I am looking into overhauling my motor. 400 modified. It runs but it smoke really bad at times. Other times, no smoke at all. Blue smoke. Also, it acts like it is missing out pretty bad. I purchased this truck back in June and am in the process of restoring. Over the last month I have sold a few things and put together some cash to get the motor going strong. I was all ready to order a 400 long block from autozone (surefire) and I have read some really bad reviews on them today. I know how that works sometimes though, satisfied customers just move on while upset customers tend to voice their discontent. A new auto zone long block, intake and carb is going to be in the $2000 ball park. This truck will never be a daily drive and it won't be an off roader. It will be a summer time pavement crawler. I know a lot will ask why I don't just rebuild my current motor which I have thought about. But, I just don't know what all previous owners have done and such, would really like to start fresh. Jasper engines (which are 30 minutes from my house) are just a little out of reach at the moment. So, anyone hear any pros or cons to the reman. motors from autozone? I believe O'Reilly makes the "Power Torque"

 

Don't do it! Period! Auto zone and the like use slap it in, patch it, and kick it out the door rebuilders. You run a very real chance of getting the roughest running pos you've ever seen.

Read up on what's involved, tear it down yourself. Then take it to a reputable machine shop, have the work done and put it back together yourself. There are thousands of books and you tube videos on engine building. It realy is not rocket science.

I'm sure you can re use your intake, possibly rebuild the carb. You should be able to pull basic machine shop fees for under 2 grand. Hopefully you can re use your pistons, crank and rods.

 

I need to converse with my father in law. He is an awesome mechanic. I won't reuse my intake as it is a 2 barrel and I am going to go to a 4 barrel carb and intake. Now that I have a few grand put back I am getting nervous. I don't want to blow my money. It was too hard to get.

 

I used to work returns at an auto zone warehouse. Saw a brand new LSX engine in a clamshell fall off of the cherry picker forks and bounce about two feet in the air. It was put back into a new clamshell and shipped to the customer.

 

X2 on do your research on any and all local engine/machine shops. Sometimes local mom and pop part stores will give references to a shop with a good or bad reputation and ck into that route.

Big chain stores support the shop they use.

Ck out your FTE state chapter to get a lead, ask around a local car shows on who's good, use the father in law to watch over you learning as you go.

Better ways to spend 2k than on a long block IMO.

 

chances are your bottom end is all good from your description i honestly would not even pull the motor just pull the heads and have them rebuilt, get your 4bbl intake your wanting anyway, and if that does not solve your problem then and only then should you consider pulling the motor to have it rebuilt the 351m / 400 has a great bottom end that can hold up to major thrashing long long before they begin to wear out but their heads notoriously have issues..... start with the baby steps first

 

For the money you would be much better off having the engine built by a reputable engine builder.

Have your engine block and heads checked for cracks. If the test comes up good then send it to a builder, or try yourself. If something is cracked you are probably only out $200 or 300 for a junkyard or CL long block.

To save on costs try sourcing the parts yourself and doing as much of the work yourself. Rock auto has great prices for parts. Re-using parts will help out as well. You can buy full master rebuild kit for $600-900.

Complete re-man heads are available for $160 on rock auto. You might get lucky and just need new or rebuilt heads!

 

Here is some 351M/400 info for you.

History of the Ford 351M

Rumors & Myths

351M/400 Performance Build Up

http://classic-web.archive.org/web/2...history01.html

M-Block 351M/400 Parts Reference

http://www.tmeyerinc.com/

http://www.tmeyerinc.com/category-s/1889.htm

 

These cheap rebuilds don't clean the blocks properly nor replace items like valve springs, freeze plugs, little things like that, I wouldn't buy one

 

Autozone uses a company called ATSCO-or something like that to rebuild parts for them here in Phoenix..there are always Autozone 53' semi trailers in their dock doors..unloading and loading engine blocks, and other misc. parts.. the company's warehouse is down the street from my house.. I bought a reman'd power steering pump for my 88 ranger from Autozone that was rebuilt by that same company.. so far so good... however a $50 P/S pump is not as important as a $2000 engine.. like everyone else has mentioned.. either use a good, reputable engine builder, or get it machined and built it yourself..here in Phoenix, AZ(well.. actually Glendale, AZ) there is a company called 5 star engine exchange.. they do very good work..I have sold them a few engine cores. and I plan to get my engine for my 77 F150 from them...

 

Thanks everyone! At the end of next weekend I will have assembled $2500 to work on my engine. Surely that is enough! I will speak with my father in law today. That is the good part. My father in law and his brother own the largest and most reputable body shop in the area. I will be able to do all the work there and use their tools. It sure was nice changing the front axle universal joints on their lift last Friday. So I have really lucked out in that dept.

As for the responses about Autozone and being a large retailer I agree with those statements but there is a catch. The town I live in is the strangest thing ever. The town is only about 6,000 people big but we are the biggest town in a 30 mile radius so we have all the national stuff like Walmart, Autozone, Oreilly, Napa etc. One of the guys that works at Autozone is my father in laws cousin. I will go in and ask their honest opinion on their long blocks. They will give me an honest opinion.

It sounds like the best route is to rebuild the engine at the body shop with my father in law. Another thing I found out is that if you don't have a "professional installer" do your install it voids the warranty.

So here is a little run down of what my truck is doing. Like I said, it is a 400m. Manual 4 speed. Has a 2BBL on it now. The truck smokes blue smoke. Going down the road it just puffs blue smoke. When I pull up to a stop IT ROLLS BLUE SMOKE!!! Sometimes worse than other times. Not real consistent. I rarely get the truck up over 45 MPH because I just use it to run to town. When I get in 4th gear is when it acts like it is missing. Motor kind of flutters going down the highway but once it gradually gets up to 55-60 MPH it seems to run a little better.

 

Sounds like a valve seal problem to me. Remove a valve cover and look for any seal particles. Seals can be changed without removing the heads.

 

I went to autozone to pick up some gear oil and talk to the guys in there. All of the guys that work there are good guys but my two favorites were in there when I walked in. I asked them about the surefire engines and what I got was a 20 minute rant on what junk they are!! It was awesome. These guys didn't hold back. They told me about a guy that went through 5 chevy 350's before just giving up. They said the transmissions are junk too. It was pretty comical as I was the only customer in the store so they really let it all out!!