Bored .060 with an offset ground 440 six-pack crank, Chevy rods and 455 Buick pistons, one of these pushed our heavy-assed Super-Gasser to low 9s for years.
Because they had all the right dimensions in every aspect to achieve the compression ratio and valve clearance the engine builder needed. I don’t know if the Pistons happened to be the right ones by chance or if the engine was built around the piston design.
@@NeilLB7 The Buick pistons were the cheapest way to get the right deck height and compression ratio. The ring package was sub-optimal, but hey, it was our race car it was going in. This was about 35 years ago. I don't know who ended up with that Frankenstein.
I built a 400 with hardblock up to the bottom of the freeze plugs then used pro gram 4 bolt mains ran 15:15 to 1 compression with B1 heads alum rods Bill Miller and a 4500 carb 4:38 bore,4:30 stroke took to Koffles and dyno at 800 Hp 667 torque ran 21/8 primarys he took my headers off put his on 23/8 primarys dyno at 928 HP 800 torque had it for 10 + years no problems
@@semihemi yes that motor set the ET record way back in 98 fastest Mopar on motor at Rockingham,NC KOS 9:42 broke Sheila Bowman's record from year before 9:45 first time out it would get down to 9:07 later street trim through the mufflers 10 inch tires.
I raced 400’s exclusively because I could get them cheap at my buddies family junkyards. At that time the 340’s in the dart style bodies ruled. You had to have practically a race car to beat them. With a cam, great heads and better springs I could run with them and win some races. The 400 is a great drag motor, big pistons and short stroke to rev into power quickly, it can make power they never had new with very little money spent. They were smog era motors for sure, low compression and coupled with a thermoquad, jetted small and lean they were laughed at. Low two hundred horsepower out of the factory with one hundred more horses easy to get with low money and two hundred more horses with a fatter wallet and more parts. The 400 is the real deal if a person has time and some bucks to make it that way.
The most desirable 400 blocks have a casting number ending in "230" and were cast in the fall of 1970 to midyear 1971. The casting number is much bolder than your "630" block and even later "230" cast blocks. They have the strongest main webbing of any wedge block, B or RB, in a production car. The cylinder walls seem to be thicker on the later model blocks, contrary to factory literature.
My 73 charger had the 400 Magnum in it, was very powerful car, backed up by a 727 torqueflight tanny. I hauled. Great engine would love to that car and motor combo back!! Great vid.
Yes, those are nice cars. I remember back in the early 1980s there was a 72 or 73 Charger in my neighborhood that used to sit in a driveway. The car never moved , I tried to buy it from the owner. It had the 400, 727 dual snorkel air cleaner. Very cool car. The owner just wouldn't sell it. Good old days. Thanks for watching my videos 👍
I had a 400 Magnum in a '73 Charger SE. I added headers, an intake, D/C coil and a Holley 780. Had a local body shop add a Six Pack scoop they had sitting on a shelf for hood for clearance. 727 trans with Slap Stick and 8 3/4 3:55 pushed it along. That 400 Charger took many 440's to the cleaners. Wish I had it back, 440 Source makes a nice 512 kit for it.
ive got a 400 in my 70 dart. stock rods with arp bolts, stock pistons, 383 steel crank, bowl ported motorhome heads, a lunati voodoo 60103, tri y headers, 750cfm street demon, and a weiand action plus intake. its like a whole different engine. revs like a 340, but makes 440 power.
You'll have to check out sort of stock Mopar he has good videos on the 400 engine and just Mopar Joe has some good builds on this engine First run 400 block known as the cold weather 230 was a high nickel casting that was produced starting 1971 August to Middle October then they dropped the high nickel formula to standard production till November 15th of 71 these first run 400 blacks were 20 lb heavier, then they dropped the 230 prefix and started the standard 400 production. I have a cold weather block casting date August 21st 1971 in my Cuda with only 52,000 actual miles.
My brother swapped out a 360 in a 1980 Ramcharger and dropped in a mid 70s 400, that was like night and day difference, way more torque to move that big ramcharger with 33's, we couldn't believe how much snow we could plow through with the 400!
Big enough, bad enough… I have one bored .40 over. Holy cow… plenty of power…. I bought it used and whoever built it created a very balanced motor…. Been improving it month over month….Hauling ass and not stressing at all. 400 cu Mopars are a great power plant. I really like this guy Not too overly sterile and sounds reasonable….. speaks softly and he’s very confident and knowledgeable like my favorite journeyman who taught me my craft. I had a motorcycle that sat outside for 40 years ….. thought it had a steering lock … wouldn’t move … turns out that the bearings were so dry that it locked. Hit it with PB blaster and nutcracker…. Rebuild it!
