Ok I need to rebuild the engine in my 78 bronco. The block is bad so I found a 400 in a 76 lincoln that I may buy. Please help me with these numbers. I believe the heads on the 76 lincoln have a chamber volume of 74.5cc. I am going to bore the cylinders to .030 over for a 4.030" bore. The stroke on the 400 is 4.0". I'm guessing the head gasket thickness will be .040". Im thought I read somewhere that the deck height was .067" for the block in a 400. The piston top volume is 0.0 as I plan to get flat top pistons. Plugging these values in a static compression cacl I get 9.63. Did I plug in the correct values? I am new to this so bear with me. This does not even account for milling of the heads and/or block. I live in colorado would this compression ratio work for me. I don't want to run premium gas. Thanks

 

Ok I need to rebuild the engine in my 78 bronco. The block is bad so I found a 400 in a 76 lincoln that I may buy. Please help me with these numbers. I believe the heads on the 76 lincoln have a chamber volume of 74.5cc. I am going to bore the cylinders to .030 over for a 4.030" bore. The stroke on the 400 is 4.0". I'm guessing the head gasket thickness will be .040". Im thought I read somewhere that the deck height was .067" for the block in a 400. The piston top volume is 0.0 as I plan to get flat top pistons. Plugging these values in a static compression cacl I get 9.63. Did I plug in the correct values? I am new to this so bear with me. This does not even account for milling of the heads and/or block. I live in colorado would this compression ratio work for me. I don't want to run premium gas. Thanks

You really can't guess the numbers, everything should be measured.
My Ford rebuild manual shows the 400s have 78.4 chambers. The gasket thickness .040, 4.0 stroke, deck clearence should be .057.

What pistons? Minimum for valve reliefs is 4cc.
Using your numbers, I got 09.608:1.
Changing to 78.4cc and .057d + 4cc reliefs I got 09.123:1

Custom gaskets. http://www.scegaskets.com/results_IE4.asp?catalog_Action=Filter%28%22%28inde x+%3D%27FORD+351C+%2D+400M+V8%27%29+AND+%28product line+%3D%27PRO+COPPER+Head+Gaskets%27%29%22%29&ca

Online calculator
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/calc.phtml

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 05-Jan-03 AT 11:29 AM (EST)]Thanks for the reply
>
>You really can't guess the numbers, everything should be
>measured.
I know just trying to play with the numbers still I did not by the engine out of the 76 ltd yet.

>My Ford rebuild manual shows the 400s have 78.4 chambers.
I looked here http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ebubbaf250/parts/parts02.html at bubbas site says that chamber volume varied from 74.5cc to 78.4cc. I know I must still verify this when I get the engine. I'm guessing that the heads from the 76 ltd(74.5cc) are better than the heads from my dead 78 bronco 400(78.4cc).

>The gasket thickness .040, 4.0 stroke, deck clearence should
>be .057.
>
I wasnt sure about the clearance.

>What pistons? Minimum for valve reliefs is 4cc.
I don't know I have been reading here that flat tops are the way to go. I thought flattops had a piston head value of 0.00. Please correct me if I am wrong. New at this. Oh wait you said minimum was 4cc ok.

>Using your numbers, I got 09.608:1.
>Changing to 78.4cc and .057d + 4cc reliefs I got 09.123:1

ok I reworked the calculation using these value 74.5cc,4.0 stroke,4.030 bore,gasket .040, deck clearence .057,4cc piston reliefs,gasket bore 4.060. and I got 9.457:1 vs 9.136:1 with the 78.4cc chamber heads.
This comp ratio sounds high to me. I want to run on regular octane pump gas and live in colorado. Thoughts?
>
>Custom gaskets.
>http://www.scegaskets.com/results_IE4.asp?catalog_Action=Filter%28%22%28inde x+%3D%27FORD+351C+%2D+400M+V8%27%29+AND+%28product line+%3D%27PRO+COPPER+Head+Gaskets%27%29%22%29&ca
As far as gasket bore size which would fit my application 4.060 or 4.155? Why the difference?

>
>Online calculator
>http://www.kb-silvolite.com/calc.phtml

I know this is all preliminary but I don't know if buying the 400 out of a 76 ltd is what I want to do. Does anyone know what problems I may have? I read that this engine may have a front sump oil pan can I use the pan off my dead 78 bronco 400? Also is the crank different in a car vs a truck. I looked at bubbas site but I could not confirm this. Thanks sorry for the long post and many questions.

