forbid!) do a search on the number

www.mortec.com

 

I dont think there was ever an option for a forged crank in a 400. And if there was I doubt it would come in a van. Keep it strait with us shane, and we will play fair. The 4 bolt block is weaker than the 2 bolt block. Thats the way 400's are. What yard did you get this from?

 

it was ummm.... the one on rock road,ummm... tailors....

well i dont know crap, but the guy at the machine shop was suprised at the way the crank was made. he said it was forged and he could tlel by a certian indentation...

as cast cranks i guess dont have one...

 

I will apologize for what i said(although milder than most comments) If he will post proof of anything he has mentioned in this thread.

We know he has the ability to take pictures and post them.

Come on shane, stop all the madness, post some pictures so we can believe you and help you out.

 

okz, i'll hopefully post by tomorow...

 

See, if you do this, people will know you are not shoveling you know what.

Tomorrow could be the start of a fresh start for you here, dont mess it up.

 

 

A 4bolt main 400 will be fine for a street motor i would stud the mains and have it line honed and dont forget to drill the steam holes in your heads! 4 bolt mains on a 400 crack when you torque them down. the siamese bore made the webbing in the mains weak. i ran a .040 over 400 (408) 11.3 to 1 sportsman heads comp 292 magnum 501 lift 244 dur @.050 stock crank 5.7 (X) rods speed pro ft pistons performer rpm intake with a 2in spacer and a 850 dp it had a ton of power of idle and i twisted it to 7200 and didnt have any problems with the mains i sold that motor to a friend he put a bigger cam in and a team g threw it in his vega and ran a 10.98 on the motor its been in the car or 2 years now and still runs strong. I'll run a 4 bolt 400 any day I'v been building and racing 400's since high school and never had a problem with them. I say go for it kid!


im now building a 420 sbc (511) 4 bolt block .030 over studded mains deck plugs valley plugs and screens 3.875 callies crank crower rods wiesco pistons dart pro 1 heads 215cc intake runners super victor intake should be fun!

 

No one said it isnt useable, it was said it is not preferable. I dont care much for the 400 blocks at all, i would rather work with the 350 myself. But away from all of that,

Shane, what happened to the 350 that you just bought like a week or so ago?

 

"When will you learn that cheap and horsepower do not belong in the same sentence? "


Reliability, Power, Cheap. Pick 2.
I love that quote.

 

No 400 ever came with a forged crank. Not from GM anyway.

HOWEVER, it wasn't uncommon for guys back in the '70s to build engines using a 400 block, and a 350 crank/rods. It was about as common as 383s using the opposite combo are now. My dad knew many guys who did this back in the day. This can only be done with a forged 350 crank though, as the mains need to be welded up and cut down to fit the 400 block's journals. If you really do have a forged crank, measure the stroke, and see if its really a 400 crank or a 350 crank.

Also, the "mark" the guy was talking about on the crank was likely the parting line. On a crank, you can see it on the unmachined parts of the crank, like the counterweights. On a cast crank, it will be a very thin line. On a forged crank, it will be a fairly wide line. I can't say how wide, as I haven't seen it in person, but I've seen pics of this many times, and they all look the same.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ljnowell
[B]You do know that the 4 bolt blocks are the weaker ones, right? Of course you dont, otherwise you wouldnt have bragged about it being a 4 bolt. You should look for a 2 bolt instead


just saying he shouldnt wast more money looking for a 2 bolt main when the 4 bolt main he has will work just fine

 

well that was part of the deal, the 350 was traded with it....

 

Go with the 400 man, just strengthen the mains by splaying them if your gonna go crazy with the hp level. But if you keep it real and down to earth, there is no reason this engine won't survive. With good machine work it would make you very happy, and kinda max out your potential for stock engine swaps too.

There was a guy here nagging me for some help about another engine swap, tpi into a vw I think, he said he asked you, did you ever get his email?

If you have three jobs to be able to build you car, you must really want this bad. Nice to see people being so into our cars. :-)

 

Sounds to me like you got shafted then. Of course, I still dont see any pictures today. No more posts from you. I wonder why?

Personally shane, I think that the 350 never existed, nor does this 400. Thanks for wasting more time for all of the members of this board.

 

What i want to know is why he ruined a running motor!