[Firebirdfirefighter]

Ok guys, the 400 in the bird laid down on me tonight. Had to have her towed home. Something broke loose and it locked up. Hoping to be able to save the crank, block, heads, and cam.

My plans are to build a strong street motor that can be driven a lot. I will go to the track but not very often and just for fun. I'm not sure what the heads are yet as far as an I.D. number. I have a Holley 750dp an Edlebrock performer intake. I am open to any suggestions on what pistons, rods, rockers, and a cam if the one I have isn't what I need. I know the cam is aftermarket I'm just not sure what it is.

I will be on a budget and I'm very new at this so speak in English if you can......I'm excited to get the motor build like I want it.

[chiphead]

How much money do you want to spend?

Figure $10-$15 per horsepower for a new build.

[Firebirdfirefighter]

Well I'm not sure how much it will take but I don't have $10,000 to spend as bad as I'd like to.

What heads are the good 400 heads? I'm not sure which one's I have but I'd like to know when I look at them.

[ugpkgb]

Stock heads or after market. 16 are good for stock. Same with the 48. Hell even 6x-4 are good. As for after market you have a lot of choices. It comes down to what the goal of the car is. Be honest on hp goals and what you really want it to be. There is a lot of good info on this board you just have to search through and plan it out.

[72LuxuryLeMansLa.]

Originally Posted by Firebirdfirefighter

Ok guys, the 400 in the bird laid down on me tonight. Had to have her towed home. Something broke loose and it locked up. Hoping to be able to save the crank, block, heads, and cam.

My plans are to build a strong street motor that can be driven a lot. I will go to the track but not very often and just for fun. I'm not sure what the heads are yet as far as an I.D. number. I have a Holley 750dp an Edlebrock performer intake. I am open to any suggestions on what pistons, rods, rockers, and a cam if the one I have isn't what I need. I know the cam is aftermarket I'm just not sure what it is.

I will be on a budget and I'm very new at this so speak in English if you can......I'm excited to get the motor build like I want it.

The best place for you to start would be to buy this book: How to Build Max-Performance Pontiac V-8s, by Jim Hand

Also read the "Tech thread archive sticky" at the top of the street section. There is a bunch of good info there. After reading this stuff and nailing down your specific goals, you will know which questions to ask.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=644938

[02Hawk]

Why not just buy a good used motor...1500 to 2500 will get you a decent long block...put your carb etc on and go

[ta man]

Budget and power level?

[4dblnkldude]

We all love to spend others peoples money don't we. You figure a stock rebuild from Spotts cost about 4800 bucks, soup to nuts, cam broke in, and set up on his stand. I spent about 7500 bucks starting from scratch on my last full build. Hopefully you can reuse some of your old stuff. If you don't have an extra block and parts laying around you'd be one of the few that don't. Stock up. Hope you get her figured out.

[Firebirdfirefighter]

Ok, now I'm kicking around the idea of just going with a 455. Buy a good block spend a little money on some good heads and use my carb, cam, intake, etc. I mean my block is probably shot, gushing water last night.

The heads on this 400 say 4x?? not sure if they are good or not.....I'd probably go with an aftermarket head if these aren't very good.

Keep the info coming it helps more than you know.

[4dblnkldude]

The 4x heads can be made to run good. I ran high 13's with a 74 400, stock 4x's, summit cam, forged piston trw rebuid kit, perf rpm intake, 650 dp, hooker super comp headers, 2 1/2 inch ex with flowmasters, st 10 trans, and 3.36 gear out back. I'm no engine builder but figure out what you do yourself, do your research, and plan it out. Buy the best parts you can reallistically afford. Most importantly find a good machinist, you could buy awesome parts but they ain't nothin if its not machined right. A 455 is awesome choice they make horsepower almost by accident and gobs of useable torque for the street.