first of all i want to thank blue bowtie for the information and the pictures i was getting to the point of having a big bomb fire with the mud truck i just put 8 grand into but my dad wouldnt let me but anyways i was wondering what i could do to a 400 small block that would build up horse power and torque (as in) different kinds of cams or pistons and stuff like that any thoughts would or ideas would be greatly appreciated im kinda new to building horsepower and torque ive rebuilt alot of engines but just did it all with stock parts but anyways anything would be appreciated thanks again blue


Ed

aftermarket aluminum heads that are relatively large port for your size engine would be good, like trick flow specialties or most other manufacturers, try a new cam, such as the comp cams 274 xtreme energy hydraulic flat tappet cam. if you have lots of money, go with a roller cam, they make more horsepower up top with less torque loss down low than a normal non-roller cam. just make sure if you do that your block is machined for the roller lifters. also, you might try a new intake manifold, the edelbrock performer rpm and air gap rpm manifolds are very effective at letting big cams breathe without being too nasty for the street, since they are dual plane manifolds. also, try an edelbrock or holley 750cfm carb. if you are putting the motor in a light car, i would try out mechanical secondaries for the carb, but if its gonna be in a truck, as i assume from your message, i would get a vaccuum secondaries carb. With the right combo, you can easily make over 500 lb.ft of torque and the mid 400's to 500 horsepower all under 6000 rpm. but that takes a lot of good parts matching and stuff and tuning the carb and whatnot with different jets and all that great stuff... just keep it simple and it should work great, since you have a lot of experience it should be relatively easy for you do figure out a good combo. a good thing to do is look online or in magazine articles at certain combos and build that particular one, that way you know what it makes for power, or at least in the neighborhood. also another thing to look into is swapping out the stock 1.5 ratio rocker arms for 1.6 rockers. it makes more total valve lift for you, i think i have seen 1.53 or something like that as well, so it doesnt stray too much from the stock ones. have fun...

If you put a 350 crank it your engine it would make a nice 377 of course you would also need rods pistons stuff like that but i have had a few 377's and they pull very nice down the back stright