Im curious about the cavity #'s....When pouring at the foundry, could they add more nickel to some blocks..?? Some early Ford blocks were known for this.
That's a great question, I think the only people that would know for sure are the UAW workers that worked at the foundry in Indy. I would be interested knowing that information myself. It is very possible heavy duty applications had a higher nickel content.
There's a 1969 Polara on Facebook marketplace that has a 400 in it. I want it. I haven't done the old car hobby in a long time since my 1967 mustang was stolen and never saw it again.
I wish there were affordable raised port heads available so any RB intake would fit on a low deck - like the completely unaffordable Stage VI. You could then build a low deck stroker Max Wedge clone for example. As well it opens a whole world of easy to find vintage and modern intakes. I know you don't like them but 440 Source should offer them as an option for their Stealth head range. They do have a CNC option but yeah the chambers are old fashioned. Would be a great accompaniment to their stroker kits though. A bit of a missed opportunity if you ask me. Also re the blocks on smog 400s and 440s there's that whopping stiffening rib on the oil filter side below the deck on the outside of the block which you can clearly see at the 2:00 mark in this vid. Instant way of telling a late Mopar B & RB that one. When I was a young man that rib was a way of telling a "useless thinwall weak smog block with crappy smog port heads." How wrong were we? Late blocks are far better and late heads are better than 906s too. In fact the late heads flow about the same stock as a 906/915 ~220CFM but Steve Dulcich investigated the late heads and then ported them and recorded his findings in forensic detail comparing each step with a 915 IIRC. The findings are generally irrelevant today because you'd never spend the time on factory iron heads for street use since cheap aluminum heads with big valves and similar airflow out of the box to ported fully iron heads are abundant and cheaper. Anyhow he found the smog heads needed less port work to get them to flow than the 906/915 which needed tons more work even though they all flowed about the same in the end (~270CFM). The articles are still up but it is a long read. For the nostalgia Mopar BB nut (and who isn't on here) it's a hoot of a read. I can't post off TH-cam hyperlinks because bots auto delete posts with non TH-cam links, but if anyone is interested highlight the first line below and right click/search: MOTORTREND Cylinder Heads, Part I MOTORTREND Cylinder Heads, Part II MOTORTREND Cylinder Heads, Part III
Interesting to say the least. That is correct . My findings have found the later 400s seem to be just fine on the cylinder wall thickness. I really think that (Thin Wall Block) term is nonsense for the later 400 blocks. Thanks for checking out my videos
back then in south Texas we changed the pistons and cams out ? even on motors with less than 20,000 miles . man would it make a difference . back then TRW had forged flat tops and you couldn't go wrong on 1972 and up motors with hardened seats ! Freddie had put a mod 400 in his 69 Road Runner with a 4 speed and got the pistol grip shifter with it and it would scream .
Most definitely, just raising the compression and a bigger cam shaft made a world of difference. I did a .030 over 400 years ago with pistons that were at zero deck height , a nice street performance cam and ported OEM heads. I had it in a 71 Duster, it was very fast for what it was. Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
You have a nice collection of Chryslers there. Interesting video ,i wish you would have touch a little on cap walk.And your thoughts on the 230 casting blocks.
You beat me to it, I'm going to be doing a video on cap walk and other block prep for the B and RB wedge engines shortly. Yes I'll cover a little more on the 230 casting while I'm at it. Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
Up here in northern Canada people would drive their old Mopars to the dump take the battery out and leave it. I didn't have a place to take them or even haul them. One guy had a big yard full of free cars that people gave him and that guy wasn't giving any parts away for free. I had a 400 in a 78 Cordoba and it was a dog. Certain year Hemi Rams are pretty cheap these days.
@488ci I definitely remember the Cordobas with the 400, yeah they were bad when it came to performance. Kind of funny how that block became the engine of choice. Thanks for watching 👍
Who do you think makes the strongest replacement block based on a 400? Currently I have a 470” with aluminum mains and hard block up to the freeze plugs. 88mm turbo efi on e85. Been warned to keep it to around 1000 crank. Would like to turn it up to 1300-1400.
I believe Indy Cylinder Head makes a short deck aluminum one still. Bulldog was making a cast iron one for a while, I heard he sold the operation to someone. It's might of been Jason Line. Your combination sounds wicked. 👍
I have a 413 I/C in my 72 Dodge motor home, but I'm not sure its the same short block as the 400, I am suspecting its the RB like the 413/426 wedge/440 type. Admittedly, I have not torn into it to find out, and since it has a burned valve [courtesy of the former owner, but I knew it was burnt when I bought the rig, so I'm not mad], I need to pull it apart and see if I can fix it or not. It likely won't ever get rodded, but if it does, it will go into something with a small light chassis like a Dart.
your 413 is gonna be a forged steel crank rb 413. it probably has the weird heads that the water pump mounts to. the crankshaft has a 8 bolt flange, like the 426 hemi.
