Hey, I have a good running 390fe in my f100 and I was planning on rebuilding it one day. Throw on some edelbrock heads, new cam, edelbrock manifold, new carb. Something along those lines. Anyhow, I am purchasing another f100 soon for parts (6" lift, 36" tires, straight body all for $400) and it has a 400 motor in it, probably from a 73-79 f-series. I dont know much about the 400's, but do they offer more HP than a FE motor? I like the big block fe but I was just curious if the 400 would be worth haning on to.

 

I'm sure the 351/400 can be built, but I would never move one in front of a FE for a truck engine. Race engine or the like could be different.




John

 

Another vote for the FE. There is not much aftermarket for the 351M/400, and although they can be built the FE has a lot more options, factory-wise and aftermarket both.

 

Boat anchor (400) verses real engine (390). No comparison.

Garbz

 

Yeah, I was planning on sticking with the FE because its a big block and I have found some moderate builds that produce 400+ HP. I just brought up the 400 motor cause I didn't know much about it. I guess FORD went with the small blocks in the later 70's cause of the budding low emissions trend. Can you imagine an 87 F150 with a 360 big block. That would be cool.

 

Hey jowilker, maybe you could answer another question. You seem to know your stuff. Anyhow, my 390 is a D4TE block and I know it's not my trucks original motor because F100's came with 360's right? I did some research on the D4TE blocks to see what the engine might have come out of. I never got an answer, all I know is the engine has shelby valve covers and is a D4TE block with the backwards 105. I am not dreaming and thinking that the valve covers meant it was out of some shelby mustang or anything, I just thought it was a little odd lol. Do you know what the D4TE's were put in? I heard FORD used them for larger dump trucks and such.

 

I know I'm gonna upset some people here, sorry. 400 ford to FE. No brainer 400 ford because of the head options available which are better than any FE engine available out their. The cleveland style head has been extensively researched for many application. Just check into www.enginemasters.com last 2 yrs and see what won. These are extreme applications but jon Kaase won with lowly 400 ford. Also many of the competitiors ran similar engines the past couple of yrs. ford 400blk and CHI heads a deadly combination. their are some FE's in their also but just seem to come up short for one reason or another. Tough competition. On the blks the FE has a advantage I believe over 400 due to thicker cylinder walls but if only going .040 not a problem for regular pumpgas engine. Also on tranny upgrades the 400 wins again because its a big block bell housing and their are many options for this application that anyone can find on internet easy. The FE different bellhousing and not many options as available to upgrade. Which tranny are you running? What headers/manifolds?, what intake mainifold? I'm currently doing a 1970 ford crewcab with a 400 ford eng over the FE because of tranny options and heads and modern upgrades. Less chance of oil leaks with 400 compared to FE engine in the long run. I know I'm gonna catch some flak but sorry. I was thinking a big block but really don't need for my application and 400 for is around 100lbs lighter in stock form compared to bigblock and a little lighter than FE also. 400ford has 4" stroke also

 

Luke, Bill can give a better answer, but as far as I know nothing special about a D4. Since in 74 360s & 390s were the only engines built and they both have the same bore it could be either. I believe some were service blocks. The extra webbing in the lower end of the 105 engine is considered better by most.


4x4 I'm glad you got to state your case, but doubt you will get a big following for the 400. I stated in my first post that they could be built up, but out of the box the 400 would not hold a light to any FE as a truck engine.




John

 

The D4TE block is from a 1974/76 F100/350. The same block was used for both the 360 & 390, since the bore (4.05") is the same.

The difference between the 360 vs the 390 is the crankshaft, rods, and pistons.

Ford did not install 360/390's in anything larger than an F350. F500 and larger trucks (1964/78) came with FT engines which look similar to FE engines.

I had Cobra LeMans valve covers and air cleaner on my 1965 F100. Did it have a Cobra engine? No, it was the original 352 bored out to 390 specs.

The valve covers, air cleaners, other "dress up" engine parts were available at the parts counter and could be installed on any FE engine.

btw: On sale day 360 engines magically become 390's. Sellers are clueless, don't know one Ford engine from another, and most have never heard of the 360.

