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CLEVELAND ENGINE TALK

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i cant wait to pick my 400 up,will be soon,i also struck gold ,i found a set of NOS 1971 flat top ford pistons in the ford boxes to suit this exact engine,only problem is they are std bore,once i strip down the motor we can see if the std bore is still ok them maybe we have a winner ,or maybe its just swapping deck chairs on the titanic ,just use the pistons that are in it ?

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The bores will probably hone out ok, but the cylinders will be "egg" shaped when you mic them up accurately. 

A 'dingle ball' or 'tree' hone will be best, but they are size specific EG: 4.000" - 4.100" etc, etc, so at $100 a pop, and you may only use them once, on one specific bore size. 

 

Having said that, if you're not chasing big numbers, a hone and new rings will suffice, if theres no ridge at the top of the pots.

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The bores will probably hone out ok, but the cylinders will be "egg" shaped when you mic them up accurately. 
A 'dingle ball' or 'tree' hone will be best, but they are size specific EG: 4.000" - 4.100" etc, etc, so at $100 a pop, and you may only use them once, on one specific bore size. 
 
Having said that, if you're not chasing big numbers, a hone and new rings will suffice, if theres no ridge at the top of the pots.
The new 1971 pistons have a tiny 8cc dish compared to later 400 big dish ones and a fluke they are in australia

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action man has solved the puzzle of the wierd W2 casting number on the back off the 4hundy,it means western production line number 2 at the dearborn foundry which ran 24/7 ,and this was only done in 1971 and 72 with 400 castings,so i guess this is a very early 400 but still have to wait to pick it up until re opens after holidays.HKIDRtj8_o.jpg

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action man has solved the puzzle of the wierd W2 casting number on the back off the 4hundy,it means western production line number 2 at the dearborn foundry which ran 24/7 ,and this was only done in 1971 and 72 with 400 castings,so i guess this is a very early 400 but still have to wait to pick it up until re opens after holidays.HKIDRtj8_o.jpg
It only took under a week to get my stickers from new jersey and they are pretty close match except i fkd up on the rocker cover decal shes a 73 one i just took a gamble the engine is a 73 but if it turns out its a 72 i will just re order the correct one im really starting to get interrsted in american fords there is so much out there to sus out e96231b989f9b583231f3042d12872b1.jpg9d3066a9d1d24c5b9ed9780425b0fa31.jpgb2aa2fcffd4384eca3d8b343e5e5d828.jpg

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Nice mate, very cool! Love the renewed stickers and decas available now. I was only watching a Hagerty rebuild on youtube the otherday and he was putting a repro 'Thriftpower' decal on an old Chev 6cyl motor.

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Nice mate, very cool! Love the renewed stickers and decas available now. I was only watching a Hagerty rebuild on youtube the otherday and he was putting a repro 'Thriftpower' decal on an old Chev 6cyl motor.
Blobak3ceb27b2faf346df946cc9db224ed30c.jpg

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yes bear there once was a car called blowback it had a engine placed in the back ,and an engine in the front if my memory serves me correct ,i have it somewhere in the street machine magazine from the mid 80's,the car used to be a maverick weapon hunting the back streets of sydney ,anyway on to the 400 to me finding this engine in such original cond with all factory 1971 numbers matching is like finding the holy grail especialy in australia anyway,what i cant belive is the motor still turns over freely and smooth ,cast iron headers are like not even rusted ? someone went to a lot of trouble to store this engine and place rags in every oriface,i bet this engine would fire up with a bit of juice chucked down its throat,im serius guys wait until action man takes the head off to see if its the (red devil) meaning high octane 400 engine meaning 1971 in usa still had race gas at the pump,D1AE 9C485MC meaning may 1971 ,very early production and could be a first cab off the rank 400 cleveland which were rated at 10.2.1 ,but i would say this one is mc meaning medium compression but still juicy at 9.2.1 before unleaded gas came in 1973 ,hmmmmmmmmmm2Jl9J0b3_o.jpg

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yup thats it i have this idea of putting the 400 in the back of a xc wagon with a concord front end with the scott injector hat just protruding thru the crome roof racks,with the number plate 2VMAX,just an idea i had a dream about,anyway action man this afternoon spent a few hours striping the engine down and i will go thru the pictures to give all of us an idea about this very rare and important piece of history,i wont get to the juicy bit yet but lets go thru the picks as i started to unbolt things,the 1st snag was yee cant undo 1 manifold bolt cause the stove heater thing was in the way ,so i gently undid everything with the midas touch and yes it came out,2nd picture is hmmm well there is no gear on the dizzy so i guess something has broken off maybe ,3rd picture is the genuine dizzy part number.VoAE6S3e_o.jpgfXzpA6Lq_o.jpg5eMWiJOV_o.jpg

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next picture is the genuine usa fitted fuel pump,then i gently popped the manifold off and still has its factory tub,note very large port openings for a 2v ???,next picture is the camshaft lobes have not been turned for a very long time but still looks all good at this stage.YkZ7NJ7u_o.jpggRJwKMvX_o.jpg7wdAGlDJ_o.jpg

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Xa6RXviM_o.jpgok off comes the head and all looks pretty much as expected,i would say these are the 76cc chamber heads,next picture is the left bank with plenty of crusty pistons but with a slight clean all looks good,3rd picture is what i thought this motor was all along its the RED DEVIL LEADED FUEL 400 with flat top pistons and tiny 8cc dish one of the first 400's ever made ,a holy grail engine,8cc dish was rated at somewhere between 9.2.1 and 10.2.1 depending on how it was rated at the time of 71 and 72 changeover ,gerg was talking about this before,ZCaY4iVe_o.jpg

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so after a few hrs very carefully taking everything apart this is how it stands ,now one thing i reckon why this motor was pulled out of the galaxie is i can hear the broken distributer gear getting thrown around the crankcase as i gently turn it over by hand,i would say it just didnt start one day and the owner just said fk it ,and parked it until the engine was removed from the car then put into storage for around 30 years or so,i cant belive how smooth it still turns even with a small handle and socket,tomorrow will continue striping down the rest just for a inspection and yes its std bore and almost no lip on the bore so far its all going to plan with no broken bolts or anything just the dizzy gear i tried to fish out with a magnet but doesnt mater as the front cover is coming off tomorrow , so far i am very over the moon about this rare engine.ORyKML9U_o.jpg6iM7xNiR_o.jpg

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wait until you see how good the waterpump is,it turns like brand new ??? for a 50 year old engine ??? wtf ,who ever stored this engine spent time shoving rags in everything even the c6 i had a small look with the torch inside the converter area and same thing looks very clean .

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Shut the gates on this one Maxxy, she's the ducks guts!

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I just spent 6 hrs pulling down a stuck head and balancer finally got it off what a mission 59ceb1ee5ede820e603fe3f13841aea2.jpgdade2ce50191a6c76dd274df906b9355.jpg

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gerg maybe you can find out this engine number so we can find auctally what car it came out of,i is supposed to be a galaxie but 2 door 4 door ? AG62MK88548S stamped on front of block.

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