[BogiesAnnex1]

Yeah, the factory production 400 block is not up to what you want to do. Your proposal ends up with a weak production block with 4 bolt mains. My experience here is you trade keeping the crank and main bulkheads together but the forces involved just pull the bulkheads apart. The typical failure is a fracture from pan rail to rail cause it pickup those expensive angled out side main cap bolts and the pan rail they bolt into. Then the bulkhead splits apart just under the inboard main cap bolts then through the cam bore. Sometimes one bulkhead fails and the engine runs on till one of the remaining of the center three fails then for sure the bottom end come out, but not always.

You can guess how I know so much about this failure mode! Best advice I can give is don’t use a production block this way especially when Dart, World and other name brands and some import brands are making sturdier castings.

If I was building for this application I’d run a 4340 electric melt, vacuum debased forging with 350 journals to get the surface bearing speed down to buy more RPM with less bearing drag. The massive factory main and rod journal overlap is there for the strength limits on a cast crank. Running a top end forging just eliminates the need for all of this journal overlap. However, with a medium journal exotic crank you need a super good thus super expensive damper to soak up the twists and turns highly loaded cranks are subjected to.

Bogie

 

[BogiesAnnex1]

I think a street performance cruiser is fine with a 400 block, but to take serious power under competition would just lead to the investment being busted pieces spread everywhere. But to power something like a five window pickup to the A&W on Saturday night for burgers and root beer would be mighty nice.

Bogie

 

[BogiesAnnex1]

There’s a lot of complainers that really are whining about things made in China and have no real hands on experience, they‘re busy making political statements dressed as technical statements.

The simple facts are that when you’re looking at castings and forgings their origins are most likely from some foreign location, Mexico or China being high on the list. Even Japan gets their castings and forgings from off shore to them sources. Wait till the powers that be dam the Zambize for hydro electric and the world moves its filthy manufacturing to Africa where nearly half the world’s iron ore is mined. This is just the way things are it isn’t the 1950’s anymore and there ain’t no way back anytime soon, if ever.

Bogie