@@frigglebiscuit7484 Yes, it has the high water pump and the heads are vented to the water pump. To modify it to a car, I have to put other heads on it. It is a 72 year [the vehicle, not sure about the motor, since some times motors and chassis did not always line up] so I have no idea if its a forged crank from that.... It would be great if its forged, but since its a motorhome, and is based off the M-300 chassis [5 ton with a Dana 70 and 5.11:1 gear ratio] I have no idea what else to look for. Unlike normal cars or trucks, it has no readily findable body tag [every other MOPAR I ever had was easily found and read, as well as most other cars, generally] and I have not yet discovered a production bulletin, although I have not yanked the dash or the driver's seat. The carpet is not original, so who knows how much is not there, and the production bulletin [if it even had one] may have been removed long ago. It has Dodge, Desoto and Studebaker all on one single VIN plate, so what in there is what, again, hard to guess. I figure, pull the motor [when I have another car to put it into], examine it really closely, and then share what I find with the community, and see if its what people think it is, or something else. Likely, its pretty standard, so if what you posted is the statistical norm, then that is likely what I have. I've had a GVW on this thing once of 26,900 lbs and the poor transmission was smoking like a space shuttle, so I know the motor has loads of torque, and at good RPMs, but now that the valves are all burnt [both manifolds were destroyed from the previous owner running it like a scalded ape for a hundred miles at a shot] I have been looking at getting some 440 high perf heads of some kind so it can breathe better from the start, and worry about a cam at that point, since right now, floored, it can do about 35 mph on flat level ground, and has about 12 psi compression in 6 of 8 cylinders, do to valve burn.
"Cold Weather" block, lol. NO, the first few months of production have more material around the main web for some reason, that's all. I have a couple of those.
I haven't come across one yet, but it's still just a production block. Big horse power really needs a aftermarket block capable of handling it. If I ever build a car just for the track, it will be something like a Keith Black or Bill Mitchell.
I wouldn't recommend going to 4.5 and the cost would be substantial. At that point I would be considering an aftermarket block with simease bores. Thanks for watching 👍
you don't think that when they designed the casting they knew the 383 was light . it save a few pounds of cast iron $ . I swear just to make a few more bucks . my uncle worked at Fisher Bodies and I asked him why they didn't use 400 series S.S. for the floor pans because the would last forever ? he said that they did not want them to last forever !!!!!!
There is no way to get 650 cubes out of a 400 block a 400 is a low deck .....With the right parts a 400 low deck is hard to blow up and you can shift them over 8 grand and make HP the biggest cubes we could get out of a 400 was 517ci.....we had to get a indy aluminum low deck to get 604ci's I would never go back to RB block again.
Interesting stuff. I'm not a race engine expert. I have no desire to go to the track. If I did, I would just turbo an LS. On the street, I know anything North of 500 just spins tires. Especially if you have matching torque numbers. If you run D.O.T.'s you might be able to run more power. I don't know. I can't afford to buy tires that don't last long. Anyways, I havent had a fast car for since the 80's. I had a 69 Road Runner when I was 18 that had a 383 in. It wasn't stock. I'm guessing it had 500 ponies. Tires were not as good back then. I couldn't hook up till the middle of 3rd gear and that was with a full blown posi and new Mickeys. I didn't know shit about cars then. I later built a 68 Camaro and it had right at 500 hp. The Road Runner was at least as fast as that. I always wondered what the previous owner did to that 383. Or if it was even a 383. It even had the stock exhaust manifolds. It purrred at an Idle. I want to get another 69 some day and I want a 383. It will make plenty of beans for me. Just want to relive my youth. Those cars are so rare and expensive these days! So, how much power can one of your 400's handle with boost or squeeze if all the internals are the best you can get. This is the first video of yours I have watched, so if you mentioned it in other videos I haven't seen it. Will the block live if fed 2000 hp on a regular basis?
If I was going the turbo route and it was a drag strip only car , I would run a solid aluminum block , check out my part two video on the 400 Bad Boy blocks. I talk about what's out there in the aftermarket Block department. Thanks again 👍
I really don't do stock Stroke engines anymore. Most of my cars have a NOS system on them too. Plus the selection of harmonic balancers and flex plates is much better with a forged crankshaft. For a stock or mild performance build the cast crankshaft will be fine. Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
You are probably correct. The piston pins sure were tight. I will be doing a part two video on the 400 block and main cap issues. Thanks for checking out my videos.
