'75 400 and 727 what are they worth?

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roadrunnerh

roadrunnerh

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Here's a local ad for a "rebuilt" 400 and rebuilt 727.
I talked to the guy who told me, the "rebuild" consisted of at home hone, rings, cam bearings, cam, fuel pump, oil pump, distributor, aluminum 4 bbr intake and Edelbrock carb. He seems real flexible on the price. The tranny he said was rebuilt at a transmission shop. This drivetrain would be an option for my Scamp. The guy selling is a Chevy guy (he said) and has no use for it. He purchased it from a friend who was going to install this in his truck, but sold the truck and sold the motor to this guy who freshened up the motor.
What do you think this is worth?

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/pts/4312318371.html
 
That's a relative question..

I'll go $500.00

Now if it was a 383 with a 727, I'd go much higher.

Remember, that just MY opinion.
 
I don't trust anybody else's work but my own. I've seen too much of "ready to go" and it needs work. I always tear down and engine and go through it before I install it. This way whatever happens is my fault if I didn't catch it.

I do things my way. The right way. Because it's my @ss that is walking if it breaks down.


400's are like 360's, they were smog motors and they are not as "respected" as a 340 0r 383, however can run just as good, if not better with the parts from those motors (heads, cams, etc.).


I've seen 400's and 727's going for $600 that have not been rebuilt. So whatever parts are in the engine may make it worth more. But as I pointed out earlier, if this guy who built it is a "Chevy guy", then I would recommend going through it before using it. They may not know Mopars and may make mistakes because they aren't familiar with them.


When I blew up the 383 in our 69 Roadrunner, I found a 73 Charger with a 400 driveline that was broadsided by a snow plow and bent the dash! The engine was still ok. I pulled it out and put it into the Roadrunner. My dad drove his 69 Roadrunner convert (440 4-speed) and my bro drove the hardtop with a 400 to a car show. Dad followed bro on the way home and was impressed with how fast the 400 really was (It was stock). He had to push his car more than he expected to catch up to my brother off of the stop signs and lights all the way home.

If you use parts from the "good years" of 383/440 (heads) and put a nice cam in it, the 400 will be just as good as a 383 if not better.
 
actually the price looks reasonable. it looks like the converter has weights on it so it's for the externally balanced 400.

it's not optimal for your build probably. in stock form the 400 was not a real killer, think of it as a heavy duty 318 with a little more power. probably equivalent to a 360. iron heads. gonna be 50 or 75 pounds more than a all iron small block.

400's really wake up with aluminum heads and pistons that get the compression up to 9.5 or 10:1. i spent about $5000 on my build to get to that point.

but at the end of the day it's a good start to get your car going and driving, they are heavy duty and pretty powerful. for 2500 you would have decent power and could drive it quite a while. especially since you are getting the engine and transmission.

if you had extra cash you could get aluminum heads and a set of pistons and have it zero decked etc. and a nice converter.
 
The 400 is a good engine but you have to realize it is 8.2 comp ratio. It will be real limited at performance level unless you either increase it or add some boost. 8psi with no aftercooler would be a world of difference and still be street friendly
 
Yeah, it's hard for me to offer anything more than around $500. I still view the motor as a core. Who knows whether the guy knew what he was doing? He claims he builds a lot of chevy motors, currently doing a 283, but I don't know how it would run. I guess I would take a gamble if the price was low enough. But he wants to sell both together.
Am I nuts?
 
2500 seems way too much,more like 6-800 range...but thats just my opinion and for my area you can still pick up a running 400 for 250-350...shop around
 
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