Well, turns out the bastard that was gonna give me the Vortec 350 sold it to his son before I could get it. So now it's back to the chevy 400cid for $150.

Now, I've got a few questions about putting this motor in. It's gonna stay damn near stock. It needs new heads and a rebuild, so I gotta figure out what heads to put on it. Would some 350 TPI heads work well? I plan to only upgrade 3 things...New intake, headers, and another mild (performance oriented) cam. Is there any certain casting #'s I should look for in some heads? The cam is prolly only gonna be like .460/.460 so I know stock heads can handle it. Is their anything else thats gonna be different than whats on the 305 that I'll need to replace to install this motor?

Thanks in advance.

 

ttt

 

center bolt holes on tpi are at a differant angle than carb intakes, make sure the heads match the intake you want to use

 

Well, the intake is kinda up in the air as with the heads. I'm retaining the TBI if that helps.

 

LOL, a 400 with a stock TBI and a cam under .5 lift? What a monster.

In my opinion, I'd hold off until you can afford to do it right. What you are talking about now is building a REALLY mismatched combo, and to get a 400 running halfway decently with TBI, you need to be looking at significant upgrades to the throttle body and a LOT of tuning.

Otherwise, sounds like you are going to have a car that doesn't run worth crap, yet burns gas like no other.

 

It's not susposed to be a monster. I'm keeping Very close to stock specs....I don't want a monster just yet cuz I don't have the money to replace the entire drivetrain to support the power.

As for tuning, Criag Moates is gonna hook it up for me. And I know that he'll pull everything out of it he can. And with the ultimate TBI mods and maybe sum bigger injectors it'll support the 275-300hp i expect from this super-mild 400.

ANYTHING beats driving a L03 powered Camaro man...don't knock it!

 

Heres a stupid question and is also way off topic.... but what does the ttt in the forums stand for. I see it all the time and haven't figured out a meaning for it. Please help

 

I honestly don't know....I just know it's used to bring threads back to the top.

Still...Can anyone give me a list/idea of parts I'll need to get this motor in?

 

a super mild 400 is a 305....... why bother doing the swap if your gonna not pull big numbers that would neccesitate more cubes. soup up your weeohfive if you want mild.

but, the 400 is externally balanced, so a different flywheel or flexplate is needed. If swapping to non-400 heads, steam holes have to be drilled into the heads. Also, 400s have siamesed bores, which will require an upgraded cooling system. I'd reccomend a carb, but if you insist on TBI, get some injectors!!!
other than the flexplate, all other SBC stuff will swap. I believe the oil pan is different as well to accomadate the longer stroke. an upgraded exhaust system is also a must, or your 400 will weeze at 2500. 3" single at a minimum. as far as your cam , you don't need a huge cam, .450 lift will support your 400 upto 5000, probably longer than your stock injectors. it will build some bad *** low end torque, but the upper rpm horse will lag a bit.

 

Well, when I say Super-Mild...I'm comparing that to the other 400/406 builds I've seen on this site. I do plan to upgrade the injectors and do a new full exhaust and headers (single 3"). The cam is going to be a comp cams XE series. I'm not sure on which one yet, but I'm going to try and keep it at or under .460/.460 so I don't have to dump alot of money into the heads. Oh and, the gears are being upgraded to 3.42's w/ a limited-slip carrier out of a 4th gen.

This is just going to be a street machine, and it'll see the track occasionally.

So....the flywheel thats on it (stock), will that work with my 700-R4? And as far as upgrading the cooling system...New Radiator and dual fans will suffice? And one more...Will the stock oil pan clear the crossmember in my car, or will I have to buy one for camaro's?

Thanks.

 

the pan will clear fine, stock 400 flywheel will bolt to 700r4. dual fans will be fine, but you'll have to see what works for your application though as far as your upgrades, you'll have a quick car

 

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