Far cry from what it used to look like.




I still don't know what I'm gonna do with it, but for now, it will be painted up, gaskets put on, and then dropped into the engine bay so I can move the truck and engine at one time when I move to my own place.

Looks like a wonderful example of a tall deck Cleveland

DNFXDLI said:

Looks like a wonderful example of a tall deck Cleveland

Click to expand...

Thanks! It's been fun learning the in's and out's of a manly motor instead of wimpy little high winding 302's and Wheezers.

I just wish it was a virgin block so I wouldn't be so back and forth on whether I want to get it running gain.

Of course, it wouldn't matter if 351M/400 blocks were a dime a dozen in Florida.

Was that distributor wanting to stay in its hole?

fatherdoug said:

Was that distributor wanting to stay in its hole?

Click to expand...

Yep. It refused to come out until I pulled the bottom end apart to gain access to the hex key way on the bottom of the dizzy shaft. I stuck a long screwdriver down the hole, and after a few good whacks, the distributor finally came out.

Somebody tried to remove the distributor before I picked the motor up, so it was a bit tore up already, and by the time I finally pulled it out, it ended up in about 9 different pieces.

It even LOOKS like it doesn't want to come out.

fatherdoug said:

It even LOOKS like it doesn't want to come out.

Click to expand...

It was a nightmare to say the least. It was the original Motorcraft distributor, with the original rotor. No damage to the block though, which is a relief should I decide to do something with this block.

Luckily everything else came apart easily, except for two exhaust manifold bolts. But I expected to break a few. Luckily for me I was one less.

-------------

I still would love to shake the hand of the person that dropped this 400 into the 87 Bronco. Not only did it have the correct 1980-1982 oil pan, it even had the correct 351M/400 frame perches swapped in, which was an even greater plus! Whoever did the swap sure did their homework.

Looks good sitting in there. If there's no obvious wear in the rotating assembly and the cylinder walls look good, I'd just recondition the heads for 3-4 bills...cam kit (cam, lifters, springs, valve seals, straight up double roller set, and make sure you get the correct retainers for your application) 4 bills...intake and carb can be as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it...and probably upgrade ignition components. For less than $1250 you could a fun, reliable engine for quite some time.

When I checked the cylinder bore for wear, my feeler gauge wouldn't even fit between the piston and the cylinder wall. I still need to pick up a set of gauges for it and a micrometer to check everything for sure, but it really seems to be a decent block still.

As it stands, it needs a new cam kit, new push rods, a timing set, distributor, valve guides, gaskets, new rings, and paint. Although the bearings are in great shape, it wouldn't hurt to replace those as well.

This forum doesn't have enough up front pictures of 400's.

I'll fix that.

Looks good, keep it up!

yea looks good!

Nice...looks good