The 400 blocks didn't have good cylinder wall castings ,at standard bore they were thinner than 383 or 440 and could be out of round , even thinner in some places , they needed to be check to be bored over size , i put one in my 66 ply fury back in the 80's .
B1 heads were 100% designed and tested by the koffels specifically for pro stock. They used indy for the casting and had to sign a contract to basically share the b1s with them.
Ok, I had to remove my like, when I heard you saying, that you don't recommend a 383 for over 500Hp. Ridiculuos! These are way, way stronger than any 440 and these have been build to 1000+hp. Also, you forgot to mention, that the casting material of 383s was better than that of the 400s, So I'm not so sure that the 400 is stronger than the 383. Anyway, the 383s never had a main saddle problem. If you build them for 1000+, you can still run a girdle.
My 400 stroked to 500 at .035 over bore with steel 356 head casing massaged a bit with .625 lift comp roller took my 3500 lb 70 challenger 6.35 et at 109 mph yes I like em better than 440
Great video!!!👍Please check out my 1968 Barracuda fastback powered by a rowdy 400 based 512 stroker with Trick Flow heads and a big hydraulic roller cam, all backed by an A833 4 speed manual. I think you'll approve. 👌
The engine looks hard to get out of those cars. I never went the Dodge or Chevy route because the engine is harder to get in and out. I found Ford's much easier.
@jesse75 most definitely, one of my street race cars had a 440 tall deck with 2 1/8" headers. Lol what a pain to take in and out of the car. Also I had one with a deep oil pan that the tie rod center link went through. PITA.
When you have Pistons that you want to reuse and they have stuck rings you know what soak the Pistons in a bucket of water for a day in the water will break that carbon down and loosen them up and they will come pretty much with no problem
I love these and the 383 big bore small stroke balance light weight =power
Bored .060 with an offset ground 440 six-pack crank, Chevy rods and 455 Buick pistons, one of these pushed our heavy-assed Super-Gasser to low 9s for years.
That's awesome!!
Why Buick pistons?
@@2648498 Cheapest way to get the correct pin height and the valve reliefs could be fly-cut to fit our heads.
Because they had all the right dimensions in every aspect to achieve the compression ratio and valve clearance the engine builder needed. I don’t know if the Pistons happened to be the right ones by chance or if the engine was built around the piston design.
@@NeilLB7 The Buick pistons were the cheapest way to get the right deck height and compression ratio. The ring package was sub-optimal, but hey, it was our race car it was going in. This was about 35 years ago. I don't know who ended up with that Frankenstein.
Love the 400 in any flavor!
Yes sir ! Thanks for checking out my videos. I have been watching yours for a few months now.
Thanks brother 👍
@@semihemi I’ll definitely follow along with your build!
I built a 400 with hardblock up to the bottom of the freeze plugs then used pro gram 4 bolt mains ran 15:15 to 1 compression with B1 heads alum rods Bill Miller and a 4500 carb 4:38 bore,4:30 stroke took to Koffles and dyno at 800 Hp 667 torque ran 21/8 primarys he took my headers off put his on 23/8 primarys dyno at 928 HP 800 torque had it for 10 + years no problems
Sounds like a serious combination 👍. Got to love them B1 heads.
Thanks for sharing .
@@semihemi yes that motor set the ET record way back in 98 fastest Mopar on motor at Rockingham,NC KOS 9:42 broke Sheila Bowman's record from year before 9:45 first time out it would get down to 9:07 later street trim through the mufflers
10 inch tires.
@@Alexander-nb1rz KOS , good times.
I raced 400’s exclusively because I could get them cheap at my buddies family junkyards. At that time the 340’s in the dart style bodies ruled. You had to have practically a race car to beat them. With a cam, great heads and better springs I could run with them and win some races. The 400 is a great drag motor, big pistons and short stroke to rev into power quickly, it can make power they never had new with very little money spent. They were smog era motors for sure, low compression and coupled with a thermoquad, jetted small and lean they were laughed at. Low two hundred horsepower out of the factory with one hundred more horses easy to get with low money and two hundred more horses with a fatter wallet and more parts. The 400 is the real deal if a person has time and some bucks to make it that way.
@keithroute8906 most definitely, thanks for watching
The most desirable 400 blocks have a casting number ending in "230" and were cast in the fall of 1970 to midyear 1971. The casting number is much bolder than your "630" block and even later "230" cast blocks. They have the strongest main webbing of any wedge block, B or RB, in a production car. The cylinder walls seem to be thicker on the later model blocks, contrary to factory literature.
