ANYONE HERE WITH A 400 UNDER THE HOOD?

[SUNNYD48]

Does anyone here have a 400 mopar block in their car?
we have an opportunity to buy a "crate" engine that is a 400.. wondering if it would be worth it.. price is the best yet, and it is a new engine..
carol

[scatpack]

a 400 is just a 383 with a slightly larger bore and stroke. If it is new and built for power it might be worth it. What are the specs?

[traveler]

i been looking for a 400 for a stroker buildup down the road sometime, they can make awesome power if done right !

[duster7071]

400 is a dog compared to even a stock 383 unless they have been built up a tad for performance or made into a 'stroker'.

[traveler]

YES THEY ARE SMOG ENGINES, BUT WITH THE RIGHT FACTORY HP PARTS THEY WILL RUN JUST AS GOOD AS THE PRE-EMISSION'S ENGINES, THEY HAVE LOWER COMPRESSION, SMALLER CAMS, AND BIGGER COMBUSTION CHAMBERS, ALL THING'S THAT HURT HORSEPOWER ! PUT A NICE CAM IN IT GIVE IT 10-1 COMPRESSION , A DECENT SET OF 906 OR SIMALER HEADS, AND THE 400 WILL WALK AWAY FROM A 383 ! AND BE CALLING OUT STOCK 440'S ! AND BEFORE ANYONE GET'S IN A TIZZY,,, I DO NOT MEAN IT WILL BEAT A 440, BUT IT WOULD BE CLOSE IF SET UP RIGHT ! 400'S ALSO HAVE A BEEFIER BOTTOM END THAN 383'S TOO ! GOOD FOR STROKERS !

[SUNNYD48]

i dont know the specs on it yet.. rick is waiting to hear from the man who has it so that he can go check it out.. he will get all the info when the man calls him. being a new factory built "crate" motor, it will have the paperwork on the crate as to the build.. that is what rick wants to see, also the year built.. the man bought these a long time ago when prices were much lower, hence the price we would get it for being so good. he has other motors also that rick will look at. lots of options around here right now.
the price of this motor, if it isnt built for power, there will be a lot of $$ left for rick to upgrade what he wants to on it..will share the price on this once we decide whether to get it or not- it is unbelievable, and we are both ready to check it out !
carol

[SUNNYD48]

well, rick talked to the guy briefly today and here is what we know about the crate engine..
long block 400 with 383 heads & 383 intake. he bought a bunch of crate engines from chyrsler & other makers 20 years ago to put in cars he was rebuilding and has a few left that he wants to move out as he is not building cars so much these days.. he told rick some other info which was latin to me so i forget-lol... i have looked hi and low on the net for info on this crate engine and have found no information. rick is talking to him again tomorrow to go have a look at this one (thinking i am going too) and see the info on the crate tag & check numbers on the block and heads for more info.. i am thinking this is a modified 383 or 440 crate engine myself since i couldnt find info on a 400... any ideas here? thanks..
carol

[c00nhunterjoe]

its definatly not a 440, those are RB motors while the 383 and 400 are B motors. the blocks are completly different.
you cant take a 383 and turn it into a 400. they are 2 different engines. you can simply look at the blcok numbers to see what it is. the pistons in a 400 seated lower in the bores. i think they are only rated at 8.5:1. still they are not bad engines. slap a cam intake and headers on it and they run very well. not a race car but a very fun-to-drive 87 octane car. i had one in my charger when i first bought it. had a stock cam, headers, torker intake and dual 2.5 pipes. on street tires and 2.76's it went 14.2's all day long. had tons of low end torque.

as far as what you should do it really depends on the cost of the engine and what you want out of your car. if its a good fair price and you are looking for a smooth idling daily cruiser then i would run that engine. it will be great for low end, tire burning torque and fast rpm wind up. it will run on 87 octane without any problem and will be just fast enough to anger the rice rockets pestering you at traffic lights

[traveler]

