My new stock stroke 400 build

[qkcuda]

Me neither. I have a new 402 pan on order. That is the original pan, which will just be used to cover the bottom end for transport.

 

[qkcuda]

I stopped by the machine shop today to drop off the rear main seal retainer, and they have already decked the block. Next step is honing, and then they have to get the crank balanced. The piston/pin combination is about 150 grams lighter than stock, so I am going to order the professional products neutral balancer, with detachable weights to make it easier to balance. We are hoping not to have to add weight to the flexplate or converter.

 

[Don Frelier]

Me neither. I have a new 402 pan on order. That is the original pan, which will just be used to cover the bottom end for transport.

View attachment 1600191

Hopefully that one is better than their 6 qt hemi pan. The drain plug on mine wouldn't tighten up at all. Stripped immediately and of course I found out with break in oil in the engine.
Can't recommend that one at all.

 

[qkcuda]

I did the math on the deck height and it looks like I should be within a thou or two of zero deck. The interesting part is that while based on the factory deck height they should have had to cut about .025 they actually only had to cut about half of that. I always thought deck heights were usually higher than spec.

 

[qkcuda]

My Summit order came in yesterday and I dropped the new balancer and flex plate off, so they could send the crank out to be balanced. The Professional Products balancer has two different detachable weights. We are hoping not to have to use either, but we will see

 

[RemCharger]

If you use neither weight, it should be balanced w/o. And without flexplate.

 

[qkcuda]

Yes, it is a cast crank engine which is normally externally balanced. The piston/ pin combo is about 150 grams lighter than stock so they are going to see if they can internally balance it. If not they will use some of weight on the harmonic balancer. And yes the flexplate shouldn't be necessary.

 

[Orig69]

Did the 400 engine come with the original thermoquad carb?

 

[qkcuda]

No, it was a 2 barrel engine.

 

[qkcuda]

I was checking out my parts order from Summit today. I had broken the old dipstick tube taking it out, so I ordered the Trans Dapt which was the one that looked the closest. It is almost a perfect match.

 

[eldubb440]

I was checking out my parts order from Summit today. I had broken the old dipstick tube taking it out, so I ordered the Transdapt which was the one that looked the closest. It is almost a perfect match.

View attachment 1603150

it's much prettier......

 

[qkcuda]

I really didn't want chrome, but I suppose I can live with it

 

[eldubb440]

you could shrink tube it

 

[qkcuda]

It has been really quiet lately from the machine shop. I'm going to give them a visit and see if the crank got balanced. In the meantime I built a wooden cradle to transport the short block home when it is done. Still waiting on my new oil pan too.

 

[JG71B]

Following, I'm doing basically the same build very soon....

 

[qkcuda]

Things have slowed down a bit. They got the pistons pressed off the rods and calculated the bobweight. They had a guy off last week so I volunteered to deliver the crank to the shop that does the balancing. It should be done early next week. I'm interested in seeing how close it comes to neutral balance, given that the piston and pin assembly is somewhere between 100 and 125 grams lighter than stock.

 

[JG71B]

Cool. Yeah I'm curious how the balancing is going to turn out. That and the dyno!

 

[Dave6T4]

I really didn't want chrome, but I suppose I can live with it

Hi Dave: I bought one of those chrome dipstick and tube sets,once. I discovered that the cheap chrome job on it would flake off the dipstick. I never used it,because i did not want that floating around in the oil. Just something to check. Hopefully yours is better than mine was.
Another Dave

 

[qkcuda]

Thanks Dave, I'll have to pull it out of the packaging and have a better look at it.

 

[qkcuda]

I just checked the new dipstick and you are correct that the new one is chromed. I laid the tubes on top of each other and they are exactly the same length. The good news is the stock dipstick fits the new tube, so I will use it instead. It will look better too because the replacement dipstick had a collar that slides over the tube as opposed to the stock one that slides inside the tube. I will probably scuff up and paint the tube.