Rebuilding a 400.

[Runcharger]

400's are great. I would be tempted to build a stock stroke 400 with high compression pistons but it sounds like your crank needs machining. In that case I would be tempted to do a 440 source stroker kit (likely a 451 kit). Then as that blows the budget a bit I wouldn't be against bolting on the stock heads for awhile to keep it in the budget if they're in decent shape. The problem with that is that if you upgrade the camshaft you'll have to upgrade the springs in the heads too and that would likely involve machining them for high lift valve retainer clearance.... So maybe a 480ish lift hydraulic camshaft and fresh springs only. Also use the stock intake (a relatively good piece for 400HP anyway) which again can be upgraded later.
Later I would go to phase II and save up for some aluminum closed chamber heads, larger camshaft, convertor and intake manifold.
400HP is pretty easy to do without breaking the bank, it's just which way to spend your money getting there.
I think my build would be influenced on if I could find a decent local machine shop and what their prices are. If you can find a good shop that can grind your crank for a reasonable price then I would just run the 400 inches with new 10ish to 1 compression pistons, pocket port the stock heads and run a smallish hydraulic FT camshaft. It will make 400HP and be a free reving, fun to drive package.
If the cost to grind the crank goes over the $500 range, you might as well buy a stroker kit from 440 source and go down a different path.

 

[Mopar_Shmopar]

Mopar also painted motors blue... I would find out the cost to go through heads and if it's more then like 60% of the 440source heads.. get the new heads. If the crank journals all look good without scoring i would probably just run it, but that's me.. those cranks are very tough and in a stock motor like that it never saw much stress

I will snap some photos later today.

 

[rickseeman]

400 hp for under $5,000 can be done but you need to spend your money wisely. If you can work on a Coyote you can build a 400. Study up a lot. I don't think putting money in stock heads is a good idea. Labor is so high plus parts. Bad investment. Go Stealth. The best running intake is a Holley Street Dominator (this has been proven on numerous dyno shootouts) and easily fits under a stock hood. You can find them on ebay occasionally for $275 with free shipping. If you have another intake already you can still make 400 hp just don't use the stock one. Because your asking for only 400 hp the stock crank will work. Your crank is probably fine, just hillbilly polish it as instructed on youtube. You will need pistons, shoot for 10.5 compression with aluminum heads. Have your rotating assembly balanced. Study. Get some micrometers. Take your time when working on your engine. Make sure everything is perfectly clean when you assemble it. You will need a set of engine cleaning brushes for the oil galleys. Don't put the engine together without every oil galley being brushed over and over until clean first.

 

[rickseeman]

I just saw your second posting. You said your crank looked worn. Go to Harbor Freight and buy a micrometer set. You will be using them for the rest of your life. Clean up the crank journals with scotchbrite and wd-40. Measure the crank journals and see where you are at. If it's worn .001" that's probably fine. When people build engines today they want more clearance than stock anyway. Do everything you can yourself. You're trying to learn. If your crank is bad maybe you know a Mopar guy that can give you one. I recently threw away 6 perfectly good 400 cranks because I didn't see me ever using one. (I'm a stroker guy.)

 

[33 IMP]

The major proble. I see is with your budget. I think it can be done, depending on machining costs, and how bad the heads are.
Like others have said, nothing wrong with a 400 except really low compression. IQ52 has engine builds on here that overcome that, but he is a pro.
Frankly, I would not put ANY money into stock iron heads. 440 source would be my starting point, minimum.
Next area would be pistons. If it needs a lot of crank work, and pistons are required, a stroker kit is the BEST answer.....
And there goes the budget!

I'd be tempted to re-ring the stock pistons, buff the crank, not put a ton of $$$ in machine work, spend money on aluminum heads and a mild hydraulic cam kit, and fly it. I think your goals can be reached.

 

[33 IMP]

I just looked over post#1 again.
DONT bother with trying to make a 440 crank work for a stroker. That was done in the dark days pre-stroker kits. Do DO yourself a favor if you decide to stroke it: get the most complete stroker kit you can find. It avoids lot of complications and machining-the-crank costs.

A 451 kit is a better 440, a 470 kit is used by many and can make LOTS of power, but me being me, I'd choose the 512 kit 100 times out of a 100.

 

[CHGRSE74]

Welcome to the group and sorry about your dad…it is nice to hear your continuing with the project. Considering it’s a numbers matching car I think it’s best to keep it original and easy on the road excessive HP so you don’t have a catastrophic failure of the matching engine. I have a 400 in mine and is completely numbers matching except the paint unfortunately. The engine has an atomic EFI and a performance cam of some sort installed by the PO. It sounds really nice and has plenty of power for my needs at this point.
Good luck.