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4oo SB short block questions...

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phreak574

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Hey guys its been awhile but I've been over a couple of oceans and every where inbetween. I'm coming back home in Dec and starting work on my truck. I just bought a 400 SB, 4 bolt main, short block and in need of some help. I want to keep the low end torque that it generates stock but also want to up the numbers a good bit. I was thinking something along the lines of a Ramjet set up... Main thing that I want is fuel injection. Any sugestions/help would be great. I'm going to be running 53s and rockwells and the 400 is only going to be an interm engine.

Thanks guys!

Spc Todd Warner
Baghdaddy Iraq
 
you know that is considered by many as the holy grail of small blocks! especially the 4 bolt main block that was only cast frmo'70 to early '73, they are very hard to find, with such a short and limited run of the 4 bolts, unless some1 put aftermarket main caps and had it machined to a 4 bolt main, which i'm having done as we speak. i'm having splayed 4 bolt caps added to my 400 sbc along with a .040 over bore, and the crank offset ground to the out side of the crank to small journal rods to increase stroke, i bought an aftermarket steel crank so i would have the strength to do this, as there never was a chevy steel 400 crank! supossed to make a 427 sbc. :)
 
Why an interim engine ? With loving maintainence , and the right induction/exhaust , you may not need anymore motor than that until its worn past the point of overboring it :thumb:
 
I think you'd get a lot more of your money's worth out of a decent set of heads (iron ones even) and a good cam compared to slapping efi on it.
 
how far can you safely go with a 400 sbc in regards to boring? ive read over and over to be real careful since they already have the 4.125" siamese bore.
 
For low dollar good running 400 I'd go with a set of Vortec heads ($500ish brand new), a cam with 230 degrees duration or less (@.050") a hydraulic roller if the budget allows, a Performer RPM intake and a throttle body injection setup even a GM throttle body setup will work very well with the right chip and a big enough throttle body. I run this same set up with a GM throttle body system and it runs very well (around 380 horse on a conservative tune.) I built another 400 for a friends jeep with a hydraulic roller and an Edelbrock injection setup and it makes 450 horse with mildly ported vortec heads.
I see no reason to waste the money for an interim engine when with some simple planning and the right parts you can easily make big block numbers and reliability with what you already have.
 
my stroked 400 i talked about above is getting a set of fast burn aluminum vortec heads, granted i have to drill some holes. but they will still go on a 350 if i want, u can use 400 heads on a 350, but u cant run 350 heads on a 400(unless you drill some holes)

the fast burn vortecs has center bolt valve covers and also the old perimeter valve covers,also will bolt on a regular intake or the vortec intake.i sprung for the gmpp intake port matched the heads and the intake,run a 2" phenolic spacer and a coolcan. i can get my fuel like ice water in the bowl(it bowls probally will be condensating)capping it with a k&n tall velocity stack. should be around 500hp and 500 ft/lbs of torque

theres a place here in town that does that extrude porting, where they pump that clay like stuff with grit thru it. i had a set of stock exhaust manifolds done for $50.
they flow as well as headers and still keep the exhaust gas hot , so it will flow faster, i don't like headers they allow the exhaust to cool as soon as it leaves the head.and makes the under hood temp go way up.. thats actually why chevy used the big cast exhaust manifolds to keep the exhaust gases hot and the air temp. under the hood down.
 
i ran flat tops and a solid cam and milled down double hump heads and it dynoed at 553 hp...preety good for under $1000 deals...
 
they say the camel humps are paper weights compared to the new vortecs. the regular steel vortec out of the box outflows the phase2 bowtie heads out of the box. the camel humps are still good heads for uping your compression, because of the 64cc combustion chamber. but they don't flow as much air as the fast burn aluminums(or any vortec for that matter) i got, they have a 62cc heart shaped combustion chamber the shape supposed to help the fuel burn somehow hence the "fast burn" but the camel humps still bring a pretty good penny, but i don't see why any1 would buy them at a high price when they can get regular iron triple peak L-31 vortecs for $200 a piece and those are the one's that they tested against the bowtie heads.
 
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