[Bandit400]

Hello all, I would just like to pick the brains of a few engine gurus if you would be so kind. I have a 400 on a stand and am string to gather parts for a very healthy street engine. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to get, and I would like your criticisms both positive and negative. What I have now is a 400 freshly machined .020 over, with new TRW's (4-valve relief) and stock rods. (they will be swapped for eagle h-beam rods). I plan on running the following:

Milodon stock capacity oil pan, (baffled)
OIl pump up in the air (please recommend)
Stock crank (.010 under)
Eagle H-beams
Trw Pistons (.020 over)
Cam choice is still up in the air, will be a hyd roller, one of two following choices: Both are Comp Cams Xtreme Energy Cams,
First:
224 I - 230 E @ .050" .502 I - .510 E Lift (W/ 1.65 Rockers)
Second:236 I - 242 E @ .050" .520 I - .540 E (W/ 1.5 Rockers)
Kauffman Valley pan
Performer RPM Intake
Edelbrock 750 CFM Performer Carb
KRE D-port Heads, 74 cc, 270 CFM
Rocker brand is still up in the air, will be in one of the ratios listed above thinking of HS or Scorpion.


IT will be in a 70 Bird full interior and weight, most likely a TH-400 and converter custom built for the engine. (probably around 28-3000 stall) Mid 3's for the rear gear.
Please post what you guys think approx Compression ratio (block has not been decked), HP/TQ, and 1/4 mile. I realize that these are all very general guidelines, but I just want to see how what I have picked will work together, and to see if there are any bonehead mistakes I can catch now instead of paying for later. Thanks a lot in advance. Please let me know if you need any more specific info. thanks again

[Bad Karma]

I am going to say I see a few good things in the list:

1: you junked the stock rods, good choice!

2: You are going with a hydraulic roller cam ( best bet and my personal favorite choice.)

3:Performer Rpm is a good intake better than the performer and stock pontiac intakes.

4: KRE D ports flowing 270 cfm is Awesome!


Trw Pistons ( the forged are kind of heavy especially for stock rods) I am not sure if they are to much for aftermarket rods though.

My suggestion is to get a cam ground by one of the custom grinders to match your set up and take FULL advantage of all the air flow of those KRE heads. If they flow the most at .600 inches of lift then the cam needs to open the valve enough to make sure you get the full flow you paid for.

[David Jones]

Even the smaller cam will have a pretty bumpy idle in a 400. The bigger one will be rough.
Compression would be about 9.5-1
Comp has many lobe profiles available for their hyd rollers that they don't advertise so you don't have to settle for one of their off the shelf grinds.
I have a 220/224 Comp with the aggressive ramps with .513/.528 (1.50 Harland Sharpe roller rockers) lift. 112 lobe sep. I run a PTC 11" converter that tames the transition from neutral to drive somewhat. The idle has a good little bump to it at about 800 rpm. It runs out of juice at about 5100 rpm so stock rods aren't an issue. Keep that in mind as you choose your cam.
Hyd rollers have a healthy bottom and mid range and the steep ramps Comp offers on some of their products make it even better.
I would suggest calling Ken Keefer (Pontiac Dude). He sells Comp products and believes in hyd rollers and can set you up with the right cam for what you have in mind.

[Will]

Calculate your compression ratio here

With aluminum heads you can run up to 10.5:1 CR on pump gas, no problem. You might consider milling the heads a little if the CR isn't going to be very high with a zero decked block. You can also mill the block for pistons above the deck by .005" with no real worries, not sure how much that'll help.

With those heads, I like the larger sized cam, but agree that you should talk to a specialist to get the best cam for that application. What does KRE say?

[Bandit400]

I have not talked to any of the Pontiac specialists yet regarding this combo, this is just a product of my research and my mind. I have no issue with decking the block if necessary, but the issue lies in the fact that the rotating assy is in the block, as I thought I would be running stock rods. It will be coming out, but the issue is the block is painted, and I don't know how badly that would get screwed up getting the block decked. It has not had any machine work that I know of done to the deck. As far as milling the heads, how much work would have to be done on the intake manifold, as I heard you can only mill so much before running into alignment issues. As far as CR, I plugged as many of my numbers as I knew into that CR calculator, and it gave me 9.79:1 with the KRE 74 cc head, a 6.7 cc dish on the trw's (that's what i believe they are), a .020" deck height, ( I assume this is stock, so I left it alone) and a .041" head gasket.

As far as the TRW pistons go, I realize they are not optimal, but it is what came with the shortblock, and in the interest of saving money, I believe I'll keep them. ( Although you wouldn't believe the saving money thing looking at the rest of the engine!!) Thanks again for your replies and I look forward to more, and would like to hear if I can get the block decked with my current paint situation, and if it will distort the cylinder bores and require more machine work than it is worth at this point.

[mikeb]

Might the performer RPM be a bit much for this 400? Thinking that a factory intake would do a little better (?)

Still, sounds like a good combo and the TRW's will be just fine. I used to twist my 400 to 6000+ with TRWs and stock rods.

[Bandit400]

I believe that the Performer RPM is about optimal for this application, as I will be pulling some decent airflow, and will be using a squarebore carb, (edelbrock 750), so I think the RPM is about perfect.

[Will]

RPM manifold is a great choice. It's still a dual-plane and what little it *might* give up on the bottom end will be more than made up for by the time you get to 3000 RPM.

Re-run your calculations with a zero deck height and see what that gets you.

I don't understand the concern with the painted block???? You can't buy a $3 can of paint and touch it up or two cans and repaint it entirely?

Mill the intake surface of the heads the same amount as the deck surface if you go beyond .030" and you will not have intake alignment issues.

TRW pistons will be just fine, it's not like they're made of depleted Uranium or something. No one should be worrying about excessive piston weight who isn't building a seriously high winding engine, there are far more pressing concerns such as accurate crank and cylinder machining, piston to cylinder clearances, ring gaps, valve job, etc. etc.

If you get a chance, swap a Holley 800 DP or a worked over 800 Q-jet for that E-brock.

[Larry Navarro]

....don't overlook that using an RPM with a T/A shaker, you'll need the WFO Hyperforce air intake housing or........mount the scoop to the hood.

[goatroper]

May want to go with a Q-jet or Holley. I had a edelbrock carb on my 400 for awhile, and never got it to run right. I think it had something to do with the secondary air flap.