 

Bubba appears to have better info about the heads.

What I mean by pistons is Cleveland or 400? Very few pistons are available for the 400 but they make flat tops and dished. 12-14cc for the dished version. Cleveland pistons use a smaller wrist pin but you have more options.

Theres nothing wrong with using dished pistons with an open chamber head.

I think you want about 8.5:1 for 87 octane.

Some small blocks can go to a 4.125+ bore so a 4.155 gasket is needed? 4.060 is fine for your motor. Stock Ford is usually 4.100.

Some early blocks had cracking problems. the '77 + up truck blocks are the strongest.

No problem using your Bronco oil pan on any 351M/400 block.

400 cranks and rods are all the same.

 

Thanks Brian you have been a great help. I went back to the salvage yard to get the casting number on the block and the crank. The number on the block behind the starter was D7TE A2. The only number on the crank I could see (couldnt get the oil pan completely off without pulling the motor) was 5MAB. After looking at bubbas wonderful mblock site http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ebubbaf250/parts/parts02.html and comparing the numbers:
Engine block ID
Model Year 1977-1982
Part Number D7TE-6010-A
Casting ID
D7TE-A1A
D7TE-A2A <---this?
D7TE-A2B <---or this?
D7TE-A3A
Notes CF or MCC foundry code. Reinforced main webs. 351M/400 truck only

Crankshaft ID

Model Year 1977-1982
Part Number D7TE-6303-A
Casting ID 5MAB
Notes All '78-up 400 car and '77-up 400 truck.

Hmmm this engine is sitting in a 1976 lincoln. Does this suggest that this motor was rebuilt before? Transplanted from a later year car or truck? Would this engine maybe be already bored out? I have to pull this engine myself and hope it is worth the effort. ie it has already been bored out beyond rebuild.

 

The blocks with TE in the casting number are truck blocks. The webbing is thicker for use with manual transmissions.

5M,5MA & 5MAB are 400 cranks. I don't know of any significant differences between them. You may want to double check with Bubba.

The engine was probably rebuilt. Yes, it may have been overbored, but if it was recent, this could also mean that it doesn't need to be rebuilt.

Casting numbers will sometimes overlap by a year or more. The 4 digit casting date should be right next to the block casting number. It will provide the exact day the part was cast. IE 6b25 Y/M/D means Feb, 25 1976.

Pre '75 heads are supposed to have less restrictive exhaust ports. You may want to use just the short block.

 

sampsin,

The easiest way to determine if the engine has been overbored is to pull a head and look for an oversize number on the pistons. The oversize number is usually stamped into the piston's top surface. I think chances are good the engine is not rebuilt, just swapped into the Lincoln from a truck.

Brian S,

There are no differences that I know of between the three different 400 crankshaft castings.

Starting in MY1978, D8AE car blocks have all the D7TE truck block revisions.

Block casting date codes vary in location. On DIF and MCC blocks, the casting date code is next to the foundry mark, near the oil pressure sending unit hole. On CF blocks, the casting date code is located on the right side of the block, near the casting ID code.

 

If you were building a blower motor with a standard trans, I guess the truck block or the late auto block would be the best choice.
Do you know of any difference in the cylinder wall thickness of these blocks?

 

I don't know of any differences in cylinder wall thickness that are specific to casting codes or dates.

Because of the vagaries of "core shift" in the casting process, I would expect it to vary among individual examples of the part. In other words, the only way to really know what you've got is to have the block sonic tested.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 06-Jan-03 AT 07:17&nbsp;PM (EST)]Well it of to plan b..The car was gone when I went back to salvage yard early this morning. The funny thing I was there a half hour before closing yesterday when they said it was too late to pull motor. So I showed up this morning as soon as they opened to get the engine and the car was gone. The only thing they said is that the car was prolly about 2 feet tall now.. crushed! What a major bummer..oh well maybe it's a sign to go with a 460 instead. I know this is a popular swap in these bronco's 78/79 but I am concerned about the emmisions legality of the swap. I mean the only thing emmision on the 78 bronco I have is the egr. No smog pump.

 

Hey I think people are mistaken about the smog pump. it is a good thing it really improves your gas mileage. I would definetly try to find that 400.