An old 361.....

[Hot_Rodder]

Thanks Chrycho, I'll start looking into things a little deeper. Right now I'm still trying t get the motor to turn, it's sat now for a few hours in WD40, imo, not long enough, so....

[Hot_Rodder]

Still waiting on the WD to try and do it's job, taking forever imo..... Anyway, was trying to remember what the thickness of the factory steel shim head gasket is, and which gasket to replace it with.... Then, what the compressed thickness difference would be between the new gasket and the old. I plan on possibly having the heads resurfaced, and if the block deck needs to be decked, roughly how much I would have to play with..... I'd like to shave the heads a little to gain some compression, but the 516's are already a closed combustion chamber, so.... But weren't they listed at like 84 cc's anyway?

[Chryco Psycho]

use a penetrating oil NOT WD40 if you want to eat away rust
 the steel shim gasket is approx .020 compressed , the composition gaskets is .036-.038 so you would gain .18 compression approx
 decking the block is a good idea usually the blocks are excessively high & need to be trued to the crank CL , you can shave the heads a little to max .050 but make sure you remove .060 from the intake suyrface so the intake still fits on
 516 heads are 78-80 cc   

[Hot_Rodder]

Chrcho, to say the least, I wished you lived a bit closer, but ya don't. Right now I've got the cylinders sprayed down with PB Blaster, still no luck with anything.... The heads that were on there are 452's, but one of the heads has a broken stud for the exhuast manifold, not quite flush but close enough, and one of the valves broke when I was checking to see if any of the valves had seized (all but one were ok, and as ya can tell, it broke when I tested it, not a big deal imo, just knock it on through, have some work done, and throw a new one in.....).... Plus who ever had this motor before me had thrown some Split Fire spark plugs in it.... Either way none of it really matters because, I was to use the 516's.... As for pistons, apparently no one stock 400 pistons.... Only pistons offered are for the stroker kits... I was hoping to be able to get around this little mishap, and try and see what I could build for less, but if I have to go the stroker route, then it will be a little more. JE got back to me and said that they don't stock them and is a custom order and will be $1000.... OUCH

[Chryco Psycho]

Speed Pro has a 440 piston that has a low enough compression height to work in a 400 & give you mid 9:1 compression , I do nopt have my books handy right now to get you the part # but it is the lowest compression 440 piston Speed Pro makes 

[hemiken]

Their are pistons available on E-bay now and again for 400 big blocks in the Buy Now section, do a search, amazing what you may find...........

[Hot_Rodder]

Chrcho, if you by chance come across it, please let me know, as I'm sure you know, it will really help, thanks.

hemiken, I've tried doing some searches, none today, and for the past week or so, I've been without internet due to some bugs that are still being worked out of the system by my isp..... But before all that, I had done some searches w/o finding anything.... Maybe just some bad timing, I'll see what I can find....

This 400 will probably be a .030+ build, so....I just have to figure some other things out first, as far as all the machine work for the block, heads, intake, head gaskets to be used, with machining the block and heads, a thicker comp type gasket will be used versus the more factory style steel shim gasket.... Later on I'll get into the cam side of things but I will say this, will be a light(er) car, manual tranny, and I want have a problem running a double pumper type of carb.... Rough idle, fine with me.... I'll probably do a battery relocation kit, and run a vacuum canister. Car will have power brakes, but manual steering (will probably end up using a blueprinted aluminum gear box from Mancini Racing). This car will be on the road, and am just looking to build something fun to drive, nothing overkill, so I was thinking with a light(er) body car, with this 400 big block, and a 4 speed, I thinking something more like around 400 - 450 horse power.... I think a 400 +.030 comes out to around 405" (405.9 c.i.d.). Then some of the listings have the bore not listed as a .030 but as a .035" guess this is just another thing I need to keep in mind... That's enough for now ....

[hemiken]

Try this link as a search.................................

http://motors.search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R40&satitle=400+mopar+pistons&sacat=6000%26catref%3DC6&fmmk=&fmmd=&fylo=&fyhi=&mppfqy=400+mopar+pistons&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=4030&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=32%26fsoo%3D2&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=

[Chryco Psycho]

I will post the # as soon as I am near my catalogs again , it iwll be close to two weeks though

[Hot_Rodder]

Hemiken, I had seen those pistons, but they are listed as the stroker pistons.... I would figure being for the stroker motor, that there would be a difference between a 400 piston and the 400 stroker pistons.... If not, then this is something else learned.....
Chryco, take your time, I'm still trying to get this motor unlocked..... I just sprayed it again for the third time for the PB Blaster.... Still not moving any.... Hope these suckers want have to be drilled and colapsed to get them out....

[Chryco Psycho]

you can always have a talk with the pistons using a hammer & a 2x4 , I tried to find a listing online but the website sucks , not sure where to find a paper copy of the catalog locally

[hemiken]

Try this link................ E-bay are screwwimg with my head with this new E-bay crap site they are pushing........

http://search.stores.ebay.com/400-mopar-pistons_W0QQfromZR40QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsbrexpZWD1SQQsifZ1QQsofpZ4QQssPageNameZWD1SQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1248

[Hot_Rodder]

Hemiken, these I like, can't think of any complaints about the KB Forgings, heard a couple of things about the hypertectic pistons they offer (you have to machine the block differently if you use that type of piston)... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KEITH-BLACK-PISTONS-FORGED-MOPAR-400-FT-4-47cc-909_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33623QQihZ013QQitemZ230218731364QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
But, they are for std size, I'll look around and see if I see any .030.... As for website changes, there's a lot of sites that are changing there layouts, figures too, finaly get used to something and here they come to change it....

Chryco, If I can find a piece of 2x4 and one of the many hammers sitting around here, I'll give it a hit.... The last time I tried to knock pistons out though, ended up to to pretty.....

[Hot_Rodder]

If no one minds, I'm gonna end this 361 thread, and start a 400 thread...... BTW, I've not found any forged nockers for the 400.... KB doesn't list there's anymore....