400 cubic inches from a 350

HI,
I love the low buck nature of Car Craft.  I also love big small block Chevy's, so when I saw the subject article I was excited.  However after reading it I was a little disappointed.  It was a new way to build a stroker motor utilizing the 4" crank, it's not easy finding a new way to build a Chevy.  However the premise that it's a budget build didn't go too far.  $450.00 pistons, which need another $150.00 of work to fit doesn't sound budget too me.  A $500 crank and $450 rods also don't resonate budget to simply get to 400 inches.  As mentioned 400 blocks are getting scarce but not that scarce.  Then the dyno test with stock heads and intake was totally underwhelming.  I look forward to seeing what happens with some real heads and intake. Additionally dropping it into a car and see if the overheating problems occur or not.
I think I would have started with a roller block to mazimize breathing with all the cubes. Also SRP makes a 1.165 compression distance Ford stroker piston in a 4.125 bore.  For about the same money you may as well get the biggest engine you can.  Isn't creating a sleeper the idea here?
Rick  

Hi Rick,
You can do this with a 400 block for the same effect, you will just have more inches. The SRP pistons are $544.00 so that is a wash and 4.125 is big for a factory 350 block. The point of the article was the short block, we ran it on the dyno to get a baseline for new street heads from Edelbrock. As far as the roller cam, that kills the budget so we used a mega low-dollar flat tappet instead. The engine will go into an x-gasser '55 with dual quads for a little retro fun. Is that all the answers? Thanks for reading!
douglas  

Glad,
It's all good.  I look forward to some big torque numbers once the Edelbrocks are added. A 55 gasser with dual quads sounds like fun to me.  Hopefully it will make a trip to the strip to show what it can do.  
Rick  

What do you mean by "overheating problems" ?

In the case of the factory 400 the issue stemmed from either clogged steam holes or swapped heads without the holes drilled.

Theres no reason to think this motor will have any special gooling issues.


I would have stuck with a roller era block atleast just because they tend to be of a higher quality than many older blocks with less core shift.  Something you dont need if you are planing a big bore.

Many blocks came with hyd flat tappets even after the roller blocks were introduced so a roller isnt a given.  

I just read the article.  I'm not sure if I was supposed to be impressed or not.  Didn't Freiburger build 350 hp from one of his Northern Auto Parts rebuilds 10 years ago with 882 heads?  That makes more sense to me.  It's not like anybody would wear out either engine from a daily commute, and 'Burger's $1000 bomb has lots more room for cheapo improvement than the 408 inch budget breaker.  I suppose that you will next tell us that a roller cam assembly is "budget".  

No,  you were not supposed to be impressed.  It was obviously a pt1 of many article.

As it sits now it's like a rebuilt 400 with some improvements to the short block and it performs as such.

Believe me when I say this is a real alternative to rebuilding an original 400 as I have been looking for a 400 core for 2 years now with out luck.   There is one bare block available for stupid money and it looks likely to be a POS that might not be savable.

Affordable is all relative,  if you have a free 400 sitting in your garage then it looks damnd expensive to go this route.  If your looking at a $700 bare block from a grenaded oil starved 357,000 mile work truck then this really starts to look like a good deal.  

i also love the low buck theme  and practice it often
i find it hard to believe that 3500 on the short block (actually i added all the costs then subtracted the 800 for the heads) to be budget...budget makes me think of reconditioned stock rods and a turned crank, of course i remeber the Freiberger era cheap way, like the hose clamp tranny mount used on a Dart

doug, if the block had to be purchased, why wasn't an '86-up roller block used?
the extra cost of the block would surely be offset in the savings over retro-fit roller cam and lifters in the future.  i suffer from having virgin pre-roller blocks and the desire for a cam/lifter/push rod package that would come close to $1000, i see this cost as better heads and the best flat-tappet cam i can afford until the money grows for the roller stuff

did i understand that this crank/rod package will fit into a 350 block with no more clearancing than what is required for a 383 conversion?  was the addition of the hard-blok necessary or just "good business practice" to reduce the chances of ruining blocks unnecessarily?

looking forward to more articles on this build-up...especially the '55 gasser part  
-
the red-headed step-child of the mailing list

fuzzy dice, air shocks & N50's rule

LASSIX

i just so happen to have a good 400 2bolt high nickle /tin block in my back yard on a shelf.
i also see them several times a year in the paper out here.

mine has 4.165 bore, balanced rotating assebly, and no visible core shift
-18cc hyperutectic dish pistons
with total seal gapless second rings ( hand filed )
5.7 x-casting 350 rods/ with arp waveloc rod bolts
3.75 stroke steel crank
arp balancer/ flex plate
new cam bearings, new main/rod bearings.
both straight and slanted starter bolts drilled.
i would be more than happy to sell this, so i can get something more apropriate for my aplication. $1200.00 firm
that was the cost of the machine work itself. i have all reciepts, my loss your gain.  715-222-7036 ben
and yes, i will include a copy of all the reciepts...  

This was a great article and I am all about saving money, which is why i am going to use my stock 400 mildly built. I figure 400 horses is plenty for a daily driver s 10 with a 700r4.
However, everything in this article was valid, in the sense of "yeah, if you are going to shoot for 600 horses, you ought to purchase this dart block.......)  

But, for less $3500 in the short block, you can buy an aftermarket block and crank that will make 400 cubes. Heck, you can buy a 400 cube Dart short block from Competition Products with forged crank, forged rods and hyper pistons already assembled for $3995.  A Dart 4.125 block is only $1500.  And it makes much more sense to use that block with all the advanced tech than a sawed-on 350 GM block.  It's just not "budget" and there are better options for the same proce or less.  

This is a DIY forged-piston 408 for $2,000. That is a $2,000 difference in price when the CP assembly gets you essentially the same thing. That extra $$ buys you heads and a carb, a maybe a StreetFire MSD. Huge difference but if you cant DIY, then you pay more. Stay tuned for the new low-buck heads from Edelbrock.  

Hey, I'm all for it.

CC's got to keep "recooking that SBC 'meat'" so that enough "Chevy Craft" subscribers stay around to pay the bills for the occasional Ford, BOP, and FIAT (nee Chrysler, AMC, Rambler, Nash, Hudson . . . ) stories.  Keep the Chevyphiles happy.

Besides, that 408 is going to be steak tartare up against a turbocharged SBF, such as that way-cool Mustang "sleeper" in the current issue.

And if CC ran a $2009 engine dyno shootout (sort of like Engine Masters** meets Grassroots Motorsports) I wouldn't expect that D-I-Y 408 to win.

So it's not really much of a big deal.

**Speaking of Engine Masters, 400s have dominated for a couple of years . . . FORD 400s!  
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460_BBF_Turbo-in-CC (formerly Dr511scj) "This guy has no life other than posting endlessly on carcraft.com." -- Car Craft, July 2005
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October 1, 2003: " I'm thinking a couple of...turbos, blowing through an old Powerstroke intercooler...on a Super Cobra Jet-head 460 would be mad cheap and make sick power."
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"I have no problem with your...talking to several versions of yourself...or pointing out our failure to do a turbo story ...." --Douglas "CC/Rambler" Glad

Glad,
Just got my latest Car Craft and no article on the 408??  I hope it hasn't disappeared into the "never to be heard from again" catagory.  
Rick