I have been kicking around the idea of rebuilding my 351m with a 400 crank and pistons, cam and the whole works. Now I just came across this on craigslist, wonder if its worth a look
400 Ford motor

 

Nice looking engine! It's pretty easy to spend that kind of money on a rebuild. It's probably a 325HP or better engine. It never hurts to look!

 

I would worry about the compression ratio. If the heads and block were both decked .010", that was just for truing them. So, depending on the pistons used the CR may still be 8.x:1, and I would want 9.0 to 9.5.

Ask him what the CR is and judge depending on how he answers. If he seems to know what he's talking about, meaning he CC'd the heads and knows how far down in the deck the pistons sit, then maybe believe him.

 

Thanks for input, hard to fork over that kind of money when you don't know who built it. Thought about finding and 351/400 block and starting my own build, never built an engine though...

 

It is bigger bucks, but Tim Meyer can build it for you, and dyno it when done. And, he has the only pistons that will bring a 400 up to decent compression. The only ones. So, if this guy didn't use Tim's pistons then the CR will be low as .010" off the deck and block won't be enough to bring it up very far.

 

I've snooped around Tim's website and if I did build my own I would definitely by the parts from him,I have a cousin who owns a cylinder head shop and could the machine work for me.
Maybe I should be patient, save my pennies and have him do the build.

 

I'm regretting that I didn't have him do mine. I had the machine work done locally and planned to assemble it myself and then take it back to the machine shop to have it dyno'd. But, I've run into time constraints and am now thinking I'd have been better off to have Tim do it. Yes, it would be more money. But, it isn't really a economics problem when building a really strong engine that you want to live a long time.

 

I checked out your website, nice work, I really like the hot-glue-screwdriver-nut technique.
I don't quite understand the food pictures though.
Love the red captains seats.

 

Thanks! You really did delve into it if you found the hot-glue-screwdriver-nut. As for the food pictures, they are ones I've missed. Stock header pic with Weebly where I'm hosting my site. My intent has been to change all of them to something else or turn the header off, but obviously have missed some.

 

If you buy a "fresh" motor off CL then you need to inspect it thoroughly before the cash changes hands. Treat it like any used engine you would pull from a wrecking yard. Do a compression test, leak down test, inspect for leaks, etc.,...

I would be a little suspect as to why it is being sold. He put around $3500 into the rebuild so why sell it? Now to nitpick, he's calling it a big block and his math is wrong. A .020 over 400 is 406ci, a .040 over is 410ci. These are little things but it makes me think he's not familiar with Fords and his machine shop is a typical Chevy shop...I'd inspect the motor closely before buying.

 

Check your spark timing. If it's way off you either jumped cam timing or hopefully sheared the pin on the dizzy gear. If so check it for tightness.

 

Right now I have a 32,000 mile 351 ,so I think instead of buying someone else's engine, I'm going to have to learn patients and use mine as a platform to build one the right way.

 

Sounds like a good plan.

 

If I come across a 400 block or complete motor, are there certain years to stay away from? I thought I read that '77's had issues?

 

I used 351C flat top pistons and bushed the small end with 292 bronze bushings. My machinist then fitted the floating pins to them. We ended up with 9.3:1 c.r.