400 motor parts

-
fishmens67 said:
Yep Tony liked the Speedmaster stuff , but he failed to mention how much Brian was charging to set them up before he put the heads to use.
PBR( John) is a proponent of those heads too, but he puts a fair amount of work in them.
Nothing wrong with the heads but if you're wanting a screamer, Trick Flow will get you there for far less money in the end.
Click to expand...

Tony had Trick Flows and Edelbrock yes, but almost all of his new motors had SM heads on them. He bought them bare and had them done by the shop but would say he still had less into them than he would with any of the other heads.

I agree with your assessment in cost if I was going to take them to the shop to be cleaned up and worked on. I took my other set of SM’s out of the box and threw em on my car and it’s been almost 2 years of worry free driving. I just placed an order with SM but didn’t get their BB heads, I’ll probably just lube up my backside before ordering TF heads for the 400.
 
DentalDart said:
Ok I got some rockers, small block heads but no BB heads. I guess I’ll just wait and decide later what heads to get, do all CNC BB heads require offset rockers?
Click to expand...
No. (And there are various offsets available). The bigger, more racy the head, the more likely to use offset rockers. Really has nothing to do with the cnc, more with how much the pushrods are moved over to straighten the shot of the intake port. (Kinda like tubing a small Mopar to widen the pushrod pinch).
Trick flows have special rockers from Harland Sharp, but I don't think they are offset, just a different reach from shaft to roller.
 
DentalDart said:
Tony had Trick Flows and Edelbrock yes, but almost all of his new motors had SM heads on them. He bought them bare and had them done by the shop but would say he still had less into them than he would with any of the other heads.

I agree with your assessment in cost if I was going to take them to the shop to be cleaned up and worked on. I took my other set of SM’s out of the box and threw em on my car and it’s been almost 2 years of worry free driving. I just placed an order with SM but didn’t get their BB heads, I’ll probably just lube up my backside before ordering TF heads for the 400.
Click to expand...
Yep, just bought a new 9" center from SM, today. Saved somehwere around $500. We'll see if they can set up a nine I guess.....
Probably $1500 less than a currrie.
 
33IMP said:
Yep, just bought a new 9" center from SM, today. Saved somehwere around $500. We'll see if they can set up a nine I guess.....
Probably $1500 less than a currrie.
Click to expand...

9” center? For like a race rear end? I got a new (new to me) 742 3rd member on Wednesday, has new clutch pack in the sure grip and 4.10 gears :thumbsup: It’s for my purple car that currently has 3.23 SG. I’ve wanted bigger gears for a long time but everyone wants 800-1200 for a 3rd and umm… I’m cheap… lol. Got the 3rd for 500 bucks.

IMG_5557.png


IMG_5556.png
 
33IMP said:
I've still got a couple bbc tarantulas, the one with the twisted carb. I think small block ford's were twisted too. Probably had something to do with port layout.
Click to expand...
That's what I have on the 396 I'm doin for Kitty's cousin.
 
DentalDart said:
9” center? For like a race rear end? I got a new (new to me) 742 3rd member on Wednesday, has new clutch pack in the sure grip and 4.10 gears :thumbsup: It’s for my purple car that currently has 3.23 SG. I’ve wanted bigger gears for a long time but everyone wants 800-1200 for a 3rd and umm… I’m cheap… lol. Got the 3rd for 500 bucks.

View attachment 1716170242

View attachment 1716170243
Click to expand...
$500 for a 742 with a fresh clutch suregrip and gears is a HELL of a deal! Congrats. I have more than that in just my 8 3/4 Detroit locker.
Yeah, the nine is to go in this car. Currently has a 3.50, but with 30" drag radials, or 31" qt pro's, or 33"tall street tires, it really needs more gear

IMG_20211206_170729.jpg


IMG_20211206_170753.jpg
 
chilsam said:
I'd get it running as is first...may not need ANYTHING ...???
Click to expand...

It may not but… that never stops us does it? I was just going to buy a set and throw them in the shelf to have for when the car is finished. With prices of everything constantly going up because of build back better bullshit might as well get stuff while you still can at 40% off.
 
Not trying to be an ***....

But dude. It's clear from what you are saying on this thread that you really don't have much experience with Mopars. Everyone in here is telling you to give it a try and see what happens.

You're gonna tear that perfectly good engine apart without even trying it? It might be fast enough as is to scare you on the street.

