You guys really seem to know your stuff. I've got a unique situation so please read on and bare with me. I have a local show winning car with a 400 (2v, egr), C6, 9in. rear, and 39k well cared for miles. The vehicle is all stock, correct, and detailed down to the hose clamps, decals, etc. The only discussion area for this drive train set up I've found is here.

This part I'm sure you can relate to. These guys at the local shows or cruise's will get out and run up and down the main strips. This is the part I avoid. The mopar, GM, and some of the ford guys, always egg me on to get out there and run the big engine for them. This is when I tell them the wife is calling me to go home. Even with the 400 well tuned the best I can do is sling a little gravel getting out on the road to leave.

Please keep in mind that I've got to keep a stock look. Stock manifolds (at least the exhaust manifolds), valve covers, ignition, etc. I know I may have to give in for the intake. I even thought of grinding down the brand name on the intake manifold and painting it Ford blue to try to fake out judges if I have to go 4bbl. A cam and timing chain/gear set-up is a definite because it's internal and hidden.

Here's my question. I have decent mechanical ability, all the hand tools I think I need, a little bit of hobby money, a small garage, and all of the upcoming winter to try to fix the (my, our) problem. I was wondering what any of you would do to keep this engine compartment as stock looking as possible, relatively smooth idling, and able to at least perform as well as other stock engines with the same displacement. Upgrades probably need to be limited to bolt-on's. I love this thing and don't want the 351M/400 class engines to get a reputation around here as a smog slug to avoid. Any advice from you knowledgeable folks is appreciated and will be taken seriously. Thanks in advance for any response.

 

If you want you might could go and get a stock 351c 4v intake and buy adapters to make it work on your motor then you would be able to keep stock appearing intake some of these guy's could tell you if that is an option or not. Just a thought. A timing chain could help greatly sence the stock has cam retard in it and if you change timing chains and you that far for the $100.00 get a new cam with lifters threw summit the .484/.510 lift would work real nice for you. These are just my thoughts on your situation

 

I did something similar with my 400. I filed the Edelbrock lettering off my performer intake and painted it Ford blue. You can get a performer intake that keeps the EGR valve.

The performer cam makes decent power and idles like a stocker. At first all I changed was the cam, intake and carb. It made a big difference.

Later I added dual exhaust with flow master mufflers. The 3 chamber mufflers sounded great but a little loud. I didn't need cats because it was a '73 vehicle.

The only other thing I wanted to try was a little more compression.

Are you familiar with this build up?
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker/400.html

 

>I have a local show winning car with a 400 (2v, egr), C6, 9in. rear,
>and 39k well cared for miles. The vehicle is all stock,
>correct, and detailed down to the hose clamps, decals, etc.
>
>Please keep in mind that I've got to keep a stock look.
>Stock manifolds (at least the exhaust manifolds), valve
>covers, ignition, etc. I know I may have to give in for the
>intake.
>
>I was wondering what any of you would do to keep this engine >compartment as stock looking as possible, relatively smooth idling, >and able to at least perform as well as other stock engines with the >same displacement. Upgrades probably need to be limited to
>bolt-on's. I love this thing and don't want the 351M/400
>class engines to get a reputation around here as a smog slug
>to avoid. Any advice from you knowledgeable folks is
>appreciated and will be taken seriously. Thanks in advance
>for any response.


Well since you need to keep a "stock" appearance, I would say Aussie 302 2v heads are it, you will be able to keep your stock exhaust manifolds. Dynagead flat top pistons, a new cam. Now for intakes, you can get a stock 351c 2v one and use weiand spacers, and aftermarket 400 one and grind it down (the name) or you can spend lots of money doing what dave williams did to a stock 400 intake.

http://www.angelfire.com/ar/dw42/index.htm

its the link to kenny moores 434 sroker. what dave did was mill out he 2v stock to a 4v stock. Dave says the stock intake is better than the aftermarket ones. the link has exceeded bandwith or else i would have posted that.

with the right cam and engine planning you should be well over 350hp and probably into the 425+ range. then you can go be respectable.