@rodneybyrd9516 yes sir, unfortunately most people nowadays know what they have and want an arm and a leg for one.
There is a video on you tube of I think it was 409 ci 400 block naturally aspirated putting out over 1000 hp at 9300rpm.
I believe I watched that one. That engine was built for Competition Eliminator class. Im pretty sure Scott Koffel built it. Very cool
@@semihemithis
My 73 charger had the 400 Magnum in it, was very powerful car, backed up by a 727 torqueflight tanny. I hauled. Great engine would love to that car and motor combo back!! Great vid.
Yes, those are nice cars. I remember back in the early 1980s there was a 72 or 73 Charger in my neighborhood that used to sit in a driveway. The car never moved , I tried to buy it from the owner. It had the 400, 727 dual snorkel air cleaner. Very cool car. The owner just wouldn't sell it. Good old days.
Thanks for watching my videos 👍
I agree, I like the 400 blocks.
But I like all of the B and RB engines.
Great potential. 👍👍
Thanks for sharing.
Have a great day.
Thanks Ed, I definitely value your opinion.
I had a 400 Magnum in a '73 Charger SE. I added headers, an intake, D/C coil and a Holley 780. Had a local body shop add a Six Pack scoop they had sitting on a shelf for hood for clearance. 727 trans with Slap Stick and 8 3/4 3:55 pushed it along. That 400 Charger took many 440's to the cleaners. Wish I had it back, 440 Source makes a nice 512 kit for it.
That sounded like a fun car.
Yes 440 Source has some nice stuff.
ive got a 400 in my 70 dart. stock rods with arp bolts, stock pistons, 383 steel crank, bowl ported motorhome heads, a lunati voodoo 60103, tri y headers, 750cfm street demon, and a weiand action plus intake. its like a whole different engine. revs like a 340, but makes 440 power.
@frigglebiscuit7484 very cool, I did one many years ago very similar to that.
You'll have to check out sort of stock Mopar he has good videos on the 400 engine and just Mopar Joe has some good builds on this engine First run 400 block known as the cold weather 230 was a high nickel casting that was produced starting 1971 August to Middle October then they dropped the high nickel formula to standard production till November 15th of 71 these first run 400 blacks were 20 lb heavier, then they dropped the 230 prefix and started the standard 400 production. I have a cold weather block casting date August 21st 1971 in my Cuda with only 52,000 actual miles.
Great information, I have been on the lookout for one of these. Nothing so far. Thanks for checking out my videos.
You are correct, the compression rings rotate as the engine runs.
The 77 Cordoba I got in 94 had a 410BB in it, bored out 10ci in the 80's by the owner, that thing would MOVE!~
Hi Jim love the videos man. I'm getting ready to build my 1st Mopar Big Block these vids are gold 👌
Thanks for checking out my videos, I have many more to come.
👍
My brother swapped out a 360 in a 1980 Ramcharger and dropped in a mid 70s 400, that was like night and day difference, way more torque to move that big ramcharger with 33's, we couldn't believe how much snow we could plow through with the 400!
I put a set of 67 closed chamber heads and a "Hemi" cam and it would run like mad!
Closed chamber heads is definitely a plus on these low compression monsters.
The low deck has always been the superior engine. I just love these. Best engines ever build
Most definitely my friend.
Big enough, bad enough… I have one bored .40 over.
Holy cow… plenty of power…. I bought it used and whoever built it created a very balanced motor…. Been improving it month over month….Hauling ass and not stressing at all.
400 cu Mopars are a great power plant. I really like this guy
Not too overly sterile and sounds reasonable….. speaks softly and he’s very confident and knowledgeable like my favorite journeyman who taught me my craft.
I had a motorcycle that sat outside for 40 years ….. thought it had a steering lock … wouldn’t move … turns out that the bearings were so dry that it locked. Hit it with PB blaster and nutcracker…. Rebuild it!
@fishypictures Very cool, it's funny how the 400s were overlooked back in the day. Everyone wanted a 440 or 383. Thanks for watching 👍
I would buy a 400 block if I could.
I broke one, back in the early 2000's [makes me sad] but I won't make that mistake again!
Im curious about the cavity #'s....When pouring at the foundry, could they add more nickel to some blocks..?? Some early Ford blocks were known for this.
That's a great question, I think the only people that would know for sure are the UAW workers that worked at the foundry in Indy. I would be interested knowing that information myself.
It is very possible heavy duty applications had a higher nickel content.
