Last weekend I discovered that one of my engines is 400 sbc.

Before I found out this engine was 400 ci I was considering building a 350 4 bolt wich I have. Now I want to build the 400.

Some have said that I should stick with the 350, I would be much happier. They say that 400 is nothing but trouble. I have seen there are few people on this board using the 400.

So what should I do, should I build the 350 or the 400? In Iceland I dont have to worry about emission in 93 and older cars (I have an 86 T/A), I can use TPI or carb and no cat if I want to.

I know the old rule, there is no replacement for displacement and that rule tells me to choose the :hail: 400

Thanks in advange

Nonni

 

Having had what most people would consider to be more than my fair share of 400s, I will tell you that about 99% of what people tell you about 400s is pure BS. As you have no doubt noticed, it comes almost exclusively from people who have never had one!

I have a 400 that was in my 83 for about 12 years; I had to remove it to pass CA emissions when I moved out there. I am moving back east now, to a place that (hopefully) I can put it back in. It had a good set of heads, big roller cam, Holley 4-barrel, etc.; extreme amount of fun to drive. It never lost on the street to any Mustang, even some sprayed ones.

Build the 400. Ignore the old wives' tales. Don't bother with TPI; go carb, or get a decent fuel injection system instead of TPI such as a Pro Ram or MiniRam.

 

my dad has a 77 t/a with the 400 block and it is slow but tourqey it has not had alot of problems though.

 

I'm going to start building a 400 in a couple month myself, thought about sticking with TBI, but I would never get enough fuel to feed it effective. You would have the same problem with TPI. I'm going to start with a carb, then when I get enough momey buy a miniram or a superram (though I hear these things have terrible vac leaks).

 

400, 400, 400 ! Do it with long rods (5.7's or bigger) instead of the short stock 400 rods and you will be extremely happy. You'll get gobs more low end torque and with the right cam more HP to. The stock TPI setup will never flow enough air to feed the beast though, so look into a higher flow set up.
John

 

i also vote 400.

 

My brother has had his share of 400s. No problems from them except, twisting the frame of his Monza.

 

everything about the 400 is a old wives tale. I hope GM will bring it back as a crate motor! Just make sure you drill steam holes in the heads and you'll be all set!

 

Your dads 77 T/A was probably the 180 hp pontiac. Slow by 77 standards, no way. Ever drive a stock 77 vette? They didn't run so good either. Cut the heads, bump stick, and timing recurve, and watch out ls1s.

 

Ok, if I use the 400 with:

Edelbrock aluminum heads with 1.6 with roller tip and 2.02/1.6 valves,
flattop pistons (try to get 9.5 CR),
Roller cam (any suggestions?)
Torker II (single plane) or Holley street dominator (dual plane)
Holley 750 or modified TPI or Mini/superram
Cold air setup

Info about the car
86 T/A
TH700R4 (I am sure I have to beef it up for 400)
Stock converter (perhaps I change that)
~2.77 with limited slip
235/60R15 front, 255/60R15 rear
MSD6AL
8.5 mm Superconductor
MSD Coal
Headers (short),
No Cat, smoke pump or any of that emission crap
Flowmaster 80, 2.5" single pipe,

Is there any way to predict what times I would be running (between 11-18 )?

Thanks in advange,

Nonni

P.s. it is much harder for me to get parts because I have to order them from USA (I cant get anything on the junkyards, there is only japanese junk).

 

go with the 400 man all the way you will be twice as happy with it then the 350. the only thing i have been told about the 400s that i belive away is that you dont have much room to punch them out mine is .30 and i have been told .60 is as far as they will go and still last a fair amount of time. also i heard they love to bulid heat so make sure your cooling is up for it. oh yeah i would say ditch the cam and the heads but you already plan on doing that so :lala: . iam saving my pennies to get me the new motown 220cc heads cuz they will scream on mine.

have fun and let us know

 

And, traction is going to give you trouble. But mid to upper 12s should be no problem. The 2.7 gear is a little small but it won't hurt much. A couple of tenths. Get a comp hydroller in the 215-220 intake duration range with about .54 lift.

 

215-220° is WWWWAAAAAYYYY small for a 400 with a single-plane intake. That's barely enough for a stock TPI 350, let alone something that has some RPM capability.

I'm running a Comp XR282HR in my 400, with a dual-plane intake. I'd recommend at least one step above that with a single-plane and a carb. Or, if you run a MiniRam or ProRam, the XR282HR works well, although you might want to get them to grind it on a 112° lobe separation rather than the stock 110°. A friend's 434 with a ProRam and that cam turned out real healthy, but tuning it for acceptable idle behavior was a bit tricky even with a Haltech E6GM computer.

Again, I would strongly urge you not to run TPI on a 400.

 

on cam timing.

I think the TPI would be the best match for that gearing and cam.. but neither are going to allow you a lot of peak hp.. just a lot of torque.


And considering it seemd that the gearing was the only thing that appeared to be set, (looked like induction was still in question) I felt it was best to error on the conservitive side.

 

If I choose 350 then I will buy 3.42, but I thought it wasn´t as important with 400. I like crusing at 60 with my engine ~1700 rpm.

Nonni

 

Build the 400, use good parts and keep it cool.

As a side note, a 77 T/A could have a Pontiac 400 or Oldsmobile 403. The pontiac was rated at 220hp--emissions engine. The pontiac 400 is completely different than the SBC 400