I have a 400 with about 5k miles since rebuild. I pretty much followed the pack and used Badger flattops, Comp255DEH cam, Scorpion rockers, Cloyes true roller timing chain, etc. I didn't skimp or cut any corners. The problem I've run into is that the main bearings are shot- no oil pressure at idle when hot and about 25lb at 2000 rpm. I've yet to definitively find what the pan capacity is, I have a rear sump with numbers that show the pan to be from a 73 Econoline 400. My dipstick is in the front of the blockand is fro a 351C.The guy I got the pan from said it was 7qts for the pan and filter, I've had oil change shops say they think it was either 5 or 6 qts, and I understand that the later models had greater capacity. The machine shop says that if I had a qt too much, the crank would "egg-beater" the oil and cause the pickup to suck air, cause oil starvation, and the subsequent failure. I've spoken with several mechanics who say that is BS, the crank tolerance was off from the beginning. I know that first I have to find the true capacity, but I would like input from personal experience. I'm going to get bent over by the machinist, but I want to at least tell him what I think and why. I guess as a last ditch I could shell out the bucks for an aftermarket pan, pickup, tube and dipstick.

 

are you sure the main bearings are bad?

 

When I first fire up the engine, I have approx. 50lb oil pressure. When the engine is fully warmed up, the oil pressure drops significantly, to zero at idle, with about 5-10 lbs if I rev it to 1k rpm. I have also had lifter noise on occasion after decelerating to a stop after running at highway speed, about 2950 rpm @ 70 mph.

 

well that does not mean the bearings are bad at all. main bearings are not even where the most oil oss would come from. did you replace the cam bearings? what oil filter are you using?what weight and grade of oil?

 

I use a Motorcraft oil filter, Quaker State 10W30, and the cam bearings were replaced during the rebuild. We'll find out the bearing condition early next week as the shop pulls the pan and gauges the bearings. During break-in, I ran the engine for an initial 20 minutes, changed the oil and filter, ran 500 miles, did another change, and was approaching my first 3000 mile change when I noticed the drop in pressure.

 

This is a common condition on 400 motors. It is usually due to too much oil going to #1 cam bearing.
There are a couple of things that you can do, that might help.
Use heavier oil in warm weather, like 20-40 or 20-40.
Get a high volume oil pump.
There is something else that you can do that will certainly help.
Turn the #1 cam bearing to reduce the oil going to that bearing.

There should be some detailed information in another thread on this forum.

 

Did you check your rod and main bearing clearences? If so what were they?

 

i'm going to say galley plug missing. one or both behind the cam sprocket. don't buy that crap about being 1 quart over either, Ford marked the dipsticks for some Clevelands at 6 quarts and some at 5 quarts for the SAME oil pan. BS. you gave him an easy out and he grabbed it. next he'll tell you that he doesn't warranty the brand of oil you used.

 

"Did you check your rod and main bearing clearences? If so what were they?"

Good question. A friend of mine had an engine with ALL the same symptoms. He had already put together 10 motors over the years without incident, leaving the bearing clearances up to the machine shops to check. This one had a crank from PAW that was stamped .020 but was in fact ground .030". He put it together without checking with any plasti-gauge. The .020 bearings left way too much clearance and gave less than 5 psi at idle after warming up. He went nuts trying to figure it out. Also got nothing from PAW either since it was his responsibility for checking the clearance before it was assembled.

 

i forgot to mention that scenario, i've seen it too. a buds old mans Mopig 440 came out of the machine shop with standard size bearings on an undersize crank, i can't remember if it was rods or mains but it gave the same symptoms too.

 

Right there is a symptom of an oil galley plug popping out or a weak oil pump. Take out the distributor and turn the oil pump with drill and listen for bubbling sounds and check for resistance on the drill.

If you detect bubbling/gurgling then you have a problem with an internal oil leak caused most likely by an oil galley plug missing.

If the resistance on the drill is low without the gurgling, then I would suspect the oil pump is weak for some reason.

If the bearing clearances weren't correct, then you would have noticed low oil pressure the very first day you started it and not close to 3000 miles later. Plus the slight knocking sound would have given it away. Of course plenty people will tell you that the knocking can be so slight that you won't hear it. Well they probably have had really loud exhaust, a noisy timing chain or just plain can't hear.

 

When I first fired the engine, the stock gauge went up to the 'R' when cold and dropped off to the 'N' when hot. I made what will likely be an expensive,stupid, lazy mistake and trusted the machine shop to make sure everything was right. After all, I paid them to assemble it. I have also been told that the guy filed for bankruptcy just before the law changed. I currently have no place to work on the engine, so I'm going to get my truck from his shop and take it to a good mechanic for proper diagnostics and repair. Then, maybe I'll see a lawyer and see if there is anything I can do.

 

i know about not having a place to work on it! it might be an easy fix too. first thing i'd do is pull the oil pan, front cover and timing set off to check for the galley plugs behind the cam sprocket and to check for .010", .020" or .030" bearing clearance. i use an old shower curtain liner for weather protection when i have an outdoor project, it works pretty good.

 

The weather was nice today and it was slow at work, so I took the afternoon off and pulled the engine in my neighbor'd driveway. I'll probably end up re-installing it during a snowstorm, but its a chance I'm daring to take. All the main bearings are showing copper, same with the one rod bearing I checked. The crankshaft looks iffy-I am able to feel very slight imperfections with my fingernail. I have a pretty good idea what caused the failure: the pickup tube was installed very loosely into the oil pump, as in it will easily swivel when unbolted from the main cap with almost no resistance. I'm sure the pump was sucking air in with the oil. I'm going to talk to the machinist, but I have little hope of him making it good and am planning on having it checked out and repaired elsewhere.

 

man, that really sucks...my hearts with ya! I bet it was a runner with those parts and will be again soon!