Thanks for the info ! Great video
@martymartin7637 thanks my friend
There's a 1969 Polara on Facebook marketplace that has a 400 in it. I want it. I haven't done the old car hobby in a long time since my 1967 mustang was stolen and never saw it again.
@byteblock1667 man, sorry to hear about your Stang getting stolen.
400 is a great block to build, basically a 440 short deck.
I wish there were affordable raised port heads available so any RB intake would fit on a low deck - like the completely unaffordable Stage VI. You could then build a low deck stroker Max Wedge clone for example. As well it opens a whole world of easy to find vintage and modern intakes.
I know you don't like them but 440 Source should offer them as an option for their Stealth head range. They do have a CNC option but yeah the chambers are old fashioned. Would be a great accompaniment to their stroker kits though. A bit of a missed opportunity if you ask me.
Also re the blocks on smog 400s and 440s there's that whopping stiffening rib on the oil filter side below the deck on the outside of the block which you can clearly see at the 2:00 mark in this vid. Instant way of telling a late Mopar B & RB that one. When I was a young man that rib was a way of telling a "useless thinwall weak smog block with crappy smog port heads." How wrong were we? Late blocks are far better and late heads are better than 906s too.
In fact the late heads flow about the same stock as a 906/915 ~220CFM but Steve Dulcich investigated the late heads and then ported them and recorded his findings in forensic detail comparing each step with a 915 IIRC.
The findings are generally irrelevant today because you'd never spend the time on factory iron heads for street use since cheap aluminum heads with big valves and similar airflow out of the box to ported fully iron heads are abundant and cheaper.
Anyhow he found the smog heads needed less port work to get them to flow than the 906/915 which needed tons more work even though they all flowed about the same in the end (~270CFM). The articles are still up but it is a long read. For the nostalgia Mopar BB nut (and who isn't on here) it's a hoot of a read.
I can't post off TH-cam hyperlinks because bots auto delete posts with non TH-cam links, but if anyone is interested highlight the first line below and right click/search:
MOTORTREND Cylinder Heads, Part I
MOTORTREND Cylinder Heads, Part II
MOTORTREND Cylinder Heads, Part III
Interesting to say the least. That is correct . My findings have found the later 400s seem to be just fine on the cylinder wall thickness.
I really think that (Thin Wall Block) term is nonsense for the later 400 blocks.
Thanks for checking out my videos
@semihemi ... I like that white Plymouth B-body... is it a Satellite or Road Runner???
back then in south Texas we changed the pistons and cams out ? even on motors with less than 20,000 miles . man would it make a difference . back then TRW had forged flat tops and you couldn't go wrong on 1972 and up motors with hardened seats ! Freddie had put a mod 400 in his 69 Road Runner with a 4 speed and got the pistol grip shifter with it and it would scream .
Most definitely, just raising the compression and a bigger cam shaft made a world of difference. I did a .030 over 400 years ago with pistons that were at zero deck height , a nice street performance cam and ported OEM heads. I had it in a 71 Duster, it was very fast for what it was.
Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
@@semihemi if it ran like that in a heavy Road Runner a Duster had to fly !
You have a nice collection of Chryslers there. Interesting video ,i wish you would have touch a little on cap walk.And your thoughts on the 230 casting blocks.
You beat me to it, I'm going to be doing a video on cap walk and other block prep for the B and RB wedge engines shortly. Yes I'll cover a little more on the 230 casting while I'm at it. Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
Up here in northern Canada people would drive their old Mopars to the dump take the battery out and leave it. I didn't have a place to take them or even haul them. One guy had a big yard full of free cars that people gave him and that guy wasn't giving any parts away for free. I had a 400 in a 78 Cordoba and it was a dog. Certain year Hemi Rams are pretty cheap these days.
@488ci I definitely remember the Cordobas with the 400, yeah they were bad when it came to performance.
Kind of funny how that block became the engine of choice.
Thanks for watching 👍
Currently looking for a 400 block to buy. East Tenn
Just south of Memphis, there's a place with 40 acres of antiques... In South Haven MS. I'll bet he still has a few
Who do you think makes the strongest replacement block based on a 400? Currently I have a 470” with aluminum mains and hard block up to the freeze plugs. 88mm turbo efi on e85. Been warned to keep it to around 1000 crank. Would like to turn it up to 1300-1400.
I believe Indy Cylinder Head makes a short deck aluminum one still.
Bulldog was making a cast iron one for a while, I heard he sold the operation to someone. It's might of been Jason Line.
Your combination sounds wicked. 👍
@rusty8806 you can get a 4 bolt mains from pro gram specialist in Ohio, I ran a 511 and 518 with this combo B1 heads 800-928 HP natural aspiration
I have a 413 I/C in my 72 Dodge motor home, but I'm not sure its the same short block as the 400, I am suspecting its the RB like the 413/426 wedge/440 type.
