Thread: The Mighty Ford 400?

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Hey guys, I've been curious about the 400 ford. I'm tired of all these Chevy guys thinkin' the 400 chev is some sort of god. By design, a 400 ford is a much better engine. Long rods to accomodate the stroke, heavy crank, and a block built to handle it all. The reason the 400 gets it's bad reputation is because there are not really any pistons available that make better than 7.9:1 comp. Does anyone know anything about building a 400 Ford with Cleveland 4bbl heads, cleveland cam, and cleveland pistons on bushed 400 rods? It seems one could build a budget, all ford motor that would torture any 400 chev on the street. You could really do alot with 4 inches of stroke. What do you all think?

The problem is in the heads. 400 heads were junk and a swap to 351C heads wasn't much better. I too had an interest in this motor at one time and read extensively on it. The 351C 2V heads are an open chamber type, precluding any chance to design squish into the motor, so that you can't build any reasonable compression ratio and still run on pump gas. The 4V heads are closed chamber, but have a dogleg in them that screws up any chance of good flow. It seems that the serious builders have given up on them. There was supposedly an Australian 4V closed chamber head that worked well, but of course availability is a problem. The way I see it is that the weight of the reciprocating assembly is another area of concern if you plan on buzzing the motor.

I think most guys, if they're gonna go with a large, heavy motor like the 400, will go ahead and use a 429 or 460 where they can get aftermarket go-parts. Of course, there are always the guys who have built these motors and swear by them, much in the same manner as Scooter swears by his 283's .

I haven't checked lately for the availability of aftermarket aluminum 351C 4V heads, but if you're determined to go after it, that would seem to me to be the way to do it.

A friend of mine spent untold gobs of money on a 400 several years back, then decided to abandon the project. He found that he couldn't GIVE it away.

I'm sorry, but nobody is gonna tell me that 4bbl cleveland heads are poor. They do have a dead spot in the exhaust port, and are a little extreme for the street, but the famous Boss 302, Boss 351, CJ Cleveland, and the regular 4 bbl Cleveland all used that head, and tyhe heads are the reason they're famous. I think with 400 cubes, the heads would breathe better than ever. I know for a fact that Cleveland run well. They come alive in the high RPMs. I'm a proponent of doing things old school with cast iron. I like to surprise people. when you open you're hood and people see a 460, they say "Cool, that must really roll" If they saw a 400, they'd say "what the Hell is that, and why does it run so well?"

Go for it.

That's a pretty good article. Thanks alot.

RB302 why dont u build a stroker windsor? u could put cleveland heads on it and tell everyone its a factory mystery motor. And it wouldnt cost near as much money. Unless of course money is no problem. U could have 450 cubes of chevy embarrasing motor. And theres lots of parts availability. One rason so many chevy guys have 50 mustangs.

First of all, I'm not wanting to build the motor right now, I'm just having a bit of a discussion. Your suggestion of building a "Cleaver" is a good one, but I think the 400 block is heavier, and is built to handle the long stroke. It seams in this case that one might be better off using the motor that already has 400 cubes rather than building one yourself. And technically, a cleve. headed 400 would be a factory "mystery motor" You also wouldn't have to invest in the stroker crank, rods and any mods you would encounter in the installation.

Well, add me to the list of folks on the 400 "been there done that" list. Paid a bundle to get Ross to make the pistons, ran the 4V heads with screw in studs, reworked on the flow bench, etc. etc. It ran ok, but never what I wanted out of it. I would say you might want to take a look at the Ford M6010- blocks if block strength is a concern. My personal choice was an M6010-A58 out to 427 with Twisted Wedge heads with some flow bench time. Very, very strong chebbie killer!!!!!!

Now I dony think heavier always means stronger. And if u balance and harmonize the parts u wwont need a over heavy block or 4 bolted mains. And its probly not right to compare a chevy and ford 400 to each other. The real lfe counterpart is the W block. I think u are right to get a game plan first. Most guys really dont get into fords much past the 5.0, so its tough to get more than postulations about some what if ideas. Good Luck

Mine weren't postulations, they were real live motors on the street. The 400 was an ok set up but the 351W setup was way better. Seems on stock production blocks, the older 71-73 block held together very well. 5.0's are kewl, til the first time you build one with a 347 stroker kit, then a 351W to 408, then the 427 stroker. Bigger is better!!! Monster torque and with the aluminum heads and intake a real lightweight motor too!!!!! The 5.0's become quite tame by comparison.

its true the 302-347 revs faster but the 351-408-427 stroker slaps out lots more torqe. ?will the 400 crank fit in the 351w block i read some racers used the 351m crank in this block for circle track.

We used to get the 400 cranks machined to work in the 351W's, but with all the stroker kits available today, why bother??? By the time you find a good 400 crank, pay for all the machine work, buy the rods and pistons you'll have more $$$$ wrapped up in it then a stroker kit.

thanks dave what machining is required to run this crank in the 351w block

Dave, as you may know, my truck has the 77 LTD 302 in it. This summer when I go to rebuild it I was thinking of a stroker 347 in it. What do you think? Would it be cheaper to just build a 351? This is my everyday driver and I don't plan to make a strip truck out of it, just a fast street car to smoke the ricers and mustangs heh.

The 347 stroker kits are cheap, about $700.00 or less plus some shipping. The are a very nice running, reliable motor. A 351 is a bit better motor (IMO), but that's just because I like to put the 408 stroker kits in 'em and go kick chebbie butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!