If you are going by the D4TE block, it was used w/both the 360 & 390.

The only way to know what size it is without tearing down the engine: Measure the stroke: 360 = 3.50" / 390 = 3.78"

 

And it takes about 25 grand of custom work to get the power levels that are obtained in the engine masters competition. Plus they only have to do dyno pulls and hold together. Not live in an actual engine compartment. The issue is with the oiling system that just is horrible. Oil goes to the top end first then to the mains? What idiot engineer thought that up. This well removes any advantage the cleavland heads provide. Good breathing cant fix no oil at the mains.

I can also mount just about any transmission combo to the FE today including the C6, C4, AOD, or even a TKO Tremec.

Garbz

 

And...the 1975/79 351M/400's were very prone to cracking cylinder heads, the 1975/82 engines were smogged up terds.

Rule of thumb: Have the heads magnafluxed FIRST before spending a cent on them.

The 1970/74 351 4V's had sand casting problems in the valley area. You wanna know what dealers did to fix them?

They used a plastic solution that (supposedly) solved the problem, cuz that's what FoMoCo said to do.

In case y'all are unaware and think I'm making this jazz up...

C6AZ19554A .. Metallic Plastic Kit-Use to repair timing covers and cylinder blocks / Kit contained one can of metallic resin, one jar of a hardening agent.

 

well i really like both engines. and no matter what all the haters say a 400 is a great engine with a rebuild. sure they sucked out of the factory but what late 70s smog motor didn't? if we were talking a factory motor to factory motor the the fe would stomp all over a 400 but since you would be rebuilding either of them i would say they are about equal. the aftermarket is starting to discover the 400 with many more parts becoming available. The 400 is also lighter. 400s can run really good with a good rebuild to fix all the stupid crap ford did to it so it would make emissions. we used to have a 78 f150 with a warmed up 400 and it had all the power you could ever need and most likely want on demand. now all this being said would i swap a 390 out for a 400, probably not as why go through all the trouble of mounts and stuff when in the end the power is going to be about equal. But you should defiantly hang on to that 400 for a future project or better yet send it to me.

 

Hey, thanks for all the info guys. I guess I wont know weather my engine is a 360 or 390 till I open my motor up and do some measurements. I am sure the 400 could be a good engine but my FE is good already and one day when I can rebuild it, it will kick butt

 

If you really want your FE to kick some butt, check out Edelbrock's aluminum head for them. They claim they will flow better than oigional 427 heads, and also shave some serious weight.

 

[quote=jowilker;9161364]Luke, Bill can give a better answer, but as far as I know nothing special about a D4. Since in 74 360s & 390s were the only engines built and they both have the same bore it could be either. I believe some were service blocks. The extra webbing in the lower end of the 105 engine is considered better by most.


4x4 I'm glad you got to state your case, but doubt you will get a big following for the 400. I stated in my first post that they could be built up, but out of the box the 400 would not hold a light to any FE as a truck engine.
Some of my worst case scenerio have been with FE in the machine shop back in the day. Had some really bad machining back then and I've had to eat someparts due to bad cam bore alignments and line bores not straight and decks heights being off and all my worst case situations have been pretty much with these engines. I have had some run really good but valvetrain and pushrod issues when pushing the lift limits were a pain in the but. I'm a better machinist because of this engine but the customer didn't understand why things were so expensive. I didn't want to put my name on a engine or warranty something with a know problem like a questionable cam bore issue or some other machining bore alignment. One of my worst case expenses was a main bearing oil hole lubrication to cam bore. they had machined a hole in wrong position and was starving the mains. fixed the oil hole to main bearing but couldn't see the mismatch inside the block oil lube system and once we got rebuilt and upgraded for mud racing the #3 main got starved and smoaked a main on crank. Later got access to a bore scope and investigated further and could see inside oil lube system and found the problem mismatch on oil hole. Bad deal for me and expensive I made it write with my friend and got him going again but expensive on my end. I then really started learning these engines back in the day but I tend to stay away from anymore. They ran good but had to really keep your eyes open on some of those monday engines as I called them from the factory. Catch you later and nobody loves a 400.