I just bought a 77 F-150 and I was told that it had a 400 engine in it. I don't know where to find the engine stamp to verify this. But what I really wanted to know is the timing for the 400. I bought a haynes manual and it says to check the hood decal, what hood decal? I looked all over the internet trying to find the timing on this motor. The guy I bought this off of says it has cam in it. It has a Edelbrock Intake and carb. He also said it has a shift kit. This truck throws me back on the highway but it is sluggish off the line. I went to adjust the timing with my gramps, but the distrubuter was stuck to the block.

So,

1. Where is the engine stamp?

2. What is the timing on a 400?

3. How can I get that distrubutor loose without too much force.


Thanks guys.

 

i have a 78 with a 400 motor in it. i still have the sticker on the valve cover with the spec on it. i'll take a look at it tomorrow and let you know what it reads. but if you have a cam in it the orig timing may not be the same as what the cam calls for so you might have to get ahold of edlebrock. as far as the Haynes book... throw it away. that book is a piece of crap. i had one of those books and the index couldnt even match the pages with the right section's.

as for the engine stamp i dont know about that but if it is the orig motor and you still have the orig driver door with the metal tag on it. the code for a 400 motor is the letter "S" and it will be the 4th digit. the 351 is "H"

as for the distributor get some GOOD penetrating oil and soak the base of the distributor where it meets the block. and get a small propane torch and heat the base of the distributor up alittle and try to turn it. if it doesnt turn get a piece of wood and "TAP" on the dist upward. it's not gonna come loose on the first try. so just keep at it. oil-heat-tap-turn. it took me 20-25 min to get mine out.

Paul

 

The engine you have is the 400M series. The plate you are asking about should be on the right side (as you are looking at the engine) valve cover. The initial timing is 8 to 10* advance with the vacuum advance disconnected and tube plugged with the engine idling at 850 rpm's. The hold down bolt is located on the right side just under the distributor. You'll probably need a special L wrench to get at it.

If adjusting the timing doesn’t help try giving it more accelerator pump. Adjust the shot so that it flows more fuel sooner instead of over a long span of throttle travel.

Hope this helps.

 

The distributor is most likely corroded into the block. The distributor and block are made of two different metals, this encourages corrosion very nicely
Try soaking the shaft at the base of the distributor where it goes into the block a couple of times a day for a few days with WD40 or some other liquid penetrant. Then try a strap wrench around the shaft and gently rock it back and forth. Be very careful it is easy to break the housing. Eventually it will start to move.
The best way, IMHO, to set the timing with an unknown cam and an older engine is to use vaccuum. Set the timing to the highest vaccuum the truck will take without rough running or pinging under load. Of course you may also have to adjust the carb idle mixture screws and idle speed at the same time.

Sparky

 

I did try the accelerator pump, and did notice a decent amount of boost, but I still cant squal the tires.

The head is stamped with an M, but from what I heard the head is fairly interchangebale with 400s and some other 351s. The engine has been rebuilt, but I dont know if it has been swapped. One clue that something is different was the plate for the powersteering pump. It is bolted twice neer the front center of the block and once high up on the head. There is two other bolt holes one on the head and one near the front, both rusted and unused. I only noticed this because the plate is cracked and the original bolt on the head broke and the rest of the threads stripped out.

I just want to make sure which motor I have before I get too into working on it. Is there any things besides stamps that I can visually determine which motor it is?

Thanks

Brad

 

Both the 351 and 400 are M motors. everything about this engines "Seems" to be the same except for the crank shaft and rods; with the 400 having a 4 inch stroke compared to the 351's 3.5 inch. The reason I say "seems" is that there is some debate has to weather or not they were manufactured with the same harmonic balancer. Today this is a mute point because even ford list only one replacement balancer that is to be used on both size engines.

The post above about using a vacuum gauge to set the timing is, in my opinion, 100% correct for your situation. My engine in the bronco is 100% stock and I still set my timing the way he mentioned.

As to why you have no hump at the get go. You stated that the person before you installed a "cam" but you didn't state the lift or duration of the cam installed. A lot of people over cam thinking that bigger is better. The troubles with a big cam is that they take a lot of rpm's before the engine comes "up" on the cam. This is why any cam with 292* or more in duration (myself I say anything over 282*) needs a high speed stall convertor. The factory stall on a C-6 I believe is around 1200 to 1800 rpm's depending on the engine it is behind. A 292* cam needs atleast 3000 rpm's to let the engine come on to the cam.

The stall speed of a convertor is the rpm's at which the convertor "locks up" or becomes fluid (or fully) engaged with the engine. The old mans way of testing your stall speed is to hold the brake and apply the gas. The stall speed is the rpm's at which the motor either, stops climbing and holds at, or if the motor is stong enough, the rpms at which the motor overcomes the breaks and spins the tires. Not matching the torque convertor to the cam is one big mistake a lot of new engine builders make, and makes a big difference in performance.

 

My .02 worth. After you get the distributor loose I suggest getting about 20 degrees timing at idle (with the vacuum advance hooked up). These engines have valve and spark timing retarded for emmissions but it kills the torque. Listen closely for spark knock under load and if you get it either use higher octane fuel or back the timing down a degree at a time.

Good Luck
Bear Tracks

 

OK guys, I got the distributer loose today. I decided to try the timing out (this is my first time). My grandpa told me to rotate it counter clockwise to advance, but I soon found that it should actually go the other way...
Now with the engine slightly more retarded (I realize now this was not what I was trying to accomplish) I was on my way down the street, gave her a little gas and she died out. I was able to get her to start and I adjusted the distributer. Upon adjustment I noticed that any advancement past the original setting definately made a stronger rev, but it came along with ticking around the PCV valve as well as some sort of vibration neer the power stearing pump. I pushed on the accelerater pump and received some kind of backfire through the carb (a little bit of white smoke). I haven't been able to start her back up. I can't see any loose wires. I tried cranking her over with the accelerator fully depressed. Now my truck is sitting at the bottom of the street. Any suggestions?

 

Try turning the dist. while cranking the engine.

 

>Try turning the dist. while cranking the engine.

I tried this with no luck...:-(

 

well there are 3 things that make an engine run. fuel, air and spark. start with the spark. take a sparkplug down to the truck pull the wire off of a plug and stick the other one in. put it on the block somewhere so you have a good ground. and have someone turn it over. if you have no spark start from there. if you do have spark. see if its getting fuel. if it backfired through the carb i would say it's a fuel thing. a good backfire will blow out the power valve.

 

Thanks for the view on things. I started with spark, none. Turns out the connections on my coil were all curoaded. Sanded those down and replaced a broken connector. Voala! Then I was able to use my gramps timing light, I advanced her to 20* and she's running pretty good, much better than before (probably aroun 15*). Thanks for you help guys!

 

Check and make sure your coil is getting the right amount of voltage. It sounds stupid now, but seriously check it out, the same thing happened with me. I set the timing to what the engine called for , and it would NOT start unless i turned the dist. counterclockwise, she would start but not stay running, so i'd have to turn the dist. back to where it was before. I couldn't figure out what the hell the problem was. You know you got a good coil when it starts your vehicle off 2.3 volts