LEB Ben
Arrogant A-hole At-Large
Well boys I thought I was gonna be cramped for time so I didn't take any pics...so no write up. However, it was extremely easy, if you can handle a hoist...you can do the swap.
To start off, had to find a hoist, the one I was gonna borrow ended up being in use. So it took a day to find one. I started off by painting the block, oil pan and heads Duplicolor Old Ford Blue from Napa. I did three light coats...shoulda gone a little heavier because there are already a few chips. I also got the Duplicolor Aluminum paint, and painted brackets, VC's and Tstat housing.
Then it was a matter unbolting the hood (4 bolts), taking out the radiator (6 bolts, 2 tranny lines), taking the fan off (4 bolts), unbolting the tranny (8 bolts), disconnecting the alternator and PS pump and disconnecting the exhaust. Then disconnected plugs (3 of them I think). Next, disconnected the trottle linkage, kickdown and pulled the carb. Also, don't forget to disconnect ground straps...I had 3 (dunno how many stock would have). Put the lift plate on and unbolted the engine mounts. Then did a little dance by lifting the tranny and hoisting the engine, and she was out.
Next I sourced the best of both engines. IE...coil, alternator, water pump, rotor/cap, flywheel etc.
Then swapped over lift plate and got the 'new' 400 into place. This step took a little more persuasion and was the most difficult part. Anyone who's done a swap knows getting everything lined up is the most annoying (TC/flexplate/dowl pins/mounts into perches)). So that took about an hour of finaggling (If anyone has any tips here, please share).
Then once she was into place, it was just a matter of bolting everything back up/in.
Now on to the 351M that was pulled...I knew she was in a sad state of affairs, and now I know why she was running so crappy. She ended up having 3 seriously bent pushrods and another that was completely disconnected. I'm assuming this is damage from my timing chain debachle. Not to mention the fact that two other pistons had completely trashed rings. So I was sorely disappointed in the fact that my mpg's were only around 14 on the highway...I thought 4 cylinders were supposed to get good gas mileage...haha. This probably also explains the estimated double digit hp numbers. And please no flaming, I knew the engine was in disarray, I just wasn't going to put the time and money into it to rebuild, and planned on running it into the ground...hence the reason I never threw my go fast parts into this engine.
Now on to the 'new' 400. I've put 500ish miles on it since the install. It still has a fuel delivery kink (I think), but that'll be another thread. Beyond that, she runs great. I couldn't believe how far off the carb adjustments were from the 351 to this thing was though...but I assume that was due to the fact that it was tuned as a bandaid on the 351. Anyway, the 400 has 60psi of oil pressure at start up and stays around 25-30psi at hot idle. Temp stays in the 180* range, however it did get warmer than usual through mountains, but nothing to be alarmed about, and I attribute that to not having a fan shroud. The thing has gobs more power...it won't lay a patch, but does power brake really well and can catch mean wheel around a corner. It does appear to have some flat spots in the power band, but I believe that is due to said fuel issue. It would appear that she tops out around 90mph...not a big top end improvement, but she gets there a whole lot faster.
Beyond that, I couldn't be happier. So any thoughts, tips, replies are wanted.
To start off, had to find a hoist, the one I was gonna borrow ended up being in use. So it took a day to find one. I started off by painting the block, oil pan and heads Duplicolor Old Ford Blue from Napa. I did three light coats...shoulda gone a little heavier because there are already a few chips. I also got the Duplicolor Aluminum paint, and painted brackets, VC's and Tstat housing.
Then it was a matter unbolting the hood (4 bolts), taking out the radiator (6 bolts, 2 tranny lines), taking the fan off (4 bolts), unbolting the tranny (8 bolts), disconnecting the alternator and PS pump and disconnecting the exhaust. Then disconnected plugs (3 of them I think). Next, disconnected the trottle linkage, kickdown and pulled the carb. Also, don't forget to disconnect ground straps...I had 3 (dunno how many stock would have). Put the lift plate on and unbolted the engine mounts. Then did a little dance by lifting the tranny and hoisting the engine, and she was out.
Next I sourced the best of both engines. IE...coil, alternator, water pump, rotor/cap, flywheel etc.
Then swapped over lift plate and got the 'new' 400 into place. This step took a little more persuasion and was the most difficult part. Anyone who's done a swap knows getting everything lined up is the most annoying (TC/flexplate/dowl pins/mounts into perches)). So that took about an hour of finaggling (If anyone has any tips here, please share).
Then once she was into place, it was just a matter of bolting everything back up/in.
Now on to the 351M that was pulled...I knew she was in a sad state of affairs, and now I know why she was running so crappy. She ended up having 3 seriously bent pushrods and another that was completely disconnected. I'm assuming this is damage from my timing chain debachle. Not to mention the fact that two other pistons had completely trashed rings. So I was sorely disappointed in the fact that my mpg's were only around 14 on the highway...I thought 4 cylinders were supposed to get good gas mileage...haha. This probably also explains the estimated double digit hp numbers. And please no flaming, I knew the engine was in disarray, I just wasn't going to put the time and money into it to rebuild, and planned on running it into the ground...hence the reason I never threw my go fast parts into this engine.
Now on to the 'new' 400. I've put 500ish miles on it since the install. It still has a fuel delivery kink (I think), but that'll be another thread. Beyond that, she runs great. I couldn't believe how far off the carb adjustments were from the 351 to this thing was though...but I assume that was due to the fact that it was tuned as a bandaid on the 351. Anyway, the 400 has 60psi of oil pressure at start up and stays around 25-30psi at hot idle. Temp stays in the 180* range, however it did get warmer than usual through mountains, but nothing to be alarmed about, and I attribute that to not having a fan shroud. The thing has gobs more power...it won't lay a patch, but does power brake really well and can catch mean wheel around a corner. It does appear to have some flat spots in the power band, but I believe that is due to said fuel issue. It would appear that she tops out around 90mph...not a big top end improvement, but she gets there a whole lot faster.
Beyond that, I couldn't be happier. So any thoughts, tips, replies are wanted.
