Hey all, I own a 1979 f-150 custom 4x4 swb regular cab with a 351M, np435/205 and 9"rear and 44 front. Basically I am asking for some input from you guys/gals that have built your 351's into 400's. I know that there are threads located in other area of the sight that could answer my question in general.......I have read most of them.

What I am looking for is all the components to turn my 351 into the 400 and to rebuild the whole thing from the ground up. I would like information as to where the parts were purchased, price and stuff like that. Just really looking for some more leads. I have searched on the net with very limited results and found a whole hell of alot of parts for small blocks like the 302/351w but have yet to find crankshafts and other pieces.

If any one out there has built a "351M" and has gotten the numbers I am looking for I would very much appreciate some help on this project.

Sorry for such a long post and thanx in advance.



One more thing: In general the truck will see some offroad time and a decent amount of time on the road. Not running the 1/4 mile or anything like that but every once in a while it could take on a few chevy's from light to light.

 

There are only two parts that you need to turn a 351M into a 400. They are a 400 crankshaft and a set of pistons. Both of these items should be available through your local Automotive Machine shop. If you want pistons which are higher compression than stock replacement pistons, look for 'Badger' pistons.
Also you will need the bearings and gaskets etc. required for any motor rebuild. The Automotive machine shop is a good source for these as well.

You might want to give Ebay a look.

 

Thanx, I realize that a crankshaft and pistons are all that is really needed for the transformation. I have looked around on ebay and to tell you the truth some of the prices scared me. I mean they had sets of pistons and stuff for under $100 claiming to be "badgers". That really didn't seem like a realistic price for a decent set of pistons. Just my $.02. I will give the local machine shop a buzz and see what they can do for me. So here is the timeline..............I think:

1-Disassemble block, clean and degrease, acid wash or whatever and get it sonic tested.
2-Have machine shop try to have bore cleaned up at or before .030 with .040 being the ma I think).
3-Get crank and have it mic and see what it will clean up at and have it polished and get the oil holes chambered..............not to go over .030 under?
4-Get bearings....................clevite or federal mogul high performance. I have been told to go with these. Not sure though.
5-I have also been told that an oil restrictor kit should be installed also. It restricts the oil flow to the valve train and cam bearings and puts more on the bottom end.
6-Install ARP studs just about everywhere.
7-Reassemble bottom end.

What about heads? I have heard talk of Aussie's and then have heard talk about just keeping the stock heads.
What is the opinion of the masses as for heads to get the HP and TQ I am looking for?

Sorry this post is so long but I had alot to say.

 

One more thing, where has anyone purchased a 400 crank, pistons and connecting rods from and about how much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking. Looking for a good source to possibly do the whole rebuild. I have looked in numerous places such as Summit and Jeg's and stuff but didn't find a crank for the 400. I may have missed it though.

Thanx in advance.

 

You not going to find more that bolts and camshafts in jegs/summit. Oh i forgot intakes and bearings.

Dont install the oil restricter kits. What they dont tell you is that if your not going to turn over 6000RPM your not going to need it. This is old school tech.
If you get an honest 400HP your doing good. You could make 500LBS of torque easyer than hp with this motor. Its not a screamer by no means.

Look up the user SHAZAM and he has one in a pulling truck. He is about $20,000 in most likly but he makes 700HP and 800TQ or more. I havn't talked to him in a while.

Dont got the aussie head route, your only messing with detitnation. (I have a set that I didn't use.)
I had a set of custom pistons made out of ROSS blanks that changed the Pin height (CH) to get close to .007 deck. This also gave me 351C pin sizes so i had to bush my rods. I surfaced my open chamber heads,new valves,guides,springs,retainers and the works. I am using an old Wolverine cam that has .528 lift on both with about 218° @.50
This cam works nice for me. This motor has been awsome so far and I havn't turned it over 4500RPM.
I can smoke my 36" TSL swampers with this motor. Before I couldn't spin in the dirt.

I have removed the edelbrock 4 barel intake and the 750CFM holley that I had on it. I have installed a custom fuel injection system that I am currently working the bugs out of. After this is done out with the T18 and in with a 5speed ZF.

If you do a search on boad subjects for the 400 you find that there is alot you can do to help. The best pistons that I have seen for sale were shown on this site at the top.

Let me know if I can help.

 

Also read this.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=288164

 

Cool, that is some good info.


mmidgett
I see what you mean about achieving the 400 hp. So lets say I shoot for a little more than 500 lbs. of torque. 278bronco's build on DD2K showed 476 #'s at 2000 rpm. What would you do different to get that engine over 500 lbs. of torque? Say maybe around 525 lbs.?

