400 ford opinions

Anybody here ever put any effort into making the 400 ford run better?
I've always heard how big of a turd they were and never gave em a thought.
I recently bought a 77 f250 highboy that I wanna drive and occasionally tow w.

Gas mileage is important so I'm not sure I want or need a 460.
I see the 400 has a long stroke so id assume they're capable of decent torque...
I have a e4od that I was planning on using for another project but it might find its way into the highboy.
whats everybody opinion on the 400 and how well they CAN perform?

The aftermarket never supported the 400 Ford much, so it pretty much remained a motor for land barges. Almost every other Ford V8 will respond better to hotrodding. Not saying it can't be made to perform, but dollar for dollar, you'll have a lot more fun with a Windsor or a 385.
As far as towing is comcerned, I doubt you'd see much better economy using the 400. I'd say that a wider selection of parts for the 460 will allow you to tailor an engine for your needs much better than the 400...which pretty much "is what it is".

BTW, I don't think I know anyone (other than a dealership) who ever pulled a 400 out of a car or truck, and then put another one back in.

The 400 was not a great engine. I would do a 300 six before a 400. The 300 was not great mpg but great torque and can work on an e4od.

dirt_worker wrote:Anybody here ever put any effort into making the 400 ford run better?
I've always heard how big of a turd they were and never gave em a thought.
I recently bought a 77 f250 highboy  that I wanna drive and occasionally tow w.

Gas mileage is important so I'm not sure I want or need a 460.
I see the 400 has a long stroke so id assume they're capable of decent torque...
I have a e4od that I was planning on using for another project but it might find its way into the highboy.
whats everybody opinion on the 400 and how well they CAN perform?

John Kaase has won Engine Masters with them a couple times,they make big power with CHI Heads on them.

Later Mark.

a 400 can be made to run good, they just totally suck from the factory.

0 deck or proper pistons to get some quench, set of closed chamber heads (4V or Aussie), Camshaft suited for the use, and good intake and carb (Can use Cleveland stuff with Price adaptors)

400+ HP and some great torque is no Problem at all

[quote="Mark Miller"]

dirt_worker wrote:
John Kaase has won Engine Masters with them a couple times,they make big power with CHI Heads on them.

Later Mark.

And a friend of mine here owns that motor that J.K won with . It is nice .
I've been involved with a couple 400's , they are like a stroker 351, similar mods and good heads they go well . Just watch the 4" stroke when calculating compression as it bumps it way more than similar mods to a 351

I know in stock form they now that great on gas/mpg I have own 2 of them gas sucked on both and bad on main bearings and we had a 79 pickup on the farm with a 460 that did better on gas than both my 400s. Not saying the 400 is not good to build I just wouldn't waste my time and money on one.

Thanks for the opinions guys.
My thoughs:
because it has a long stroke I was hoping to get some decent towing torque wo killing the mileage w cubic inches.
I'm only interested cause I already have the complete engine...
not wanting to spent tons of $$ either on an engine swap or rebuild unless it makes sense.

How would you guys build one if you wanted around 350hp & 450 ft lbs. In a towing application w reasonable fuel mileage in mind?

I am I big block fan and I'm very aware that a stock bbf would get me to my goal easily, I'm just kinda curious about the 400 and how it might respond to some help.

dirt_worker wrote:Anybody here ever put any effort into making the 400 ford run better?
I've always heard how big of a turd they were and never gave em a thought.
I recently bought a 77 f250 highboy  that I wanna drive and occasionally tow w.

Gas mileage is important so I'm not sure I want or need a 460.
I see the 400 has a long stroke so id assume they're capable of decent torque...
I have a e4od that I was planning on using for another project but it might find its way into the highboy.
whats everybody opinion on the 400 and how well they CAN perform?

The biggest problem was that 400 Fords needed a good 4 barrel carburetor not a 2 barrel.

