And this motor ran?

I picked up this 400 and thought I'd do a top end rebuild. Pulled the heads It looks like pistons hammered some. If bearings are okay would you run it? It was in a truck all stock. Got a 327 I can use but this big liked to use this

 

the rest of the motor is really clean. Valve covers under were clean too.

 

it sure digested something, but some time ago. nothing catastrofic evadently, you might find some top rings bound up.

 

bet the block is not flat

 

ugh that piston at tdc in the center of the photo looks like its damaged on the edge maybe down to the first ring , a crack ? i dont think id chance it because i wouldnt want to be pulling it out again for a redo

 

thanks. the guy said it came out of a 78 4x4 farm truck. It had 487x heads. was expecting 882's. several of the pistons are like that too. that was the worst one. It spins over just fine. cylinders dont feel grooved but do have the lip up at the top.

 

Looks like some valves hit the pistons, I'd take a good hard look for collateral damage.

 

It looks like it ate something that didn't agree with it. From looking at that one and the one beside it I'd think that a foreign object had been bouncing around in the cylinders at one time or another. Check the intake runners and heads for remnants of what ever was in there.

The piston in the center appears to have a crack on the right side in the photo also.

 

Looks dark between the two center cylinders. Possible blown head gasket there. Clean it really good and look close 400's are really thin there seen several cracked between the cylinders.

 

400 verses 327,,I'd call the 400 a boat anchor and use the 327,,HRP

 

Besides the damage, the 400 is a bit hard to cool, water jackets are thin. If you run anything more than a stock cam, you'll have to beef up the cooling system. I have a 400 in my 57 Chevy, runs great, but you can't keep it cool in traffic, even with an electric fan. Dump it and go with the 327... just my thought.

 

Id clean them up some, blow the junk from down around the piston out, and run it. I dont know what crack on the front of the piston you guys are seein, but it looks like the indention to point to the front of the block.

Granted it could use a rebuild probably, but if it held oil pressure and didnt smoke, I'd go for it. Miss my old 400, stayed cool fine.

 

Top rebuild on a used and abused engine like that, don't be surprised if it turns into an oil burner.

 

i had a chevy stove bolt come into my shop with a bad knock that sounded like it was coming from up top, i pulled the head and there was a nut embedded into the piston, along with a bunch of dents with "threads" as tho a nut and bolt had gone through the motor. non of the damage was near the sides [like yours] so i picked the nut out of the piston, put it back together and as far as i know is still tooling around.
that said, go with the 327

 

327 - better balanced (smoother running); spins up easier; better mileage.

Bit less torque.

400 - More torque; lower RPM; hot running; crack prone; rougher running, revs slower.

Your choice.

Cosmo

 

Looks like that 400 ran without an air filter for years....

 

Compare the deck height from one cylinder to the next. I tore down an engine that one piston was a little low. Had valve prints in the top. The rod was bent. Crank was standard, except .020 under on that throw. Someone had put it together with the bent rod.

.bjb

 

somebody beat that old war horse around the farm after it had alot of miles on it. I bet they lost/floated the valves in the original heads and replaced them with other junkers and kept running it.

 

Screw it, throw the top end on and fire it up. If its good your all set , if not put the 327 in. OR don't gamble and put the 327 in.

 

If you know that the 327 is a good motor then I would suggest that you go with that one. Nothing wrong with a 327.......

 

Given the choice, I'd use the 327. Plenty of power. Easier to cool and not prone to cracking between cyli ders.

 

487x heads are suppose to be good heads

 

1968 327 is a large journal .40 over, balanced 268 xtreme comp cam, its all together minus heads and I have a set of 186 Heads(64cc double humbs) I can use. was wanting to save it for another 55 project but may end up using it

 

327 is "traditional"

 

GO with the 327, I think you'll be happier in the end.

 

I also got a 98 vortec 350 for the heads. Had water in a few cylinders so they are soaking in a frothy acetone/trans mix. Hopefully good for a later build

 

x2. I used to see that from time to time, especially when I was road racing vintage open wheel cars.

 

I've run some pretty scabby sbc's, bored one hole and weight balanced the pistons, mismatched piston sets, turned one journal, mostly claimer stock car stuff. They will run hard. Id give that one a new set of pistons, drill the 487X heads with steam holes to match the 400 deck. See what the bores look like, the short rod on 400's usually egg shapes the middle outside of the bore. Most of the overheating on 400's is from heads without steam holes.

 

If you don't have a problem pulling it sometime down the road, I'd run it. If it's a smoker or has problems, yank it and put the 327 in. It would be worth it to me if it was mine, but then again my times free and it gives me more excuses to be in the garage.

 

actually the 487x heads are factory. I looked up some websites some were saying they never put those on 400 others yes they did. They do have the steam holes however.