will work fine without the tensioner just tighten the same as you would a V belt.

 

Thanks for the quick reply guys.

Yup, it will be adjustable just like factory. It's a junkyard set-up, but uses the factory brackets.

Will be fully adjustable, but I'll have to pay close attention to the length of belt I buy because that will determine just how "adjustable" everything is in the end.

Thanks for the kind words too! Been dreaming of this Ford 400 serp set-up for ages now... So many pulleys I've yanked off vehicles saying "I might need this one day"

My biggest hiccup so far is finding a 7/16 bolt that's 6.5" long... longest I can find locally is 6" (stock alternator mounting bolt)... I need 6.5 or 7" to accomodate the shims to make this work. Any advice?

 

Bolts: Tractor Supply around your area? Grade 8...
Any of the big Box stores? They wouldn't have grade 8 (don't think) but the might have 'em.

 

Thanks for the motivation! Success!

7" long 7/16-14 coarse thread bolt from Fastenal for $4.00.

Not economical for 1 bolt, but heck.. it beats the crap out of using threaded rod or making my own bolt from 7/16 solid steel round stock.

Fastenal was the last place to call on my list but I resisted initially because they have terrible reviews for my city... we'll see if the bolt shows up on Monday lol.

 

Update time. More questions for you fellas. Hope you enjoy all the pics

First off... a teaser for what's coming. More on this when it's complete. Full detailed write-up coming too - likely it's own thread.



Aluminum rad looked too shiny and was too hard to install. So I changed things.

Before.


Reliefs cut to make it easier to install and remove.




Handy dandy high temp paint.


Lightly dusted with several coats.


Complete. Looks darker/thicker in the pics - all coats were very thin. This is to prevent that "bling" factor and unwanted attention.


Next up... Set the motor to 13* BTDC after liberally coating the cylinders in Break-in Oil. Can't really hurt anything by applying extra oil to each cylinder.


Followed the factory diagram for the rotor/cap. Want to keep the #1 plug where the original location was for ease of assembly/tuning/troubleshooting.


Dropped the distributor in and seated the oil pump drive shaft after some trial-and-error.




You can see the #1 cylinder clearly marked on the plastic rotor cap - looks to be perfectly aligned.


Hard to see, but the "1" on the old distributor is in the same spot as the new one.


Comparison shot. Hard to see, but the "1" on the old distributor is in the same place as the new one. The clips are also in the same spot - just the plastic vent is the difference.
I believe I've got everything lined up perfectly for the #1 cylinder on 13* BTDC.


All together.


Marked with a sharpie for future reference.
Also note that the dimple I made on the block that lines up with the OLD distributor's housing (before the old one was pulled). Looks to align with the new distributor's housing too.
I believe I've got everything correct, but I want some opinions from you fellas on how the distributor install went. Any suggestions?


Also, I have a burning question...

Grounding the #1 spark plug before fire-up...

Order of operations:
1) Pull #1 spark plug
2) keep the spark plug connected to the #1 wire
3) pull the #1 wire from the dizzy cap
4) replace the ignition coil wire with the #1 wire from the cap
5) touch the spark plug to a good grounding point
6) look for spark - if I've got spark, I'm good to go.

All of this is assuming the key is in the "on" position (not "RUN"!) to provide power to the coil. Sound correct?

 

Ahh, the burning question...I have some H two OH to quench the burn.....

It's not necessary to pull the plug, ground it out, etc, etc. Too much work and you wouldn't get a spark there anyway, unless the reluctor is spinning...... And you don't want to spin the engine until its time for the first fire.

What you can do is test the ballast resistor wire/circuit for voltage. Key ON, Engine Off....measure the voltage from the (+) coil terminal to a good clean ground. You want to see ~ 6 - 8 VDC. If you have that, you have voltage to the coil and you're sh^**ing in tall cotton.

 

Right, forgot that the motor will have to spin over to see the spark plug flash.

Awesome advice for checking if the coil is getting power or not. Lucky me, I still have 2 other stock (albeit old) coils kicking around just in case...