Admittedly, I have not torn into it to find out, and since it has a burned valve [courtesy of the former owner, but I knew it was burnt when I bought the rig, so I'm not mad], I need to pull it apart and see if I can fix it or not.
It likely won't ever get rodded, but if it does, it will go into something with a small light chassis like a Dart.
Your 413 should be the RB tall deck.
Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
your 413 is gonna be a forged steel crank rb 413. it probably has the weird heads that the water pump mounts to. the crankshaft has a 8 bolt flange, like the 426 hemi.
@@frigglebiscuit7484 Yes, it has the high water pump and the heads are vented to the water pump.
To modify it to a car, I have to put other heads on it.
It is a 72 year [the vehicle, not sure about the motor, since some times motors and chassis did not always line up] so I have no idea if its a forged crank from that....
It would be great if its forged, but since its a motorhome, and is based off the M-300 chassis [5 ton with a Dana 70 and 5.11:1 gear ratio] I have no idea what else to look for.
Unlike normal cars or trucks, it has no readily findable body tag [every other MOPAR I ever had was easily found and read, as well as most other cars, generally] and I have not yet discovered a production bulletin, although I have not yanked the dash or the driver's seat.
The carpet is not original, so who knows how much is not there, and the production bulletin [if it even had one] may have been removed long ago.
It has Dodge, Desoto and Studebaker all on one single VIN plate, so what in there is what, again, hard to guess.
I figure, pull the motor [when I have another car to put it into], examine it really closely, and then share what I find with the community, and see if its what people think it is, or something else.
Likely, its pretty standard, so if what you posted is the statistical norm, then that is likely what I have.
I've had a GVW on this thing once of 26,900 lbs and the poor transmission was smoking like a space shuttle, so I know the motor has loads of torque, and at good RPMs, but now that the valves are all burnt [both manifolds were destroyed from the previous owner running it like a scalded ape for a hundred miles at a shot] I have been looking at getting some 440 high perf heads of some kind so it can breathe better from the start, and worry about a cam at that point, since right now, floored, it can do about 35 mph on flat level ground, and has about 12 psi compression in 6 of 8 cylinders, do to valve burn.
"Cold Weather" block, lol. NO, the first few months of production have more material around the main web for some reason, that's all. I have a couple of those.
I haven't come across one yet, but it's still just a production block.
Big horse power really needs a aftermarket block capable of handling it. If I ever build a car just for the track, it will be something like a Keith Black or Bill Mitchell.
havnt been able to find one id like to do a 426 for a dart with one
The short deck is a great fit in an Abody car.
be a perfect combination once i finish the 67 belvedere2 im doing now with a 383 im gonna be on a mission to put a 67-69 dart together
I would like to know if a 400 block can be sleeved for a 4.50 bore.
I wouldn't recommend going to 4.5 and the cost would be substantial.
At that point I would be considering an aftermarket block with simease bores. Thanks for watching 👍
you don't think that when they designed the casting they knew the 383 was light . it save a few pounds of cast iron $ . I swear just to make a few more bucks . my uncle worked at Fisher Bodies and I asked him why they didn't use 400 series S.S. for the floor pans because the would last forever ? he said that they did not want them to last forever !!!!!!
Very true
I've always wondered why some of those Dodge/Chrysler were so badly rusted out.
@jesse75 here in Michigan nothing really had a chance, they all were bad.
I don't know, was it?
There is no way to get 650 cubes out of a 400 block a 400 is a low deck .....With the right parts a 400 low deck is hard to blow up and you can shift them over 8 grand and make HP the biggest cubes we could get out of a 400 was 517ci.....we had to get a indy aluminum low deck to get 604ci's I would never go back to RB block again.
Indy makes a nice block, that 604 sounds like a beast.
👍
Kinda pointless to zing your motor past 6k, only asking to break something and throw your money out the window. low end torque is king on the street.
Interesting stuff. I'm not a race engine expert. I have no desire to go to the track. If I did, I would just turbo an LS. On the street, I know anything North of 500 just spins tires. Especially if you have matching torque numbers. If you run D.O.T.'s you might be able to run more power. I don't know. I can't afford to buy tires that don't last long. Anyways, I havent had a fast car for since the 80's. I had a 69 Road Runner when I was 18 that had a 383 in. It wasn't stock. I'm guessing it had 500 ponies. Tires were not as good back then. I couldn't hook up till the middle of 3rd gear and that was with a full blown posi and new Mickeys. I didn't know shit about cars then. I later built a 68 Camaro and it had right at 500 hp. The Road Runner was at least as fast as that. I always wondered what the previous owner did to that 383. Or if it was even a 383. It even had the stock exhaust manifolds. It purrred at an Idle. I want to get another 69 some day and I want a 383. It will make plenty of beans for me. Just want to relive my youth. Those cars are so rare and expensive these days!