You're gonna put a bunch of money in parts that might not even make the car faster. If it doesn't have the valvetrain, converter, gears, suspension etc to take advantage of the head flow. If you don't take all those things into consideration you could well spend a lot of money on new parts and not even feel faster by seat of pants. Worse yet it could be slower.

We all get the sentiment about it's gonna get upgraded anyway... but we've all seen so many cars taken apart for years chasing the perfect combo of parts.
 
Mean416 said:
Not trying to be an ***....

But dude. It's clear from what you are saying on this thread that you really don't have much experience with Mopars. Everyone in here is telling you to give it a try and see what happens.

You're gonna tear that perfectly good engine apart without even trying it? It might be fast enough as is to scare you on the street.

You're gonna put a bunch of money in parts that might not even make the car faster. If it doesn't have the valvetrain, converter, gears, suspension etc to take advantage of the head flow. If you don't take all those things into consideration you could well spend a lot of money on new parts and not even feel faster by seat of pants. Worse yet it could be slower.

We all get the sentiment about it's gonna get upgraded anyway... but we've all seen so many cars taken apart for years chasing the perfect combo of parts.
Click to expand...

I agree mostly, get it running and find out what you have first, is great advice. But I’ll disagree because I’ve torn apart perfectly running engines for upgrades myself so I guess I’m a hypocrite. As long as we’re having fun with our hot rods that’s all that really matters.
 
Mean416 said:
Not trying to be an ***....

But dude. It's clear from what you are saying on this thread that you really don't have much experience with Mopars. Everyone in here is telling you to give it a try and see what happens.

You're gonna tear that perfectly good engine apart without even trying it? It might be fast enough as is to scare you on the street.

You're gonna put a bunch of money in parts that might not even make the car faster. If it doesn't have the valvetrain, converter, gears, suspension etc to take advantage of the head flow. If you don't take all those things into consideration you could well spend a lot of money on new parts and not even feel faster by seat of pants. Worse yet it could be slower.

We all get the sentiment about it's gonna get upgraded anyway... but we've all seen so many cars taken apart for years chasing the perfect combo of parts.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the kind words! I hope you’re having a fabulous day as well!

You’re right I don’t have much experience with Mopar’s… damn better not do anything to my cars until I get some experience…

The new to me swinger I want to be a little different than my purple dart, my purple dart with the 340 is not fast enough with the 268 comp camshaft and SM CNC aluminum heads. The transmission still doesn’t seem like it shifts “perfect.” It’s PS box is way to big, the headers are a pain in the *** and hang to low to the ground. The rear drum brakes suck. The radio doesn’t work, it has a tear in the back seat and the paint isn’t perfect. The tires are to small, 3.23 sure grip is ok but the shocks aren’t very good….

So my new dart (the swinger) is going to have a stroker and aluminum heads. My goal is to have a super nice dart that I can drive 45mph and while driving 45mph if I want to spin the tires or give myself a **** eating grin while wasting a bunch of gas, I can do that… oh I also need to be able to stop so it will get disc brakes all the way around. I’m still not sure if I want to keep the automatic or not, will it be blasphemy if I don’t use it because it’s brand new?

Not trying to be rude but… I think I took the advice of some people? I didn’t get the SM heads and will get some TF heads and save money in the long run. You will probably see me asking a bunch more questions to try and learn more about my cars and the combos that will work for it. I think I’ve asked quite a few questions since I joined and I have taken the advice of many and didn’t take the advice of others. This car is going to be a fun car that I can load the kids up in and take them for ice cream, maybe they won’t have to sit on the hood of the new dart…

IMG_5614.jpeg


IMG_5533.jpeg


IMG_5394.jpeg


IMG_4979.jpeg
 
Sure thing bro. You do you. Carry on.

Can I have your junk parts that you're taking off?

TF heads are a good thing though I do agree with that.
 
Last edited:
DentalDart said:
Hey thanks for the kind words! I hope you’re having a fabulous day as well!

You’re right I don’t have much experience with Mopar’s… damn better not do anything to my cars until I get some experience…

The new to me swinger I want to be a little different than my purple dart, my purple dart with the 340 is not fast enough with the 268 comp camshaft and SM CNC aluminum heads. The transmission still doesn’t seem like it shifts “perfect.” It’s PS box is way to big, the headers are a pain in the *** and hang to low to the ground. The rear drum brakes suck. The radio doesn’t work, it has a tear in the back seat and the paint isn’t perfect. The tires are to small, 3.23 sure grip is ok but the shocks aren’t very good….

