Hey guys,
I've got a little bit of an issue when it comes to deciding on a motor to run in my 77'.

-It had a 300 in it that I've pulled apart and looked through. I know for a
fact that the head is gonna need a bit of a rebuild (some of the guides are iffy). The bores are probably alright but a little rough up near the ridge.

-My friends dad has a rebuilt 400 short block that's been sitting in his garage up on the loft in a bag for 20 years and he has a set of heads and a 2bbl intake. He'll sell me all of this for $300. The motor has flat tops which he thinks might possibly be forged. The heads need to be rebuilt.

-Possibly get a 351w from a 95/96 truck for the rollerness and put a 4bbl intake on it and use that. Maybe $500 +/-


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The issue is, I don't think the 300 is a bad motor but I want some *** and a nice sound. I don't want a bad *** looking truck that sounds like a bumble bee. My 95 has one and it sound alright but it's sluggish.

The 400 would be great but I'm paranoid with oiling issues. Would I be alright or would I possibly have oiling issues in 20k miles?

I would like to use the 400 if I can ignore all of the stuff I've read on the internet. I know it would have great power, possibly get decent mpg because of its long stroke but like I said I don't want 0 oil pressure 20k miles after a fresh build.


Let me know what you guys think
-Jusitn

 

Hahaha almost knocked the beer over. I know what you mean though. Sounds like you're against building the 300. It's a great motor and can be made to make some real power, but so can anything.
I wouldn't use a 351w in a truck. I'm not very familiar with the 351m/400 but I'm sure the 335 series guys in the other forum can tell you how to solve the oiling issues. I would go with the 400. It'll sound good, run good, and not many people have them. You can build it into quite the monster if you want, or just a nice cruiser. Look into Tim Meyer Industries.

 

the 400 is a really good engine. it has the same oiling as the 351w and main size. the 400 i had in my truck pulled better than my friends 460. Better on gas too. If you get the 400 go through the engine and check everything. just remember the 400 uses the big block tranny bellhousing. Put a 4v intake and a 600cfm carb and you'll have a very good engine.

 

I that case, you'd better get a 460.

 

cummins! just kidding. i think im parting that 97 250 out if you want the 351 out of it. every thing you need, 500 bucks

 

I would get the 400 great engines! There is no oiling issues

 

Go 400, you can read up on the good, and it sounds like you have, and as for the bad, the "oiling issue", some engines in the 335 series do have the reputation of tending to show veeery low oil pressure, relatively early in their mileage life. Some of that is certainly just myth, some of it has to do with the location of the oil pressure sensor in the oiling route, some likely has to do with the fact that the 335 engines were common engines, for the common (unknowledgeable) driver, and finally, some of that reputation has to do with the fact that the cam gets more oil than it needs, before the crank gets any, making the rod and main bearings wear sooner than they should, in some cases and conditions.

On a fresh, good build however, with tight tolerances, and some cam oil restrictors, or TMeyer restrictor bearings (along with good maintenance, and proper oil choice), you will be just fine.

AleX

 

351w. Bell pattern same as the 300. Roller motor. More aftermarket support. Many later stock 351ws outpower the stock 400. Parts are cheaper. Heads are not an issue.

I don't know why people badmouth the 351w in truck, while they sing the praises of the 300.

Engine_Specifications

jmo, ymmv

 

What would it run for a machine shop to remove the current cam bearings and install the TMeyer restrictor ones to spec? I can get a roller 351w from a 97 F250 that impalaslayer has for $500 and it has 80k miles. The idea is that I could eventually build that into a 408 with aluminum heads.

The 400 is still on the plate but it could get expensive really fast.

 

That 96 model 351 is pretty good, much better than the rest(ie max torque @2k not 3.8k) That wouldn't be a bad one to have if the OP is going the stock route. This year is the exception though.
Not necessarily badmouthing them, but from the people I know that have had them they just seem to make the power a little high in the rpms. Higher rpms=more gas. The gains you would expect to see in mpgs from a smaller ci with the same power as the bigs never seem to be there because it turns at a higher rpm to make those #'s.
As far as the 300 goes. The praise is for it's durability and longevity, not it's power.
I can compare very little stock to stock though. No one I know keeps them that way. Not saying they are all full rebuilds but every one of them has some form of improved breathing(headers, intake).

Who runs stock? stock sucks for almost everything
Here comes the flames. hahaha

 

Before you rush out and get that $500 engine, you need to realize that there are going to be some issues you will have to deal with that you may not have considered. Issues like the fact that the 96 engine is EFI. Stuff like the oil pressure sending unit, temp sending unit, fuel delivery system, and a whole host of other things will be totally different. You'd be much better off, in terms of money, to find one of the carb versions of the 351. Get one of the 80s model H.O. versions and it will have plenty good *** and sound to go around.

You also have the option of going with a 302. They're not the most powerful engine, but they too have adequate *** and sound to go around and you'll get around 16-18 mpg.

Building a hot rod 300/6 shouldn't be too difficult and you already have an engine you could work on to give it enough *** to satisfy. Don't know about the sound going around though.

As much as I can't stand a 460, I'd rather have one of those than a 400/351m. The mpgs aren't that far apart, and the 460 will outrun the 400/351m without breaking a sweat.

 

Blaze, the 400 can, and does get expensive, reeeeally fast, with anything other than a mild top end rebuild.

I think my shop quoted me like 30 for pressing in cam bearings, and removal was included in the block cleaning charge. It's all labor at the machine shop, which is good and bad. Good because something like easy outing a broken bolt, which would cause almost any of us hours of aggrivation at home, takes them 20 minutes tops, even with setting up the block or head, and 20 minutes is not much of a labor charge compared to how much the project would ruin your day, but bad because of course, almost anything else, takes waaaay longer, and rates upwards of 90$ an hour, per guy, add up fast.

All that said, as has been mentioned, doing and EFI engine swap is going to be tricky too, and expensive in it's own ways.

To sum it all up, you are going to have a very hard time finding ANY type of an engine solution for your truck, for under 500$, other than going to the junkyard, and buying a decent, exact drop in replacement for your old 300. That's keeping it completely stock, and that does not mean that you can rebuild even just some of your old 300 and get it back in for 500$.

Don't mean to be a pessimist, but I'm just talking from experience, vehicles lose their "keep me around and fix me" value very quickly when anything other than bone stock comes into the picture.

Goodluck getting her back on the road whatever you choose! AleX

 

Yea. I know that setting up fuel injection in this truck would be a hassle.
I planned on sticking a carbed intake and duraspark dizzy in the 351w if I was to use one.

 

I was talking about setting up the EFI engine as a carbd set up. There will be a lot more to deal with than just the intake and dist. The temp and oil sending units are different from an EFI to a carbd engine. What if the ones for the carbd engine don't fit? You won't have a way to monitor your oil pressure or engine temp. There are going to be other differences too, like the bolt-ons (alternator, power steering pump, etc.) The ones from the EFI engine may not be compatible with your truck and the ones that would be compatible with your truck may not mount the same way to the engine as the EFI ones.

Anything can be overcome with the right amount of money, but you really need to ask yourself if you have that kind of loot to spend. It's up to you to do what you think is best, but you would be smart to know everything doing what you are thinking of doing will involve before you get halfway through it and realize that you've bitten off more than you can chew.