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Hey so I have a 1978 F250 ranger xlt. I just bought the truck and it has a 351/400m with the edelbrock performer 400 intake manifold and a 4bbl Holley 600 cfm. First of all I was wondering what kind of performance increase this would do. Second I am not a fan of the 351m because it isn't the easiest to find parts and I think it is underpowered for my truck. I was wondering what engines, other than the 429/460 which I know I can amount in, are possibilities? I have heard that the cobra jet engine can go right in but that is expensive. Any ideas?
Most guys just slap some cleveland heads and a 400 rotating assembly in it and call it good. Go down to the engine forum in the 335 series forum and you will find tons if info.
Read and learn about your 351M. Just make the 351M into a 400 and be happy. As far as underpowered, is your truck a 4x4 and if so what size tires and did you regear the axles?
If its a 2wd long bed slug, you are not driving the lightest rig on the road ya know. They are not like a pinto with a 460. Again did you regear the rear end? Parts availability...read on.
Cobra jet expensive.....all depends on what you think is expensive. If you can afford a Lamborghini, you do not worry about the cost of insurance do ya? If you do, then you should of not got the Lambo. lol Yes other motors are available all depends on how fast you want to go. FYI normally fast costs money. Real fast, costs alot of money.
What are you doing with the truck that makes you desire more power?
A 460 swap will run you into quite a bit of money since most things will need to change. Engine mounts, accessories exc.. Then there is actually finding a 460 block to build. Around here all of the junk yards are cleared out.
If you are just wanting a little bit more fun, try gearing and some go faster parts. Timing, cam, headers and ignition will do quite a bit.
If you need some serious grunt for big tow jobs then the 400 can be built for that. Like the links posted above nearly every part you could want can be found. Look at some modified block builds from magazines. Very respectable power has been made.
Go crazy and turbo it! But change the heads first. Sock heads dont like a blower very much.
Bottom line is you can shove just about anything you want between the frame rails. It just becomes the factor of price and difficulty of changing everything else with the engine.
Lots of people dont like 351m. Is it a drag motor? No. Is it a dependable truck motor? Yes. And it can be built to be a respectable performer. It can and has been used successfully in literally millions of light duty Ford trucks, and can do anything you ask of it within reason. I have owned 4 trucks with 351m and 2 with 400. 2 of the m motors I rebuilt to 400 specs. 1 of them was in a 79 F150 4x4 with some good head work and a fairly large street cam, 4 bbl and headers. It would smoke most any truck with any engine I came up against. And would pull the gates off of hell. It really all depends on what YOU want to do with your truck. The Bronco I have now has a mild erson cam, 4 bbl and a set of headers I am debating installing. It might not outrun anything. But it will put my boat in and out of any pond I go fish in with no boat ramp with no problem.
Stock from factory the 400 makes about the same torque as a stock from factory 390. But it makes it about 1400 rpms sooner. This is all from memory and I am getting old so dont anyone have a hissy fit if I am way off.The only thing fe motors have over 335 series motors is way more aftermarket support. And of course 427s and 428s.
I have a 4x4 crew cab with 38 inch tires and a lift. I have not referred the axles. However, I call the cobra jet expensive because I have seen them for sale for about $5000 and that would be my budget for the whole truck. I was planning on completely redoing the interior as we'll for a more convenient everyday driver. Basically what is causing me to want more power is because the 351m from the factory was about 160hp and that can hardly pull the truck and on top of that I need the truck to pull boats, horse trailers, etc.
Anyways, does anyone know roughly what hp a 351 can make with a new cam, aluminum heads, intake manifold, and a 600 carb?
Also any suggestions on what I could do for the interior? I was maybe thinking I could modernize the interior with new seats, dash, gauges, and sound system.
Is the under powered truck we are talking about the 78 F250 Ranger XLT in your 1st post? And so it does have a lift, 38's and is a CC and you have NOT regeared the axles?
Well what gear ratio does the rear axle have? A simple axle regear might be all you have to do instead of replace the motor, IMO.
Horsepower aint what you need, torque is where it is at. And with 38s and stock gears and a crew cab you might as well be driving a refrigerator box filled with lead. You can get 400 horses out of a 400 and better than 450 torque. How much $$ do you want to spend? First thing you should do is if the motor is in good mechanical condition change the timing set to a straight up timing set. Get rid of the retarded timing Ford put in these for emissions. That alone is worth a seat of the pants feeling of more power. I cant give you any numbers but it is true.Then work on getting more air in and out of engine. A good dual plane manifold and 4 bbl carb helps alot.Dual exhaust whether you use headers or stock manifolds also helps alot. If you know what you are doing you can clean up the intake runners on the heads and gain a significant amount of power for free. Just dont go overboard or it will raise the rpm range of where it makes power. If money doesnt matter go talk to Tim Myers about 1 of his packages.He makes dependable hi performance packages for the ford 400. You dont need 400 hpat 4800 rpm in a truck for pulling. A ford 400 made around 340 pounds of torque if I remember correct at a low 1800 rpms. That should pull just about anything you gonna hook to in a light duty truck.
I just bought the truck last week so I don't know much about what it has. I would assume that it has the stock gearing on the axles. But the engine, it already has from what I have seen an eddy performer 400 intake manifold, Holley 4bbl carb, eddy air filter, dual flow master exhaust. Since the engine already has all this I have been thinking of the possibilities that the cam has already been changed out. However it still has the stock cylinder heads. I am looking at spending no more than $2000 under the hood. Then gonna put about $2-3000 on the interior.
Swapping a 460 in will eat up your entire engine budget. Little swap parts will add up quickly, on top of the engine and build cost.
Check the gears and change them if needed. 4.56 gears should work well for the 38s you are turning.
After that I would opt for headers, ignition, and an RV style cam for towing. a 400 rotating assembly (higher compression) would make quite a bit of difference if that doesnt satisfy you.
If you end up pulling the heads, spend some time on them with a die grinder. Clean up the castings and it should net a few ponies. Cheap power if you do it yourself!
Here is what you can do with a Ford 400
"Midnight Modified"
612 HP
579 TQ
But carb needs some tweaking.
Our 775 Demon made the 612 HP
And the 850 Holley made the 579 TQ and less HP. Visiting with Holley.
But it's a good start.
Is there a chart somewhere that will show me what gearing should be set for what kind of use. In addition, I use my tuck every day on the highway obviously more often than I tow. Is there a gearing that could get me better mpg on the high way. A 3 speed doesn't sound very fuel efficient at higher speeds unless it is set right.
Btw @gatorfor88 that "midnight modified" ford 400 looks great! How much would a set up like that cost?
09-07-2014, 01:42 AM
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