So my new dart (the swinger) is going to have a stroker and aluminum heads. My goal is to have a super nice dart that I can drive 45mph and while driving 45mph if I want to spin the tires or give myself a **** eating grin while wasting a bunch of gas, I can do that… oh I also need to be able to stop so it will get disc brakes all the way around. I’m still not sure if I want to keep the automatic or not, will it be blasphemy if I don’t use it because it’s brand new?

Not trying to be rude but… I think I took the advice of some people? I didn’t get the SM heads and will get some TF heads and save money in the long run. You will probably see me asking a bunch more questions to try and learn more about my cars and the combos that will work for it. I think I’ve asked quite a few questions since I joined and I have taken the advice of many and didn’t take the advice of others. This car is going to be a fun car that I can load the kids up in and take them for ice cream, maybe they won’t have to sit on the hood of the new dart…

View attachment 1716172747

View attachment 1716172748

View attachment 1716172749

View attachment 1716172750
Click to expand...

You made the right choice. Good luck with the build!
 
Mean416 said:
Sure thing bro. You do you. Carry on.

Can I have your junk parts that you're taking off?

TF heads are a good thing though I do agree with that.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I did everything cheap on my purple car because I was broke and in school. This car won’t really have the same problems as the purple car. I don’t want to buy 2-3x before it’s right.

I'm not sure what parts will or won’t be junk yet. The car actually came with pretty much all new parts, what it didn’t have I have tried to get new or as close to new as possible.

Dash I just rebuilt before we moved… Parts boxes in the car when I bought it.

IMG_3851.jpeg


IMG_1506.jpeg


IMG_1505.jpeg
 
I must admit, I'd get the thing runnin like it is first, but we're not all the same, so do what you want with it. None of us is the same and thank God for that.
 
Once you get to the rebuld stage I woild suggest doing a 4.25" stroke 511" stroker with 440 source heads and a roller cam of your choice. Easily 600hp/600tq.
 
i get the sentiment of wanting to boil the hides at 45... but i'd be going about in a different way and building something that makes an absolute mountain of torque downtown... and a tarantula with a 274 isn't really the best way to do that. but i digress...

i'd yank the valve covers and have a look see what you've got cooking. hell, even pull the intake and see what's up porting wise if you're feeling frisky. you're out, what, the cost of gaskets to confirm things? seeing that big single plane and a cam like that means somebody likely knew what time it was, and there's a probability that the heads have some work done and it's got compression. and a compression test could give you an idea there.

personally, i'd be getting it running before spending dime one on parts. might be just fine and dandy as it is. and if not, what's the big deal of waiting 11 months to spend that dough? hell, the car might not even be back together by then.
 
Hopefully it has more compression than most 400 I have measured.

That said, my 66 Coronet has a stock-ish 400 with a small cam, 2" headers and a performer. In comparison to my street/strip cars it is pokey. People that have ridden in the car have been impressed with it's acceleration so it cannot be that bad. I would ditch that intake for a dual plane, especially with an automatic. While it is a small single plane, my experience has been that they make hydraulic cammed street engines with tight converters and numerically low gears lazy below 3000 rpm or so. Kind of like the old .509 cam. It was horribly lazy down low when folks tossed it a street car. Put it in a 4-speed car with taller gears and it worked well. As said above planning out the combo will make for a fun car. As Mr. Porter says, it becomes a compromise between drivability and performance based on your preferences.

With a 4 mile commute I vote CNC ported stealth heads (value) and a .660ish net lift solid roller (performance). If you want a nasty exhaust note at idle make sure to tell the cam grinder. My 511 with a .680 lift roller [email protected] (looooong duration) sounds pretty tame compared to my 451 that had a comp 294h (.560lift, [email protected]).
 
So, just throwing this out since we're talking about getting spicy and roasting rubber at 45.

Why not burn rubber at 80 too?

1701433397652.png
 
Got my package today. Only thing that’s BB related are some 1.6 rocker arms, head stud kit and main stud kit. Everything else is SB.

Thanks for the advice everyone, as always I much appreciate the input, even if I disagree sometimes.

Soon I’ll start working on the swinger again and you all can tell me what I’m doing right or wrong lol. Hopefully it will be fun.

As for today… it is cloudy and gloomy and I am finishing a tile job in the spare bathroom for my wife… this is the stuff that has put the car on hold…. I could have built the swinger and bought a cuda (like a cheaper 73/74, maybe barracuda) for this damn remodel lol.

IMG_5657.jpeg


IMG_5654.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top