I have a 78 351m in my F-150. I am planning a rebuild and looking for suggestions on parts. I would like to upgrade to 400 with new pistons and crank. Does anyone make a rebuild kit with pistons/crank and all the other goodies in one kit? I don't really need high performance but I do want something that sounds good and will go when I step on the gas! Any suggestions?

 

You might try Speed-O-Motive they always had a lot of kits already put together that you could pick out opitions of what you wanted.

 

A usable (ie 10/10 to 20/20 turn) crank runs about $50 from a core supply, fob Houston Tx. Cast stock pistons are like $8.00. Thats all you need (in hard parts) to make it a 400.

Search for Accelerated Motion, they have a good guidleline page with lots of info on parts and what goes good together.

 

Performance Automotive Warehouse has had some "kits" in the past. You can order a catalog from them here: http://www.pawinc.com/

They have not entered the modern world that has catalogs online.

 

This is GREGM. I second the motion on PAW. Great..Great catalog. I can also see why they don't put it on the web.My '03 catalog is at 1170 pages....besides, I like sitting there with the *wish book* ,and boy do I mean WISH.

 

anyone ever try this place?

http://www.larrysperformance.com/data/enginekits.html

 

I could not find what I wanted in one place so I have come up with this combination of parts. Anyone see anything that should be changed or might not work in this application? Anything else that should be added?

Edl-2172 Edelbrock performer plus cam kit
Edl-2171 Edelbrock performer intake manifold
Edl-5872 Edelbrock sure-seat performer valve springs
Edl-1406 Edelbrock performer 600 cfm carb.
Clo-9-3121 Cloyes true roller timing set
Badger 400 flat top pistons
400 crankshaft
Scorpion roller rocker arms
melling high volume oil pump
Stock heads
long tube headers with 2 1/4 in. exhaust

 

Seems everytime I have had a crank turned, it comes back and plasti-guages around .002 to .003; reading the book this is near the service limit. Ask em to send it back to you near the lower limit of .0008 (Shoot for .001+, measuring to 4 places is unrealistic.) (Interested on other opinions, here).

Use a stock volume melling oil pump. (There is a huge discord on this, search and make up your own mind.)

Recurve your distributor. (Others will need to advise you here, I like regular gas.) My stock compression engine will get into detonation when towing, so I expect you need to be careful.

Consider cleaning up the stock heads (like the exaust port bump) and back-cutting the valves.

Get the carb tuning kit from Edelbrock, it will, most likely, be fat out of the box.

Your engine should run like a scalded dog! Best wishes and enjoy!

 

Mudbogger2,

There are two things that I would change if I were building it to that level.
First, I would use a Weiand 8010 Intake Manifold. It has a more generous carb mounting surface, and should be less prone to vacuum leaks.
Second, I would have the heads ported. At least on the exhaust side. Porting is win-win, you pick up both low end torque and power at high RPM.

I assume that the valves will be done, including new guides. Stainless steel valves will insure long life, but maybe outside your budget.

 

After pondering things I have revised my engine build options.
Weiand 8010 intake
Comp Cams 265DEH
Badger 400 flat top pistons 30 overbore
400 crank
Edelbrock 1406 carb
Scorpion roller rockers
Stock heads with some porting work
Long tube headers with 2 1/4" dual exhaust

Will this setup be ok with 89 octane? I am so glad I found this site BEFORE I started this buildup.

 

i'm looking into doing the very same thing to my 79 351M. About how much is this setup looking to set you back?

 

That should be OK with 89 Octane.

Don't forget your double roller timing chain.

 

79redranger- I just oreder these parts from jeg's
Carb, intake, cam and lifters, timing chain set, and some pretty ford chrome valve covers. Cost was $748. I am planning on $1500 to $1700 total cost with machine shop fees and building it myself. Now I just gotta find a 400 crank! Thanks for all your input guys.

 

You did get valve springs, too?

 

you could probly find a 400 crank off of ebay for 50 bucks or so. i think i saw one there the other day, it might be gone by now but you should check to see if anyone does have one.