Well I have an 81 E150 with a 302 in it

I found a line on a complete 400M with C6 out of a lincon

would it be possible to swap out the 302 for the 400


I want to use the van as a tow rig and the 302 wont cut it

 

its tight, but it will fit.

be sure and check the trans mounting, some lincolns had a differant kind of mount in them.

 

right on would the trans behind the 302 work withthe 400?

And would i just need to change motor mounts

 

Is the 400 even a good motor to think about swapin

Im really good with my suzuki but the domestic stuff is all new to me

 

The 400 has a big block bell housing, the small block 302 transmission obviously won't fit. Considering they put 460's in the vans, the 400 will fit, not sure what needs to be done with a van built for the small blocks, the 400 is an intermediate, leans toward the middle because it isn't a big block. The 400/351M was designed from the Clevelan, the deck height was raised one inch to make the 400 the longest stroke engine ever built by Ford, so much of it's parts interchange with the 351 Cleveland.
The 400 has powerful potential, a lot of torque in waiting to be brought out, they have Cleveland heads, but flow is restricted by poor cam grind, 2 barrel cast iron intake and the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds. http://home.earthlink.net/~bubbaf250/

 

yup, it'll fit. in 80-82, they even came in 250/350's from the factory.

you'll need motor mounts (van mounts differ from car/truck mounts, afaik) and a C6 transmission, maybe a different oil pan (i know the 4x4 trucks used a different pan than the cars, not sure about the vans) i hope you got all the accessories...

plenty of info on this motor over in the 335 series forum. see you there! :-)
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum54/

 

The 400M wasnt the greatest motor out there.The 400M isnt known for having good oiling to the top end of the engine either. Since you have a 302 a 351 windsor swap would be a heck of alot easier.They have the same bellhousing pattern too. You didnt mention what the cost factor is to you on the 400, but i'd suggest at least looking into the 351W option. There certainly are a lot more after market parts for the 351W. Just somwefood for thought. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the replies

I think to saze on work needed (mounts and all) im going to keep my eye open for the 351W from what I understand the 351W will pretty much bolt in with very little work

the price of the 400 and C6 was good at only $100 but it sounds like alot of work to make it all work.

Once again thanks for the help and im sure ill be back asking more Qs

 

Yeah the 351W will use the same mounts, same trans, you should be able to bolt all the same accessories and brackets on. Pretty simple really in terms of engine swapping. As well if you have any thoughts of modifying the engine, you'll likely spend less money with the 351W as there are more parts available.
As well the extra money you spend getting the 351W versus the 400M will be made up for in less headaches and less trouble while doing the swap.
Happy motoring!

 

them's fightin' words over in the 335 series forum! :-)

(no M - the 351M has an M to distinguish it from the other 351's, but the 400 does not have an M designation. the 351M is literally a 'modified' 400, destroked with a different crank and pistons, but other than that the same as a 400...)

the 400 got a bad rap cuz it was smogged to death for emissions.
any motor can have oiling problems. in stock form, a 400 has more torque than a 351w, which is what you want for towing. these days, not hard to open 'em up a bit and get considerably more power than stock.

of course, i might be a little biased... ;-p

 

Oiling issues came from the Cleveland for which it came from, rediculously high RPM's result in an oil shortage to the BOTTOM NOT THE TOP. This is easily remedied by a line tapped into the high pressure location at the oil pump, it's a threaded plug near the fuel pump, you run a line from there to the oil pressure gauge location at the top rear of the block. If you aren't looking to race it or run at high RPM's, it'll be fine, many engines lives are shortened, not just the 400. I get sick of that excuse, I rebuilt the destroked version instead of replacing it with a 460 as many have simply because I believe they are great engines. A cam, and intake upgrade will bring them alive, those are restricting the performance, no research was done for converting to emissions, just added crap in hopes of getting them to pass. We have a stock rebuild, just upgraded to an RV cam, 4 barrel aluminum intake, andheaders, took it to emissions testing for our tags, no cataletic converter (pre-cat), smog pump, or EGR, the readings were as low as many of the newer fuel injected vehicles I've owned, all functioning perfectly.
Do as you want, but the 400 will give you far more torque than the Windsor, even in stock form, simple upgrades that I've listed will far exceed that. It's not that big of a deal to set one in, it's smaller than a 460, many have fitted one of those in without problems.

 

I can tell you now that we had a 400 with a c6 in a '79 F250, there wasn't much of anything we couldn't pull with that truck. Stopping it sometimes was a little scary, but it'd pull whatever you hooked to it. The 400 is a GREAT engine. The big thing to watch for is a miss at idle. They were notorious for eating valves. MY dad has replaced the heads on every one he's ever owned with less than 100k on 'em.