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I have not been able to find larger valves for the 400. Are the valves for the 351c 2v heads the same? Would a set for these heads work on my 400? Or would it be easier to just use the 351c 2v heads? Either way, the heads are going to get some machine work done, its just a matter of which ones.
You can have the 2V heads machined for Cleveland 4V valves. Unless you are building a racer I would stick with the stock valve size, it is plenty large.
What are the specs on the stock valves in the 400 vs. the 351c 2v heads? More importantly, will the 2v heads offer any better performance than the stock heads?
Except for the Boss 351, all the stock 335 series engines use multi groove valve stems and keepers.
Multi groove valves and two piece retainers should not be used in high performance applications.
Fortunately you can use 429/460 385 series, single groove valves/keepers instead. Ford designed these engines to interchange a lot of valve train components.
460 valves should be cheap and easy to find. The exhaust valves are the same 1.65" diameter and the intakes are 2.09" vs 351C 2V 2.04". These valves can be cut down to 2.04" but I think enlarging the valve seat would work best.
Are 460 valves a drop-in with regard to length? If so couldn't we drop in the bigger exhaust valve to make up for the bad port and pick up some efficiency with a single pattern cam?
If I use 460 valves, will the installed height be the same with M keepers and retainers, or do I need 460 parts to be compatible and have the right height?
The 2V valves are larger than the best small block chevy heads as is. If you really wanted extreme rpm's I would hop up to the 4V units. A little bowl blending etc. does wonders for the 2V heads.
you can have the 4V valves installed into 2V heads but there is a lot of bowl blending or porting needed to realize any gain, which is partially nullified by "shrouding" of the larger valves by the sides of the chamber and cylinder wall. there is a lot of power to be unleashed by porting 2V's. most flow data shows that 2V's outflow 4V's up to .500 lift, unported. even if your cam is above .500 lift, it's only there for how long? not very. to take advantage of the bigger valves your engine would need to live in the upper atmosphere of the RPM band, not just visit for a few seconds now and then. funny thing is, a lot of guy's that swap up to the 4V's and big valves are forever trying to get the engine to run like it did before. what do i run? 4v's on a 357" C
Speedpro has stainless 4v valves.
I have them in 2V heads.
You will need hardended seat, EX at least.
I am still not certain it was worth the $$$. (fitting, not buying them.) But I can say I am more satisfied with this engine than the previous with 2V valve.
I take exception with the shrouding of 4V valve arguement, because, it seems to me, the greatly increased unshrouded area certainly is larger than the shrouded area. But what do I know.
Seat of the pants: no change on bottom end, mid and big end: quicker.
Summary: I am looking forward to a much more radical cam and a 750 cfm than I am running to take advantage of the valves, but this truck is a still a daily driverl. GL