400 Sb rebuild cost

[ramses]

I can get a good deal on a 400 from a friend if I want it, and I was just wanting to try to figure out a rough cost to rebuild it. I want to put new pistons and rings in it and all new bearings of course, and I guess get the crank turned and checked. I dont want anything really radical, just something that will hold up good and make about 400 horsepower, maybe 450. I plan to try to use the stock heads but I might get them ported and polished. Im thinking around 490 lift on the cam probly a dual pattern. Maybe some roller rockers im not sure. Is 400 horsepower hard to achieve with a 400? Can anyone tell me about what im gonna spend to achieve my goal? Any hints or tips for building a 400? Ive heard of putting 350 rods in them, has anyone else heard of that before or know why its better?

 

[55Willy]

summit has a full kit for the 400. run about $400 through them and just need a full gasket kit and what ever machine work you need. You'll want some good heads for the 450 horse goal. or spend the time porting yours.

Side note----
You have any pics of your truck, those are the tires i'm looking at.

 

[Chevy305]

no not hard to get 400 ponies but I would go with aftermarket heads for even more power and the stock head are notorious for causing the engine to overheat.


I recomend checking out Lunati's Voodoo cams. Not the cheepest but one of the most powerful cams out there.

As far as rod length, I believe there was a post similar to your question and it turns out rod length doesn't make a difference.

 

[ramses]

Link to pics of my truck -http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines.com/mygallery.ten?id=5340
So If I have the heads ported and polished with a good cam, intake, headers, ect., I should be able to reach 400 hp right?

 

[chevyryan]

it is definately not hard to achieve that power, i just took a 1979 400 out of my 1990 because i didnt want to spend all the money to rebuild it. i was qouted at around $1000-1500 from a machine shop, that was all pretty much stock stuff, nothin fancy. but ive never met anyone putting 350 parts in a 400, but ive heard of plenty people putting 400 parts in a 350, which i guess is what basically makes a stroker, but either way it should work. as far as the heads, you will definately have to do something with them to get that power or youll have to do a lot more other things inside the motor, so the heads would probably be cheaper