For reference, I've never tried s***ing in tall cotton lol. I can see why someone would want tall over short though

Any opinions on the distributor?

Unfortunately, it's the chinese remake (look at the wire colours)... I know I've seen some unfavourable opinions on those in the past on this sub-forum.

 

Distributor opinions? I'll wait until you have fired her up....

 

Lol I just meant the set-up, correctness of it all... I believe I've got it correct just want to be 100% sure tho. Oh... and I forgot to add that yes - I did turn the motor over 2 times and put my thumb over the spark plug hole to make sure I'm nearing TDC (not on the exhaust stroke).

And then there's the "over-seas" vs. Remanned unit side of things.

 

Yoh Aaron, do you ever sleep ? LOL

Yup, enjoying the pics for sure, keep 'em comin'.
(I wanted to install a thumbs up here, but the choices have disappeared !?)

LMAO @ FB's comments about the tall cotton !

Have a look at the 2 pics in this link :

March Performance - Ford 351 Cleveland, 351M, 400M - Ford

The top left looks like it is a true serpentine setup, and therefore requires the tensioners you mentioned. (Let's assume that they are in fact tensioners in the pic.)

The top right pic is what you'll have.

My truck's PO, without a doubt, not only had 2 glass eyes, a wooden leg, and the brain the size of an atom, but his guide dog also had 2 glass eyes !!

I say that coz I'm still finding things that are utter sh$t, but when I bought March pulleys etc years ago to replace the homemade crap in the engine, there was a definite improvement, although I can't remember what exactly !

So what I'm saying is, ensure that your pulleys are the correct size.

Assuming the 400 is the same as the 351c, I can measure mine and post the numbers if you like.

 

If that's a Champion radiator, then good choice.

I fitted a new one just over 2 years ago, removed it last week for an unscheduled project, and it's as clean as a whistle (as they say).

I like the spray job !

I fitted a nut and bolt to the bodywork, which acts as guides when I remove and refit the radiator.

I fit an outer nut to keep it in place when it's installed.

Anyway, with regards to accelerated corrosion on the ally radiators, the general concensus is that this only happens with old crappy coolant which has lost its corrosion resistant mojo.

I tend to agree with that consensus now that I've seen my radiator after 2 years of daily use.

I've just ordered one of these to make future draining easier than it is now :

https://www.summitracing.com/int/par...8400/overview/

The current petcock is the same as yours, and I think it's crap.

An EZ drain valve would be overkill.

Talking of EZ drain valves (again !! LOL) here's some pics : (The Marlboro is simply to give a perspective on the size of it)

F$$king pictures didn't upload. Let me try another browser.

 

 

The block coolant drain valve is 1'' away from the manifold.

A 100 mile test drive today, and everything seems to be ok, but I will keep an eye on it to see if the manifold heat does any damage.

The front one needs an extension in order to fit.

Now that draining the coolant will not be a messy affair, I'm going to replace the coolant once a year.

Enough said about drain valves.

With regards to the dizzy, is the purpose of your desired test to ensure that the dizzy works prior to initial fire up ?

If yes, then with the engine installed and ready to fire up, simply disconnect the coil HT lead and all plugs.

Hold one plug, carefully, connected to its HT lead, crank the motor for a few seconds while holding the plug to the engine, and look for spark.

Ummmmmm, why on earth did you buy a Chinese remake dizzy ?????????????????????

FB mentioned resistor wire. Is it still installed and do you need it ?

Here's an example :

The MSD Blaster 2 coil has 0.7 ohms reistance.

The Ignitor 1 ignition module requires a minimum of 1.5 ohms.

Therefore if those 2 were used, a 0.8 ohm resistor wire or ballast resistor would be needed.

Check the requirements of your coil and dizzy.

LMAO, thinking about it, some rice will be fine for your dizzy !!!

Your dizzy installation is thorough and precise. Well done.

Laterz

 

Lol! About 5-6 hours every night. Why do you ask?

That would be awesome. If you've got each pulley size accurately measured, post em up. I'll be doing the same with mine once I have everything properly measured and installed.