THE 400 HAS A BAD AND FALSE REPUTATION AS BEING A JUNK ENGINE, AND IT IS NO MORE A JUNK ENGINE THAT ANY 1972 AND UP MOPAR ENGINE PERIOD ! THEY ALL ARE EMISSION ENGINES FROM 72 ON UP ! LOWER COMPRESSION, DIFFERENT CAM'S, AND EVENTUALLY THE HORRID LEAN-BURN SYSTEMS ALL TOOK THEIR TOLL ON ALL OF MOPARS ENGINES REPUTATIONS..... THE 400 IS A GOOD SOLID ENGINE,ALL MOPAR BIG BLOCKS ARE, THERE ARE NO JUNK BIG BLOCK MOPAR ENGINES ! AND WITH THE PROPER CAM, AND HIGHER COMPRESSION RATIO PISTONS- 9.5 -1 OR 10 -1 WILL MAKE A 383 LOOK SILLY ! ALL BIG BLOCK MOPAR HEADS FROM 1968 ON UP FLOWED GOOD ! IN FACT THE 906- 1968 - 1971 ..... THE 346 - 1971-1974 .....AND THE 452 HEADS 1975-1978 ALL FLOW WITHIN 2.9% OF EACH OTHER !

[scatpack]

yea don't tell Mopar Action tech guru Rick Ehrenberg that about 400s.

[traveler]

WHATS HE SAY BOUT EM ? I HAVE 2 FRIENDS THAT RUN 400'S ONE IS A 72 ROADRUNNER, ALL STOCK . NO PROBLEMS ! ANOTHER IS A 451 STROKER PUTTING OUT CLOSE TO 500 HP, THAT ENGINE IS IN A 70 CHARGER, AND THAT CAR IS UNREAL ! THE 451 HAS BEEN TOGETHER FOR 2 YEARS NOW , AND NO PROBLEM'S AT ALL !

[c00nhunterjoe]

there is a guy in my neighborhood with a bone stock 400 long block. it has a cam, intake, headers and i think its a 750 edlebrock carb. the trans is built tight with strretable converter.(cant recall the specs but it is well below 3000 cause he just bought my 3k to put in it) either way, it ran 12's on sticky tires last time it went to the track. thats pretty damned impressive in my opinion for a "smog" motor. the car is pretty sweet, all paint is origonal on the car

[scatpack]

go read some back issues. Check out the 72 RR they built with a "stock" looking 400. All factory manifolds were used. Car runs 12s in the 1/4.
http://www.moparaction.com/Tech/archive/Beeper.html

[SUNNYD48]

that is definitely some positive notes on a 400....

we went over last week and looked at the 400... the man we are dealing with has been in the engine/car business for many many years. the engine is NEW, never used or rebuilt, crate engine. he did set it up & run it for a little at one time on a set-up stand he has, testing it. however, it has been sitting for many years & a few years back, he had sold the heads and couple other parts off it..but since he had forgotten he did that, and it isnt the engine he had originally told us as far as being a full crate engine, he tossed in a few brand new parts in the deal. he turned it by hand with no problem..so, we are getting it, and have paid him in full for the engine (block & all internal parts,waterpump, holley intake,oilpump & a few other external parts included). he is giving us a good guarantee/warranty on the block etc...but since it has been sitting in a crate for many years, although it turned without a problem, he is double checking every thing (mind you he bought the lot of crate engines over 20 years ago).. then, he is going to use the parts he needs off the 440 engine we had,include any gaskets, sealers,spray painting, etc and build us a "turn-key" complete engine, ready to put in the car. the total price including his labor ...... $ 900 !! the only thing we have to provide other than the parts needed off the 440 (heads, carb,etc), are oil, fluids, filters, plugs... and he is buying the 440 block from us, which will reduce the total cost some...he may buy some other parts that rick doesnt want to keep.
i finally got to see how bad the cracks in the 440 block were and the directions that the longest one went..
he said he could fix the 440 block cracks if we wanted to keep it, and would guarantee both fixes, but i dont want to be forever worried about that worst one giving us a major problem at any point. this man has mega bucks, and can afford to guarantee his work, but i dont care what kind of guarantee he could offer on that block, i wouldnt trust it. the guy at the machine shop could fix it too, but he said there is no way he would guarantee the one crack, and all he does is build engines & do machine work fixing cracks and such. if he wouldnt guarantee it with his expertise, i rather have a better engine block to start with.. that crack runs from one freeze plug to another and has a tall peak in it too.
the cam is not the standard size for the 400, it is a step or two up from that (dont know the size yet). but he is gonna let us know the exact difference, and we may decide to go with one a little bigger, and are checking on possibly having him change out the pistons.
thanks for all your input guys..
carol

[traveler]

stock 400's had 190 hp - 2 bbl- and 260 hp -4 bbl '' net rated '' - if they were rated at the 1971 sae specs, they would be rated roughly 250 hp -2-bbl, and 320 hp 4-bbl !