Hi guys,

Just got my M400 for the Ranchero back from the machine shop and the valves seem extraordinarily loose. Set #1 at TDC on the balsncer and the lash is WAY over the .010-015 as shown in the shop manual specs, dry lifters..

The machine shop is telling me that the only important thing is to be sure the fulcrum torque is correct which they set.

I'm confounded....Any ideas, suggestions?

Many thanks,

Guil

 

hydraulic lifters so no lash other than torquing the rockers. lifters will pump up and take up the gap

 

The Rockers aren't adjustable. Torque them to 18lb-ft and it's fine. If they are extremely loose, then you need to get longer pushrods

 

A 400 you can just call a 400. Some call it a 400M, but that is wrong terminology. So is M400. The 351M uses the "M" in its name so as to differentiate it from the 351W and 351C. But Ford only ever made one 400, so we can all save our breath and keystrokes the trouble of striking that "M" key.

Now Chevy had two different kinds of 400s, the small block which was a 400, and the big block which was actually a 402 derived from the 396 - but marketed as the 400 four barrel. It was basically a 325 horse 396 with 6 extra cubes. I'll shut up now...

 

A rebuilt hydraulic lifter engine absolutely has to have the preload checked.and corrected if needed. the geometry should have been checked as well. this is basic engine knowledge I hope your machine shop isn't this incompetent in the rest of their work. if it were this simple shims, adjustable rockers and custom pushrods wouldn't exist.

It sounds like you know how to check your preload, I would check all 16 and write it down. there are several ways to correct it if need be.

 

You guys are great!

 

Who? Us? Insane would be a better description... lol

 

I may be crazy but it's kept me from going insane. Verify that the machine shop checked the preload.

 

[QUOTE=meangreen92;18806622]A 400 you can just call a 400. Some call it a 400M, but that is wrong terminology. So is M400. The 351M uses the "M" in its name so as to differentiate it from the 351W and 351C. But Ford only ever made one 400, so we can all save our breath and keystrokes the trouble of striking that "M" key.

Now Chevy had two different kinds of 400s, the small block which was a 400, and the big block which was actually a 402 derived from the 396 - but marketed as the 400 four barrel. It was basically a 325 horse 396 with 6 extra cubes. I'll shut up now...[/QUOT

351 /400m just means built in Michigan, W stand for Winslow Ontario, and C stand for Cleveland plant. Just some knowledge I learned over the years.

 

[QUOTE=Dark Souls Exp.;21218806]Winslow?

And I hate to add to this old as time debate, but the truth is Ford has never said what the M stands for. They've never said "modified" either. If it stands for Michigan why wasn't the 400 called the 400M? Hell if you looked at an old catalogue you wouldn't see 351M/C/W or anything most of the time. They would just say a "351 ci engine"

 

Some say that the "M" stands for Midland, Mi.

 

If the "M" or "C" or "W" ONLY referred to where the engine was built, then a dizzy from a 351W would work in a 351C along with every other part of the engine be interchangeable, but we know that is not the case.
Don't hit the new guy......

 

One factory could make multiple engine that are not related. 351c and 351w are named after the city.

 

Would be no 351M if not already a 351W and a 351C first, they are just three different Ford 351 cubic inch engines. 351C was used as a base for the 400, then they put a 3.5" stroke in the 400 block which was taller than a 351C and the 351M was born. Since the deck is higher, the rods are longer than a 351C. 351W is more akin to a 260/289/302.