 

I forgot to mention. I have a small garage and a strict neighborhood association. Anything I do to this engine has to be done with the engine in the car.
Thanks again!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 13-Aug-02 AT 06:36 PM (EST)]i'm pretty sure i've read somewhere that there was a 4v option for the 400, but that it was so rare that nobody has ever actually seen one. you can try ebay - there's all kinds of stuff on there... if you want to disguise an aftermarket intake, i'd go for the weiand 8010 - the runners are more rounded than the elelbrock performer and it just looks more like a ford intake, IMHO. i have heard that racers sometimes use acid to give ported heads an "as-cast" texture in classes where porting is not allowed, but that may not matter if you're painting...

as for the carb - i dunno. i assume you want a motorcraft? they probably come in as many sizes and configurations as holley's. with factory exhaust manifolds, anything from a 600 to a 750 depending on what else you do to it.

if you're looking at aussie heads, look carefully at the area around the exhaust ports - seems like i noticed something different about them, but maybe more subtle than an aluminum intake!

in some cases, stock exhaust manifolds can be ported - some are thicker and more constricted than others. i did a pair using a drill and several grinding stones - i now use a high-speed die grinder with carbide carbide burrs for that kind of thing... much better! then smoothe it out with stones. wear eye protection!!! also, 4v exhaust manifolds might be useful.

the heads, intake, and exhaust manifolds can be gasket matched and touched up, with a lot of work around the valve guides and under the seats. i've read that a performance valve job can make a big difference too. i saw some flow data that showed an improvement of about 5% from using fancy "race" valves with undercut stems. even more improvement from going to larger valves. this might decrease low-rpm torque somewhat, but if you're drag racing, then the power on the top end is more what you're interested in.

2 BIG things - STALL and GEARS. neither one can be seen once installed. they make heavy things MOVE! also, add posi if it's not in there already

as for the cam - that depends on the rest of it. if you get an aftermarket intake, a fairly big carb, higher compression pistons or aussie heads, gasket match, port the heads, oversize racing valves, 3200 stall, 4.33 or so gears, shift kit... then a bigger, higher-revving cam would work. if you take a more mild approach, then a low/mid range torque cam would be better. it just depends on how far you want to take it. the only visible parts are the intake and exhaust manifolds. you can't go TOO wild without headers, but you should be able to get a huge difference compared stock.

what kind of car is it in? weight makes a difference in the setup, but i assume that any car with a 400 in it is HEAVY...

you can do all this without removing the engine block. on a 40K mile motor, you might have a slight ridge to shave off to get the pistons out, then a drill-powered hone and stock bore pistons. it CAN be done that way, but keeping the short-block as-is (except cam & timing set) and using the aussie's would be much easier.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Aug-02 AT 00:48 AM (EST)]PS - check out that link - that may be the intake you need!


here it is: http://members.tripod.com/lyc_42/km434/km434.htm

 

>i'm pretty sure i've read somewhere that there was a 4v
>option for the 400, but that it was so rare that nobody has
>ever actually seen one.

yes ford had a part num, it was a dealer installed item. they were always out of stock. i think we have a better shot at seeing the lock ness monster than seeing one of these.

on a side note, i did see a holley street dominator for the 400 at the nov swap meet at daytona.

 

i think i've seen that one on ebay - looks like the edelbrock torquemaster? pretty hard to disguise that one as a stock intake though!

i seriously like the modified stock 2v intake though, for something like this. just port the heck out of it, put a motorcraft carb on top, and throw a K&N filter in the stock housing - 100% stock ford parts, and more kick than any stock 400 ever had!

 

You've got a show winning concours car and you want to modify it to the point of having to "fool the judges" because your competitors are goading you about showing off on the street. Logic escapes me, but ok. GER (and others) make a wide ratio planetary gear for the C6 that changes first gear from 2.45:1 to 2.75:1. Check the option list for your year car and see what the lowest ring and pinion ratio was for your combination and if posi was available. Dearborn Classics have ring and pinion sets plus the factory Trac-Lock diffs. If dual exhaust was available, change to it. For the engine: extrude hone the stock intake and port-match it to the heads. Clean up the bowl areas of the intake port. Install a set of 351C-4V valves. Port the exhaust side and extrude hone the exhaust manifolds and port match them as well. You might get by with a very mild cam such as the old 242HE from Comp. Cams that keeps the stock idle. A set of 351C flat-top pistons will bump up the compression (the rod small ends have to be bushed down to .912"). Recurve the distributor so full advance comes in just short of detonation and run premium fuel only. Use a K&N filter in the stock filter housing. From the outside, everything will still appear to be box-stock, but the performance should be noticably improved.

 

 

You can always hide a nitrous system underneath the intake manifold. Some creative plumbing and fittings, and you have an instant 100 hp waiting to kick butt. Run one main tube into the back of the intake, make it look like a vacuum line. Branch it off into eight tubes that are fitted into the runners from underneath. Put it to the floor, and hang on. Take the NOS tank out for the shows. Just a more radical idea.