406 stroker?

[thatcanuckguy]

thinking of building a 406. anybody starting to build one? or already built one?what kind of machine work on the block is required? sugested parts? all of this will be for a saturday night light to light truck. no commuting. gas mileage isnt an issue.

 

[Old77]

First question.....what is drawing you to a 406?

 

[crazy4offroad]

I've seen 2 406s in my life and they both were bad mother truckers. That's about all I have to add though lol. Good luck with the build!!!

 

[lusktommy]

thinking of building a 406. anybody starting to build one? or already built one?what kind of machine work on the block is required? sugested parts? all of this will be for a saturday night light to light truck. no commuting. gas mileage isnt an issue.

well im building 383 stroker as we speak a little at a time because its getting some pretty wicked stuff put in it so i have to spend the extra money when i can. but a 406 you already have a 400 block your gonna need 5.7in rods that are clearanced for strokers and your are gonna have to have the block clearanced for the longer rods i have seen it once that someone didnt have to have it clearanced but i would always have it checked though they some pretty awesome kits you can get that has all the parts you need. you will also need a set of 4.155 bore pistons for 5.7in rods depending on what compression your wanting to run you flat top or dome are good i wouldnt recommend dish pistons. id also recommend going retro fit roller camshaft and lifter set and 1.5 to 1 roller rockers. your choice of ported heads 2.02/1.60. and if gas mileage is an issue you could go with a dominator bore intake and have the ported to match your heads for maximum flow. any thing else you want some recs on let me know

or if anyone has anything they wanna add plz do i feel like im forgetting something

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

A 406 is just a 400 with an overbore. Your choice of running stock or aftermarket parts depends on how serious of motor you want, or need. If you are going to put nitrous to it or run a supercharger or turbocharger, then a good aftermarket forged bottom end is a good idea. lusktommy just outlined a very serious 406. But you can reuse all the stock bottom end, and still have a great street motor. Bring the block to a machine shop and have them deck the block and install flat top pistons. Throw on some Vortec heads with a nice cam to match, and you can be looking at a nice 400 hp small block with tons of torque for your heavy truck.

Building a 406 is just like building any small block. The more radical you go, the more money you spend. No "special" machining, other than checking rod clearance if you go with 5.7 rods, and you do this exact same thing building a 383 from a 350.


edit: One other thing. When you use the 5.7 rods, the wrist pin gets pushed closer to the top of the piston. I can't remember if the wrist pin gets into the ring pack or not. That is not recommended for a street motor, as that can cause oil control issues. Something worth mentioning.

 

[lusktommy]

edit: One other thing. When you use the 5.7 rods, the wrist pin gets pushed closer to the top of the piston. I can't remember if the wrist pin gets into the ring pack or not. That is not recommended for a street motor, as that can cause oil control issues. Something worth mentioning.

Yes the wrist pin does get pushed closer so i would recommend forged aluminum flat tops and the wrist pin doesnt get into the ring pack from on my 383 i have 6in rods and its very close but i dont think he will have a problem with that if he get a good set of pistons and good quality rings, but thats just my thought on it from what i have seen and dealt with, i would recommend talking to a good machine shop about it thats what i did

 

[HotRodPC]

I see Green79 beat me to it, which btw, welcome back dude. You don't hang out here much.
406 is NOT a stroker motor. As he said, it's just a bored over OEM SBC400.

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

I was pretty sure the wrist pin did not get into the ring pack, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

One thing I did remember that has not been mentioned, is any head you run requires steam holes to be drilled in them. This is due to the fact that the 400 blocks have siamesed cylinders. You will have to look up the procedure for drilling them however, I don't know the details off the top of my head.

I have a 400 in my truck, and I can't wait until I can rebuild it. I see roller retrofit, vortec heads, torque oriented cam, and some form of EFI, just not sure which one. Another story for another day however.

Thanks HR. I am actually here a lot, but I don't post much. I have not done anything to my square lately, and it's been to hot to work on my 85 Monte SS. If I have beneficial information to post I will, otherwise I keep my mouth shut and listen.

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

First question.....what is drawing you to a 406?

Was just re-reading this thread and wanted to give my view.

No replacement for displacement. You are getting a 50ci bump as compared to a 350. That's 15% bigger, which translates to 15% more torque and horsepower potential, again, compared to a 350. And a bigger motor will make a bigger cam "seem" smaller, compared to the same cam in a smaller displacement motor.

The 400's also have a 4.125 bore, compared to the 350's 4.00 bore. This helps unshroud the valves and improves flow into the cylinder's, which translates to more power potential.

 

[GOBR]

Have you gotten your hands on a 400 right now? If you did congrats, they are hard to find around here. And I assume you already know how fast you want to go depends on how much money you want to spend.

 

[thatcanuckguy]

my deepest apologies! as a big block guy, smallblocks are unfamiliar territory for me. i was under the impression that the "406" was a bigger, badder version of the 383 stroker. my bad. so i,m gonna be building a 383. tips, machining, and a good recipe? again, very sorry guys.

 

[lusktommy]

my deepest apologies! as a big block guy, smallblocks are unfamiliar territory for me. i was under the impression that the "406" was a bigger, badder version of the 383 stroker. my bad. so i,m gonna be building a 383. tips, machining, and a good recipe? again, very sorry guys.

well first off what kind of performance are you wanting out of this motor and whats it going to be used for? no need to be sorry bro its not a problem

 

[thatcanuckguy]

basically, it,ll be a saturday night truck, and a lil bit of time at the strip. no comutting at all

 

[lusktommy]

basically, it,ll be a saturday night truck, and a lil bit of time at the strip. no comutting at all

another thing is how much money are you willing to sink into this motor, Because its gets very expensive really quick when you start building motors for the strip, are you wanting to go like pro street? the 383 im building is going to be for a pro street truck but idk how far you wanna go with your 383

 

[thatcanuckguy]

so far i,m fully rollerized, valve springs, lifters, pushrods, intake, a really nasty cam, 3200 stall and some 411,s with a th 350. pistons, rods, crank and machine work are where i wanna be next