Well I pull in Northeast Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan..
And you have to understand that I was pulling in Stock class here .. that meant all cast Intake and Exhaust. And as we all know the 400 only came with a 2V carb. So after the 1999 season was over I wanted to boost the comp. in my stock motor by putting some bumpy top piston in there. And before you know it I was building the motor I have today. I didn't plan on spending what I did on it it just happen.
But if the Aftermarket people where a wear of the market out there for the 400 it probably wouldn't had cost me as much. A lot of the stuff I had made special order and cost me more to have it made, then if I was building up a 351W..which can be build to 454 C.I. Now think of it if I could have the aftermarket support for a 400 like there is for the 351W then I could build 503 C.I. with all the goodies, Main Stud Girdles , Heads, Intakes, Dry sumps, Valve Train Girdles,Windage Trays, Crank Scrapers, Bigger oil Pans... and the list goes on and on.... But the stuff I get to use is mostly for the 351 Cleveland and how long has this motor been out of Production.
Think about it I'm using stuff that's 20 or more years old to get the H.P. that I'm getting out of this motor...
If you can do better tell me how .
ShaZam
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Blew UP my 435... Moving on up to a 509 BB..
believe me, i understand how the costs add up, and as you, i am lucky my wife understands, she ran once last year and really liked it, didn't do worth crap though, but didn't blow my motor either. as you said, most folks i've seen in your class do run the clevelands, simply because more mods are available.
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 25-Feb-01 AT 01:27*PM (EST)[/font][p]Quote from Shazam:
"As for not Knowing you can't do stuff like this, There's a reason to my madness.My Class rules for OPEN STOCK read.
Must be Small Block Motor with Cast Heads,Can use aftermarket Intake and open Headers are allowed.
Now if your Truck has a 400 in it and you want to get the most out of it for this class You look to see what your competition is running.
In my Class there's 14 Trucks
6 Fords 2 running 400's stroked to 424
1 400 set-up to 408
1 running 390 stroked to 428 and
2 running 400's stroked to 435.
And there's one Powerwagon running the old 440 Wedge Motor Bored a Stroked to 500 plus C.I."
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I'm confused on your class rules. Isn't the Ford FE/FT motors and the 440 Dodge big blocks????????
BTW there's a set of Boss heads on ebay right now. Item #562078049. Thought you might be interested.
It's nice to talk to M people who aren't arrogant hot heads!!! Your set up rocks!!!!!
I've been trying to come up with a scheme for a low-buck 400 stroker. The problem seems to be finding a long production connecting rod (6.7"+) for a small rod journal (<2.15").
Yesterday I ran across the idea of using 240-6 rods. Seems they're 6.79" long with a 2.12" rod journal. Offset grinding to that size you could get a stroke somewhere near 4.18" which would net about 427 cid with a 4.03" bore.
Anybody out there know of another long rod with a small big end diameter?
Yes we can .. and I know "why didn't I build a 427,428,429.. Well it's just one of those things. Like I said a few posting back I was running Stock Class and just wanted to put some bumpy top pistons in my stock motor that was already bored .040 over that was in Nov. of 99.
And one thing lead to another and before I knew it I not only jump up in class to Open Stock By putting this motor together.
I also ended up building a whole new truck for this class as well. I went from 4500# stock class running a 1978 F150 4X4 to a 1979 F350 4X4 Running in 6200# Open Stock.
It wasn't untill June of that year that I got the full set of rules and was told I could use the Fe block in that class ......
ShaZam
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Blew UP my 435... Moving on up to a 509 BB..
You have to either bush the rods to match the Cleveland pins or bore the pistons to match the Chevy pins. I'd probably opt to bush the rods - the big ends probably have to be narrowed to go on the Ford crank anyway. A machine shop can do it. Modifying common parts should be cheaper than custom pistons or rods.
So the wrist pin position will work on the stock 351C pistons? I see now that it's pretty easy to get them to fit, but will the piston slam into the head because the combo makes the top of the piston prutrude past the deck?
351C pistons have the same comp. height as stock 400 pistons so they will work in any situation where a stock 400 piston would work. However in the stroker scenario I would make sure and double check all the specs of any piston I was buying so you don't end up with the problems you described.
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 15-Mar-01 AT 08:57*PM (EST)[/font][p]Hey you all :
OK the way this works is you can use the rods that come on a 400 and the pistons from a 351 Cleveland cuz they have the same compression height.. you just have to bush the pins for the Cleveland pistons..And they now make them with 12 to 1 comp.I think BRC Performance Pistons Make them.There Number is 1-800-522-7478. The only time you'd really use a BBC rod is if your going to Stroke your motor. cuz you have to off grind the crank to get the stroke and that makes the journal smaller. Ford Don't make a rod with the right length and smaller journal size to fit a stroker application. here's there site. http://www.brcperformance.com/pist_f351cnd.html
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Blew UP my 435... Moving on up to a 509 BB..
Cleveland pistons can be had in varying pin heights from more than one manufacturer. Check out http://www.kb-silvolite.com/kb.html, they even have a couple. KB also has SB Chevy pistons in a couple pin heights without valve reliefs. So it seems like a guy could use some of those if it made the compression height right and he was willing to cut his own valve relief(s).
The 240 and 300 sixes had small rod journals. About 2.12" I think. The 240 rod is 6.79" long while the 300 rod is something like 6.21". Believe it or not, the wrist pins are the same diameter between the 351M/400 and 240/300. I haven't found a way to use this to my advantage yet though as I haven't found any short 400 pistons. They'd have to be short for the 240 rod or extra tall for the 300 rod (which would yield a poor rod angle anyway).
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1977 Ford F150 XLT Ranger 2wd 400 
