$1500 to burn

Ricky B

Ricky B

Wiiide Open
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
LKN - Tha Dirty Mo (Mooresville, NC)
Got some $$$$$ burnin a hole in my pocket need to get rid of it tell me what to buy . . . .

Seriously, I wanna up my go power in the ford and have a $1500 budget for it.

Been doin alot of reasearch on the Older ford Forums and found that I can build the crap outta my 400 for not too much. Talkin big torque not that much horsepower, which is what I want, off idle vroomness . . . .

Yes I said vroomness :driver:

According to the ford nuts I can build the ford to push the torque to smack a midly built big block. Won't get too deep into exactly how but it involes austrailian heads, cam, retard, etc.

Or I could go to another engine, maybe even a big block. I would love to have a 454, or heck even 460 I really don't care just more familiar with chevy stuff.

Pro's and cons I see is that fact that the 400 is in and running and i can just do some simple bolt on mods to make it really frikin jump. If i were to get a big block I would be dropping just about all the $$ I have in the engine and getting it swapped in and wouldn't have $ left over to mod the engine and stock big block still don't have that much power.

I'm leanin toward just buildin the 400 cause the ford dudes all flip out over it with the mods I mentioned earlier, alot of them say to not swap to a big block because of the relativly easy power you can produce from the 400.

Give me some ideas, I got the $$$$ tell me where to spend it :driver:
 
How about a d60 for that z71 of yours?
 
Welding lessions ?
 
Zing! Ka-chow!
 
If I was you, I would use the money to finish the truck and get out there on the trail first. Spend the money building a solid reliable trail rig, and then build the motor after the bugs are worked out.

You got a build thread going on this Ford?

DK
 
vrooomness sucks when you are on jack stands etc....

build it wheelable and then build the things you "want" :driver:
 
You got a build thread going on this Ford?
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Nah figured I'd just show up with it one day and wow everybody like I did with the k5 at the bdor event . . . :handed:

In all seriousness, yea I understand the idea about getting it going first. The $1500 isn't like all I have now, then after I spend it I've got to wait a while till I save up more. I sat down and made a game plan budget the other day (I'm doin accounting now gettin fancy with my financial skillz) and $1500 is just what I alloted for engine upgrades. I'm just about done selling off 2 years worth of stuff from me skipping around from project to project and I've got a pretty big budget to work with for the Ford.

The main thing that will probably hold me up is lack of time and motivation to get it done. Gettin bout tired of wrenchin on crap all the time to be honest. I've got so many frikin people that rely on me to build there crap its ridiculous, (granted there all my friends and I tell them its cool so its really my fault, and its literally all I do anyway so I would be sitting around twiddiling my thumbs all day otherwise) but yea its getting annoying. If I had the $$ I'd drop it off at Andy's Place come back in a few weeks and drive it outta there.

Anyway back on topic just wondering if you guys think I should buid the 400 or go big block, I'm leannin toward build the 400 obviously but big block possibilities have not been ruled out. :driver:
 
Stick with the 400
 
uhhhhh....more gear redustion and well hp......dual T-Cs will whop the hp that you would gain....maybe some chromo shafts..upgrade u joints
 
My money is on Chase !
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Mine two, I've seen Chase wheel
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So the challange has been issued and seconded huh? I don't think you guys understand my master plan, have big enough tires and enough power so that i can just throttle up and jump over the stuff I can't krawl :driver:

Seriously thou, I'm not kidding. Could learn a thing or two from monster trucks :wheel:

uhhhhh....more gear redustion and well hp......dual T-Cs will whop the hp that you would gain....maybe some chromo shafts..upgrade u joints
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Dual cases already budgeted for and in the works, I'll prob wait to break the shafts and u joints first then use it as an excuse to upgrade, depending on how quickly they break I might just forgo upgrading and just go to rockwells but we'll see, not at that point yet.
 
alright Ill answer YOUR question.
(but first my opinion I wouldnt spend the 1500 on "vroomnss")
I am not a 400 fan at all...but given the current question. 1500 aint gonna take you far on a 460 project, unless you hae teh motor. BBF parts just aint cheap...then again you can trick a 460 with a mix of stock parts cheap. But if HAVE the 400 and HAVE TO HAVE vroomness go for it....just remember it will never be a big block and a 350 chevy can be built hotter for less $ (hell a 302 or 351w could as well)
 
Rich I'll go against you too, line em all up boys I'll knock em out one bye one :driver:

If nothin else I know I'll give the crowd a good show, everybody likes to see carnage :Rockon:

Ron, yea thats what I figured If I were to Go big block I would end up spendin all my $$ on getting and swapping in the engine and then be stuck with a really haevy engine that doesnt have much extra power. As far as the 350, and 302/351, from what I have been reading about on the ford forums they all disagree. Apparantly the way the 400 is built but due to smog stuff that year they had to dial the engine down a ridiculous amount in order to get it to pass. With very simple upgrades supposedly the 400 can be built to push a rediculous amount of torque, its supposedly a very torqeuy motor that puts out more like what a deisel would number wise when you tweak it right, not huge horsepower numbers but almost double in torque. And that's not using the whole 1500 either I just budgeted that much to allow for random crap that pops up when your doin stuff.
 
I've "heard" all your "plans" before.

We can have a challange between you and Chase anytime at the playground, I'm sure he will be there.
 
a 400 is a decent motor for torque and can be built to pound out the torque. Although, 1500 is not going to get you far, thats not even enough for a set of aftermarket heads - Hell, just a basic hyper piston kit for a 400 is over half your budget, then factor in machining. Yes, there are ways to budget stroke it using windsor parts, but just because your compression is high and you need high octane fuel does not mean the numbers are going to be high. The amount of cfm that engine draws, bigger heads, bigger intake will be a necessaty and 1500 isnt close to building an odd ball engine like a 400m.






You better spend the money on some experience behind the wheel before making shoutouts. Chase will embarrass you.
 
experience is for losers I will beat everyone :driver:

I'm just kidding around guys, you know me thats what I do, no need to get hot pants,

Jon from what I've read/heard from the ford dudes the aftermarket heads for the 400 actually perform worse than the aussie 302m heads do. I've already got a edlebrock performer intake, and long tubes, Feul delivery I'm good too cause I got the Holley Projection and I can just dial the spray where I need it.

Feul delivery was actually something the ford dudes were talkin about. They were saying the 400 will consume ridiculous amounts of feul if you let it but its not neccesary. They were actually saying that 600cfm is right where you want the spray, anymore and your adding uneccesary feul.

My plan for this build are some rebuilt and machined aussie heads, a new torquey cam and lifter kit, and Roler timing with it strait up to get rid of the stupid factory retard. All that is had for under 1500 and leaves you some $$ for the random stuff.
 
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