Stop in for a cup of coffee
whats your take on a 400 for a street car ....and I mean a stock 4 bbl 400 out of some truck ....I think 72 or 3
I have heard some people say they are smog junkers and yet I have heard a few guys say they run as hard as any 383.
I have never had one so I want to be sure before I buy it.
We had 2 69 Roadrunners. One a green hardtop with a 383, and the other a blue convertible with a 440 4 speed.
I blocked the radiator with some cardboard during the winter so it wouldn't run too cool. I drove it to a town 45 minutes from here and it was fine. When I drove it home, the dam thing overheated less than 2 miles from getting home. The engine was fried and wouldn't run after that.
So I find a 73 Charger parts car that was t-boned by a snow plow and bent the dash, so it was a drive train parts car, with a 400 4 bbl and 8 3/4" 3.91 cure grip and 727 trans. I pulled the 400 out of the Charger and installed it in the Green 69 Roadrunner hardtop. (Then my uncle took the rest of the car to fix one of his Chargers.)
Then we put the green Roadrunner up for sale after a while and took it to a local car show. Dad went there in his blue convertible. So dad is following my brother with the blue convertible on the way home from the show, and they get on it coming off a stop sign.
After he got home, dad says, "That 400 can really go, I had to really get into the 440 to keep up with him off the stop signs..." Unfortunately, it was out in the boonies/sticks, and they weren't able to line up and run each other off a stop light... :burnout:
Dad was also one of those who thought a 400 was just a "smog motor" and couldn't run, but was very impressed when he followed our other Roadrunner that had one. :glasses7:
So yes, a good 400 will run as good or better than a 383, go for it.... :cheers: