400 Stroker Build?

Might see what the practical limit for cubes (stroke) in a low deck (400) is b 4 the CH gets too little & piston rock affect longevity (if a daily driver is your plan) I dont have the final word on that issue but might inquire & see if it IS a concern. Andyf got 550 horse from a 470 (400 w 440 offset ground crank) alum heads (eddie iirc) and 68-70 HP B body ex manifolds using the .528 MP solid cam. Dont remem the CR or intake/carb. If the above is a valid concern & you wanted max cubes might go w a RB w it's 3/4" taller decks but you do have a 400 IN HAND.

yes FHO build wedge motors also. tim banning is a good guy to talk to, if they are close to you, i'm sure they can order any parts you need at a fair price. you can also talk to nigel at National Moparts in beaverton ont. 888-652-7464 i think they are a distributor for stroker kits.

Im going to suggest building your own. Not so much because of budget, but because I can tell yout that the satisfaction you will have when you're done will outweigh having paid someone else to do it 10-fold!

I would go with a 470 build. 550 - 600 horse should be easy with a 470, and its a good, durable combo. 500 + inch kits from a 400 block use a very short piston, and really aren't designed or advertised to be long-lived street type motors.

I'm making right around 500 horses with a simple 451. Mine is a 10.25:1 pump gas motor, uses a 252* solid flat tappet cam, a set of OTB stealth heads, an 830cfm DP on an RPM intake, and a set of Hooker comp headers. Basic stuff, and I did it myself for around 5k.

With the extra stroke of a 470, perhaps a solid roller cam of similar duration, some port work or even a CNC set of RPM's or Stealths, and a 950 Holley on a good single plane, I would think you'd be right around 575. This motor could be built for about 7k air cleaner to pan. Another thing to think about if budget is tight would be to save some money and go with a solid flat tappet, then add a 150hp N20 kit??? This would put you into the 650 horse range with a pretty simple recipe.

All just thoughts. Hit us back with some more info on what you want the car to do. Whats your performance goal? How much street driving do you want to do? How much money do you want to spend? And what do you already have from the 383 combo, that can be re-used with this build?

or you could hit me up about my Barton built 493 stroker that made 583HP on the dyno but hasnt been dropped into a car yet.

Thanks for the replies! The car is driven about 1500 miles a year. I've taken it to the track about 7 times in the last 2 years. The car runs just about 13 flat @ 108 in the quarter. I would like to run about 11 flat or better on pump gas(94 oct).
Most of the parts that I can reuse from the 383 are the accessories.
Team G intake
Nice valve covers
MSD pro billet dist.
High volume oil pan.
Nice water pump
Anything internal would have to be looked at to know what could be reused.
I just ordered Andy's new book about building big blocks. Might give me some good insight on how I should go about this build.
I think it would be useful to have a sticky link on here for everyone to share their build, showing what power it made and what it cost to build.


btw I live in Cambridge.

I would contact Nick Wilson at www.compu-flow.com for all the parts and building help you need.He has helped me for over 25 years building big blocks.
You really need to get the book by AndyF to make your parts selection right the first time.
My 493 build with Indy EZ heads cost me about $5000 with me doing all the assembly except the cylinder heads which Nick did for me because I bought them from him.
It's fun and frustrating at the same time when you build a stroker because nearly everything needs to be custom fit and require some kind of fitting.
Very rewarding work though when you tach it up and let the clutch fly with over 500 ponies under your foot
Gus

A 470 low deck is a great combo but do your self a favor and buy a good set of heads like indy SRs or EZs that way you will not be at a dead end when you want more power.