just like the title says? my car is an original 1968 350 2bbl. car and i want to put in a 400 ci. into it. i remember hearing that there is more parts availabilty for the 400's. i know that the 69's have a different water pump set-up but what else is different? so guys which one should i start looking for and trying to get? is one better than the other? or will it not make a difference? Hey Quenton i will send you an PM later on some big question that i have! thanks in advance.
well the 69 have a 11 bolt pattern water pump and my car has a 8 bolt. i meant as far as peformance. i am trying to piece together an engine or buy one complete. i want a 400. should i get a 68 400 motor or a 69 400 motor? and then which heads are the best to put on a 400. its just with so many choices like gto. catalina, lemans, firebird, GP and others to get motors from what should i get.and then there are so many head choices and intake manifold choices i just dont know what to get.???? when getting a q-jet carb should i get the correct year for that motor? i dont have the money to buy everything in one shot it will be bought piece by piece which is why i was asking? i want to build something with 350/450 RW hp, running on pumps gas!
A good thing to do would be to read over a few of the recent posts and you will see that this question gets asked a lot and the answer is complicated. A simple answer is that all the 400 blocks are the same 67-69 and that would be a good start. Another easy thing to do is to look at a chart that shows 67-69 400 engines and heads and their codes and see which 400 engines had the HP/compression you are looking for. Then note the head code and look for that head. Jim
Just anouther thing to consider, the 67-69 Blocks do have one more differance, the firebird blocks have a differnt set of motor mount bosses than the A & B bodied cars, so if you really need to get a 68 or 69 block look for a FB block. The others blocks can be easily made to fit with a set of adaptor plates but that adds aprox $70.00 to the swap with no performance gain. The 70 to 75 blocks have all 5 bosses present & taped, and the 76 to 79 blocks only have the firebird mounts drilled. Just some info to help avoid suprizes.
Sorry about this Jeff R but you are wrong. ALL 67-69 Pontiac 400 blocks have the correct motor mount bosses and tapped holes. Also, not all 70-75 blocks have all 5 holes. In fact, most don't. You have succeeded in confusing the thread. Jim
Yeah, Jim's got a point. The V-8 blocks all had the same motor mount holes, they just used different motor mounts. That changed in '70, with the addition of the 455 and the second gen F-body.