Few guys up this way run them in Small Block pulling classes with 4V Cleveland heads and do pretty good, one big thing these guys do to fix the crappy oiling is chuck them up on a Bridgeport and align and drill a 3/8" oil hole from the mains all the way to the cam journals. These guys are spinning them to 9500rpm's and staying together.

Randy,
Roughly how might a guy cam one for the application using improved intake and exhaust?

dirt_worker wrote:Randy,  
Roughly how might a guy cam one for the application using improved intake and exhaust?

It all depends upon the ENTIRE combination including the vehicle and how it is all to be used.

Mike,

Find a set of Aussie 2v heads and an Edelbrock performer intake, and add dish pistons to get you to 9:1 compression. It's been a while since I fooled with one , but I think the stock pistons will get you there.

Add a cam in the 212 to 214 @ .050 with about 6-8 degrees of split on a 111-112 sep with as much lift as practical and it will make good power for towing.

The lack of quench is what kills these engines. As far as the main wear, most I saw come through the shop had signs of bad detonation. This I'm sure didn't help with bearing wear, that and most looked to have never had the oil changed.

JMHO...........

I have a good one from a 78 Ford f150 that I'm going to replace the 351m w/in my ole 52. I have a performer w/650 holley,headers,and still need a cam . They already have decent torque stock. I towed w/400 for quite a while in my ole 80 F250. Wasn't a bad ole engine imo.

IDT-572 wrote:Mike,

    Find a set of Aussie 2v heads and an Edelbrock performer intake, and add dish pistons to get you to 9:1 compression. It's been a while since I fooled with one , but I think the stock pistons will get you there.

Add a cam in the 212 to 214 @ .050 with about 6-8 degrees of split on a 111-112 sep with as much lift as practical and it will make good power for towing.  

The lack of quench is what kills these engines. As far as the main wear, most I saw come through the shop had signs of bad detonation. This I'm sure didn't help with bearing wear, that and most looked to have never had the oil changed.  

JMHO...........

That's exactly what I did. I had a 1980 f150 extra cab with a 400c. Towing the trailer, everybody thought it had a big block in it. It pulled like a 16 year old.
Oh and I ran it on LPG.
Cheers Colin

I like mine with 4v heads and a big shot plate.  

cool40 wrote:I like mine with 4v heads and a big shot plate.  

The only problem with your deal is, Mike is wanting to haul a truck you were hauling AZZ.............. 

  

IDT-572 wrote:

cool40 wrote:I like mine with 4v heads and a big shot plate.  

The only problem with your deal is, Mike is wanting to haul a truck you were hauling AZZ.............. 

I'm confused..........

How hard are the Aussie heads to come by? I thought I'd heard theyre kinda scarce...

http://www.ausfordparts.com/ausheads.html

Thanks dave!

You want to watch the deck clearance on the 400 too, the pistons are way way in the hole on them. May want to deck the block or try very thin head gaskets.

bigblok2000ranger wrote:Few guys up this way run them in Small Block pulling classes with 4V Cleveland heads and do pretty good, one big thing these guys do to fix the crappy oiling is chuck them up on a Bridgeport and align and drill a 3/8" oil hole from the mains all the way to the cam journals. These guys are spinning them to 9500rpm's and staying together.

the 400 guy's saying they drilling 3/8" from the mains to the cam are b/s ing you or are dumb ./or you misunderstood them.

would you do that mod to a stock 385 block? remember, almost the same oiling system as the 335's

I agree with the guys above.For what you want a 400 should be fine.We had on in a 77 f 250 4x4.We used it for a service truck.We put a set of 351 c 2v heads on it mild clan up on ports,some type of a alum 4 v after market intake can't remember what it was a small similar to a reg perfomer.Put a small rv type cam and adj rockers and headders. It ran a long time,lots of hard use with heavy loads. like a 250 gal fuel tank grease oil tools.Every thing to service doziers and loaders.Plus alot of it's use was off road.The engin lost oil pressure at about 150 thousand.We rebuilt it with the same way and used it several more yrs.Now it sucked gas but any gas burner you put a load is going to be hard on gas.
They are not my favorite but it should do the job just fine.