So, how much power can one of your 400's handle with boost or squeeze if all the internals are the best you can get. This is the first video of yours I have watched, so if you mentioned it in other videos I haven't seen it. Will the block live if fed 2000 hp on a regular basis?
If I was going the turbo route and it was a drag strip only car , I would run a solid aluminum block , check out my part two video on the 400 Bad Boy blocks.
I talk about what's out there in the aftermarket Block department.
Thanks again 👍
Cast crank is more than ok in a sub 600hp build, Chrysler built them strong.
I really don't do stock Stroke engines anymore. Most of my cars have a NOS system on them too. Plus the selection of harmonic balancers and flex plates is much better with a forged crankshaft.
For a stock or mild performance build the cast crankshaft will be fine.
Thanks for checking out my videos 👍
I would say that engine has been sitting since the ,70's maybe early 80's, im thinking it was pulled from a wrecked car!
You are probably correct. The piston pins sure were tight. I will be doing a part two video on the 400 block and main cap issues.
Thanks for checking out my videos.
Yes....
Definitely!
The 400 blocks didn't have good cylinder wall castings ,at standard bore they were thinner than 383 or 440 and could be out of round , even thinner in some places , they needed to be check to be bored over size , i put one in my 66 ply fury back in the 80's .
Always good to have any production block sonic checked. Some of the small block Chevy 400s I did , the cylinders were scary thin.
B1 heads were 100% designed and tested by the koffels specifically for pro stock. They used indy for the casting and had to sign a contract to basically share the b1s with them.
Ok, I had to remove my like, when I heard you saying, that you don't recommend a 383 for over 500Hp. Ridiculuos! These are way, way stronger than any 440 and these have been build to 1000+hp. Also, you forgot to mention, that the casting material of 383s was better than that of the 400s, So I'm not so sure that the 400 is stronger than the 383. Anyway, the 383s never had a main saddle problem. If you build them for 1000+, you can still run a girdle.
Thanks for checking out my videos and sharing your thoughts.
I'm going to be doing a video on a 440 block prep back from my street racing days.
I had a 77 I believe Cordova had a 400 in it that thing would scream then the lean burning brain burned out got rid of it
Very cool. Yeah, those lean burn systems were problematic.
My 400 stroked to 500 at .035 over bore with steel 356 head casing massaged a bit with .625 lift comp roller took my 3500 lb 70 challenger 6.35 et at 109 mph yes I like em better than 440
Not at all, but with the 4.32 bore they are the most underutilized of all the B engines
4.34 bore.
😂 why don't you just put a mortgage down at to see if they're straight and round
I've been told by pro modders that its easy to get 650 cubes out of these 400 blocks.
@@moparian Your error in assessment of the situation is registered and archived miss.
Don't forget to change your tampons on time!
Great video!!!👍Please check out my 1968 Barracuda fastback powered by a rowdy 400 based 512 stroker with Trick Flow heads and a big hydraulic roller cam, all backed by an A833 4 speed manual. I think you'll approve. 👌
Awesome my friend, love them Trick Flow heads.
@@semihemi They're such a great head for the money. 👌
To free stuck rings sock the piston in vinegar ,works the best ,will eat the rust and not damage the piston .
Had 2 lower compression dogs in heavy cars , . Took one out of a Cordoba, and swapped a 440 from a 69 NEWYORKER . BIG BIG POWER INCREASE
That is correct, very low compression. I took one apart and the piston at TDC was a 1/4 in the hole. Like you said, in a heavy car didn't help.
The engine looks hard to get out of those cars.
I never went the Dodge or Chevy route because the engine is harder to get in and out.
I found Ford's much easier.
@jesse75 most definitely, one of my street race cars had a 440 tall deck with 2 1/8" headers. Lol what a pain to take in and out of the car. Also I had one with a deep oil pan that the tie rod center link went through. PITA.
@@semihemi if you had a 4 speed, even worse.
Glad someone is honest about it. Did it a couple times with that 440. Not fun.
When you have Pistons that you want to reuse and they have stuck rings you know what soak the Pistons in a bucket of water for a day in the water will break that carbon down and loosen them up and they will come pretty much with no problem
That's correct, I remember someone telling me about that years ago. Not sure if I ever tried it.