About the heads.........should I just go ahead and work the stock 2v ones?

One more thing.....where could I get the Desktop Dyno?

 

I got a reground crank from napa with clevites for just over $200 I think. I plastiguaged every journal on it and to my surprise it was perfect. You won't have a dotonation problem with the Aussies if you use the right cam and piston arrangement and have your deck clearance to .050 or less. Check the KB piston website, the cr calculater there will give you the dynamic cr as well as the static cr if you know when the valves close on the exhaust of the cam you want to use. It's a good tool to try different combinations.

 

Oops, that should be the intake valve closing point.

 

Try www.motionsoftware.com for desktop dyno.

If you want 500 ft-lbs torque @2000 RPM, you don't want Aussie heads. You want low compression and agressive porting of stock heads, a hydraulic roller cam with high lift and short duration and possibly a stroker kit. With higher than 9.0:1 CR (flattop pistons and stock heads) you will need a longer duration cam which will reduce your low end torque. 278Bronco's build was pretty good for a naturally aspirated unstroked 400 motor. If you used his build with a stroker kit you could do better. A supercharger is another way to get more torque.

Look in my gallery, I get over 500 ft-lbs torque and over 500 HP, but not at 2000 RPM. My peak torque is at 4500 RPM and peak HP is at 6000 RPM. My torque at 2000 RPM is only 425 ft-lbs. This is due to the long duration cam that I need to keep the 10.3:1 CR from causing detonation on pump fuel.

 

tastyklair: Thanx for the info!! There is a NAPA not to far from where I live.


danlee:
How often do you drive that truck? It is an awesome truck by the way. Is it fairly streetable? That is alot of HP and TQ.

So if I went with 278Bronco's build, but on a stroker, how much of an improvement do you think I would get?

Man, this is driving me nuts. You know how when you have the money for something and you just want to hurry up and go get it..........................but you know that you should wait and do some more research and make sure it is done right.

That is me and my engine right now.

Thanx for all of the info guys, appreciate it!!

 

My truck is streetable. It is tagged, but I only drive it back and forth to shows. It gets about 8mpg.

DD2K says 278 Bronco's build with a 4.17 stroker will bring the torque @2000 RPM to 498 ft-lbs.

A 4.17 stroker is fairly simple. You start with a 400 crank and offset grind the rod journals to 2.123 to fit a 240 I6 rod. This rod is 6.8" long. The small end is 0.912 and will accept an ACL-9356 piston with a compression height of 1.405". This leaves a deck clearance of 0.007". However now there is to much compression at 10.6:1, so a dish of at least 10cc must be cut. Now the CR is 9.7:1 and the DCR is 8.3:1. This is about maximum for 93 Octane fuel. The torque at 2000 RPM is now 511 ft-lbs.
A couple of cc's more in the dish might be wise.

This piston may not be available in +0.040", but it should be available in +0.030".

ACL has other pistons as well, but I can't get on the website at this moment. I'll check later.

 

Hey thanx. That looks like the direction I will most likely go. Just got to get the block over to the machine shop and see what they can do with it. They should be able to clean it up fairly easily since I found out that I am only the third owner of the truck and according to my local Sheriff, a good friend, the mileage on the truck is correct at 97000 miles and not 197000. The machine shop should clean it up nice.


I see that you are using the CHI 3V heads on your truck. For my application with the stroker setup..............should I stay with the stock heads or go another route to achieve that kind of torque and HP.

Do you have a website for the ACL pistons and stuff? I'll try to search and find them.

Thanx

 

I found the ACL website and their 9356 piston. I also found a tech. article on the test that they conducted before they started selling it. Pretty rigorous test they performed and had no problems with cracking or anything considering that in the first part of the test at about the 67 hour mark that the crank broke. The test was conducted after an initial dyno of the engine and found that the engine produced max torque at 3500 rpm. After the run in on the engine, that is when the time started. Considering this test engine had an 11.3:1 CR and 67 hours in the test a crank breaks(damaged only 1 piston). The pulled the pistons out and put them into another block and replaced the bad one and at the 94 hour mark the broke a valve and this terminated the test. The piston suffered a little damage to the crown but that was it. They had all of the pistons tested and there were no cracks or anything. They said it was equivalent to a drive all the way around Australia while pulling a heavy load. Pretty cool since in my application the CR would be less than 10.0:1. Should be pretty durable.

 

Oh yea these motors love air so if you want to get real crazy do the small stoker with a single turbo and see what happens.

Yall remember the Ford comercial that has the powerstoke pulling down the drag strip beating the dodge.

With a turbo this could be your truck.