Well...threw a rod thru the water jacket and cracked the block in my 400 a few weeks ago. Since then my 79 has just been sitting waiting for me to get the 429 rebuilt. Down to waiting on parts so I figure I'll pull of the front clip tomorrow, with all the years of hard use the 400 has given me I figure it deserved to go out with a bang
Only problem is even on 7clys it still idles semi smooth and won't blow up!!! Even holding 3700 rpm with no oil pressure it just won't go bang.. Guess it's just too tough to give up

 

I had a 71 351C one time that had about 3psi of oil pressure and even running it up to 5500 in every gear, it would not come apart. Ford Tough!!!

 

the 302 that was in the 78 in my sig split a piston in half right below the piston rings as I was letting off the gas coming off the highway turning into the local dirt track,started making a heck of a racket. sounded like a rocker came loose and was hitting the valve cover. so I park it,and start checking the oil,anything I could check without tearing into the engine. couldn't find anything of course because it was the piston making the noise. I thought,forget it,i am going to watch the races,I'll drive it home,if it blows,it blows!!. well,the truck made it home just fine,however noisy it was from the half piston still attached to the rod making contact with the top half stuck at the top of the cylinder. Well,when I finally got around to taking the motor apart a couple weeks later,6 out of the 8 pistons had broken rings on them!!. I don't know how it had enough compression to make the 5 mile drive home from the track,and it didn't seem like it was down that much power from before it grenaded

 

the 78 F250 i bought last week to use as a parts truck has a 400 "six cylinder" in it. #1 hole has no compression, and #2 hole only has 50 lbs compression. the other 6 have 150-165 lbs. but it will still smoke the tires from a dead dig floor stomp of the go pedal with a 2 barrel on six cylinders.
ya gotta love the fords dependability.
ain't no chubby or dog never gonna do that.

 

My 400 finally quit running after pinging during idle for a few months.
I wasn't about to rebuild what I considered a boat anchor

It had 317,000 Km on it.

11 years later I found FTE.

Now I wish I had kept the 400 and rebuilt it to its potential

 

Hindsight is 20/20

 

if you want to trade that 429 for a 400, i have one, and will be willing to trade with you.

 

Well tore down the 400 this afternoon, a little better than I thought. It definately died with honor. (I tried one more time, held it at 4500 for about 30 secs after draining what was left of the oil/antifreeze mix...nothing )

Found #8 was the problem cylinder. Figure the rod bearing spun and eventually wore the crank down. Giving the rod just enuf play and twist to break the rod and break almost the entire cyl wall out into the water jacket, never going thru the outside of the block. Oil was coming from a pretty good hole in the pan behind the starter, not sure which went thru for sure. Piston got shoved up to where it smacked the head and cracked, all that is holding it together is what's left of the rings.
Couldn't find much of the rod, wrist pin, or skirt. Proud to say I somehow broke 3 lobes out of the cam, dropping it down into the oil pan, bending 3 push rods, and dropping the 3 lifters as well, 2 of which got beaten into pieces. The last lobe of the cam stayed inplace push rod intact where it belonged...how i do not know
All the rod bearings were into the copper, 3 of 5 mains were in copper. Rod bolts were all still tight as can be, even the #8 that sat there spinning around and around.
Hate to throw the block away...thinking of making a table out of it... so the wife doesn't complain I'll use the pistons as coasters Cracked and beaten one mine ofcourse Dished just right to hold a nice 12oz can

 

I've built a couple of serious 400s now... I'm more than pleased with power output... My next goal is to build a serious 351M... given the availability of 351W cranks and rods out there.

 

see if you can find a 400 from 1972

 

My girlfriend had an 91 explorer that she drove everyday with no oil, no water, never got tuned up, ect. When it finally blew a head gasket, we went out muddin the next day in it and it worked fine! When i tore it down, all the gaskets were shot, all the wall were gouged ect.