Biggest concern for me is having the power steering pump turn 10% faster (with the current pulley in the pic) than the stock v-belt pulley. Not sure if 10% faster at all RPMs is a big deal, but it may start foaming the power steering fluid? Don't want that.

The other P/S pulley I posted earlier is a newer (and plastic) P/S pulley that will run 10% slower than the factory pulley. Didn't really want that either, so I went with 10% higher over 10% lower. You'll see what I mean when I post up a new thread on the junk yard pulley set-up.

Another burning question I have is how slow can the alternator spin and still maintain 14.4 volts @ idle.

Right now, I have the stock 3G pulley that's 2-3/8" from a 96 Ford T-bird. It spins 15% slower than the stock v-belt pulley configuration... but if that still allows for 14.4 volts at idle, I don't care. If it's less than 14 volts, then I'll care.

It would be awesome to know what ratio your alternator pulley to crank pulley is so I can compare my numbers and see if I need a 2 inch alt pulley to speed idle rpms back up to where they need to be to get 14.4 volts. Guess I could always run the truck and find out the hard way too LOL.

It is! Thanks! I've found that almost all those aftermarket rads are the exact same, just with different names. Eagle. Champion. Amazon sellers. Same s@%t, different box (different price too )

Thanks. I hope it holds up. I didn't want it to be THAT dark, but oh well... at least it looks even lol. I'm betting it will flake off in a lot of spots.

Neat idea. I wanted the bolt/nut to rest right against the rad support like factory. Seemed pretty flawless for the old copper rad.

Interesting stuff. Never considered an easier way to drain the radiator. Looks legit, wonder how it operates.

Still not a fan. Way too many kids with too much time and a big shiny lever under my truck to touch.

I give you credit for trying it, but I'm still skeptical. I'd walk out to my truck one evening to find a puddle of coolant under it (worst case scenario) cause someone messed with my rig. If you can't tell - I'm wayyyyy too cautious to try one of those lol.

Just looking to check all my new parts to make sure they fire when they're supposed to. I bought "chinese" because I didn't know it was over-seas at the time. RockAuto doesn't say "Made in China" on their website at check-out lol.

Thanks for the compliments. I get nervous about stuff like a new motor, being on 13* BTDC, and installing the dizzy correctly.... I like doing stuff once and without repercussions! We'll see how the overseas dizzy works. Hopefully perfectly??? Time will tell lol.

Btw, yes my resistor wire is installed. It's attached to the coil bracket just like factory and I'm using a stock style coil. I'll test the coil before I start er up, but likely won't be cranking with a spark plug removed... trying to spin the motor over as little as possible is my goal. I already spun it over 2 times (once for head removal/ rocker arm oil thingy installation... and once again for 13* BTDC). I'll have to rotate the motor once more to get all of the torque converter bolts lined up and nuts installed on the flywheel.

Hopefully the last time I'll be spinning it over before break-in.

 

If Ihad to leave my truck parked outside, I wouldn't be able to sleep !

Luckily I have it in a locked garage with an alarm sensor monitoring the garage.

Hmmm, kids can drain your coolant anytime with that petcock !!!

The one in the link I posted is the same except that it has the extension that one connects a pipe to.

Put the pipe over a bucket, drain, and no more mess !

Maybe fit an alarm in the truck, but add an additional sensor to the engine bay somewhere.

I cannot remember the significance of incorrect pulley sizes.

The pic below shows the small discreet gap between the body and radiator, just for info.

LOL, I recently got Rock Auto heater core parts, and the shipping docs show made in USA, Mexico and China !!!

Hopefully your dizzy will be ok.

The other pic below shows my pulley setup.

Here's the pulley diameter dimensions :

Power steering 140mm 5.51''
Water pump 130mm 5.12''
Alternator 55mm 2.17'' (Yours is 2.375'')
Crank 140mm 5.51'' (40% alternator/crank ratio)

Double check the ignitor (or whatever it's called) resistance requirements.
Too little and you'll destroy the ignitor.
Too much and your engine will lose mojo.



I'll wash everything once we have sufficient water !! LOL