I DROPPED OFF MY 2 400 BLOCKS FRIDAY3/16 AND ONE OF THEM NEEDS A SLEEVE I WAITING TO HEAR BACK ON THE OTHER. BUT BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND... I AM BUILDING A SHORT ROD 406 (5.655) FOR MY TRUCK AND WAS WONDERING WETHER OR NOT A SET OF EDELBROCK RPMS WOULD BE GREAT FOR A DAILY DRIVER. I KNOW THEY ARE VERY STREETABLE WITH THE 170 CC RUNNERS BUT WILL I MAKE DECENT POWER ON PUMP GAS??? ALL I WANT OUT OF THE TRUCK IS 400HP AND 500LBS OF TORQUE:D :D :D :thumbsup:. I LOVE READING CAR MAGS ALMOST AS MUCH AS WRENCHING BUT SOMETIMES THEY COME OFF A LITTLE FAR FETCHED. I READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT A SIMILAR ENGINE CALLED THE IMPERSONATOR. 406 W/ VORTECS. THESE HEADS ARE ALUMINUM, AND FLOW SLIGHTLY BETTER SO AM I ASKING FOR TOO MUCH ( FROM THE FLYWHEEL)???????:noway: PLEASE HELP. IF NOT SURE STILL GIVE ME YOUR HONEST OPINION.:yes:

you will have to run a good size cam with the heads but edelbrock has the kits to make 400 hp. check with them on your motor combo they can recomend something to you and give you honest answers and hp #'s

I Did But They Only Had 350 And 383s, And The Torque Even On The 383 Was Short On The Torque. Since It Is A Truck It Makes A Hughe Difference To Me

I've seen some pretty impressive numbers out of Performer RPM headed 383's. I've also been personally involved with 400's with small runner darts and Vortecs. They are tremendous engines for a heavy street car or truck.

I would think that a RPM head on a 400 with a cam like a 268 or a 270 would be a great combo for a truck. I don't know about 500 lb-ft, but certainly more than you could put to the pavement in a truck with street tires!!!

Ofcourse, aluminum has many advantages. But, if you could go with Iron I think it's hard to beat a Dart Iron Eagle 200 or even 180 on a street 400. Especially considering the money.

The Reason Myexpectations Are So High Is Because Of The Impersonator (chevy High Performance Vortec 406). The Mag Said 458hp And 525ft/lbs Of Torque So In Reality I Figured 400/500 With A Hyd Roller Xe270 Comp

You are right in being suspicious of the mag articles. Its just too much to beleive what some of them say....so Ill just be suspicios of all of them unless the combo can be compared to something that is running around in real life.

Just a thought here......you mention eddy heads, and you mention vortec heads. Check out the Etec 170 heads by edelbrock. They flow very well for what they are, and are patterned off of the vortecs. So in essence, they will grunt as good as or better than the vortecs and move air as good as or better than the rpm. Ive known a few to have great results with this head(compared to other similar sized heads) considering its small size. Just a thought though! Oh yeah...you will need a vortec style manifold with it. The RPM's will come in handy just fine too if you go that route as opposed to their Etecs.

I dont know how much youd like to spend.....but any one of these heads, around 9.5:1 compression, and a mild hydraulic roller around 218-224 at .050 can really make a grunter out of a 400(and it will pull some rpms too if necessary). It wont be a screamin high revver, but itll do well.

Mike,used to have a 86 Custom Deluxe with a 412.(.060 over -400.)Was a blast to drive.Had open chamber heads with small valves and flat tops.
A 292 Lunati cam,(.480 lift, 230 duration at .050).,Performer intake,600 Holley Vac.Sec.,1 5/8 primary tube headers,1800 converter,400 turbo with shift kit,3.42 gears,and 295/65R15's on 8.5 in. wheels.
Because of the flat top pistons,it drank large amounts of 92 octane,and I could only run 30 degrees of timing,without it pinging.But with Alum. heads,you might get away with 92 and 34 degrees.Another choice would be reverse domes,and maybe 89.I'd dare to say that reverse domes and open chamber Alum. heads might let you use 87,and it would still make awsome power.
Keep in mind that you want a head that flows well,with a smaller port,to keep velocity up.This adds torque.One good choice would be the AFR 180's,but I don't know if they come with a heat crossover and I do know that most aftermarket heads will have to be drilled for the steam holes.
And please remember that torque makes horsepower,but they each peak at different RPM's.Torque usually peaks;on a street engine, at or below 4500 Rpm's.Horsepower on the other hand,usually peaks above 5500.But all this depends on the combination.:cool:

Well As Much As I Like Spending Money (not Really) For Go Fast Parts(i Do Love Parts) This Time Around It's A Budget Build. I Got A Buddy With The Heads He Used For 3-6 Months And Is Trying To Go Way Faster Than What He Was. His Loss My Gain. I Can Get Those For About $700 With New Roller Rockers In The Box. I Just Happened To Have A Set Of Forged Pistons And Rods From A 400 From The Past And 2 400 Blocks In My Garage(1 Is A 509) And Want A Little (13sec Passes) More Performance Out Of My Every Day 81 Silverado. With Out The Heads In Question Being In The Picture I Was Going To Purchase Dart Iron Eagle Platinums.200-215cc (180cc Was Not Improved When They Switched To Plat)because The Flow Is Great For The Money. Then I Said This Is A Trailer Pulling Daily Driver So Dont Start Breaking Stuff Going Too Fast.(n0t To Mention Gas Prices In Houston Are Like $2.51 For Regular, And I Get Like 12mpg With My Heavy Foot)

Well As Much As I Like Spending Money (not Really) For Go Fast Parts(i Do Love Parts) This Time Around It's A Budget Build. I Got A Buddy With The Heads He Used For 3-6 Months And Is Trying To Go Way Faster Than What He Was. His Loss My Gain. I Can Get Those For About $700 With New Roller Rockers In The Box. I Just Happened To Have A Set Of Forged Pistons And Rods From A 400 From The Past And 2 400 Blocks In My Garage(1 Is A 509) And Want A Little (13sec Passes) More Performance Out Of My Every Day 81 Silverado. With Out The Heads In Question Being In The Picture I Was Going To Purchase Dart Iron Eagle Platinums.200-215cc (180cc Was Not Improved When They Switched To Plat)because The Flow Is Great For The Money. Then I Said This Is A Trailer Pulling Daily Driver So Dont Start Breaking Stuff Going Too Fast.(n0t To Mention Gas Prices In Houston Are Like $2.51 For Regular, And I Get Like 12mpg With My Heavy Foot)
my navigator gets 11 on the highway! couple a years back i built a budget 400. had dished hypers, summit split cam with .488/.501 lift, headers, 750 edelbrock, pro products airgap intake, vortec truck heads, the car run good. 69 camaro with 3.73 gear and 700r4 trans.

I'd go with the new Eliminators from AFR

Bad News Machine Shop Says Needs A Sleve In The 509 Block And The Other Block Has To Be 0.040 My Forged Pistons Are 0.030
Waiting Until 2:00 To Find Out Wether The Other Block Will Make 30 If Not Add 250-450 For A New Set. I May Just Buy Hypos Because I Dont Have Much Intent On Spraying It (ok I Probably Am Lying About It 100shot For Cheap Thrills.) I Shure Do Hope The 509 Will 30 Over.
Pray To The Hotrod Gods For Me !!!....

Mike,

Your posts would be a bunch easier to read if you would NOT capitalize each word. It makes it very hard to tell where the sentences start and end. :thumbsup:

I'll try to keep that in mind. Sorry I'm new

Build the engine Greg said. Keep the intake duration around 220 or less. Maybe you could find some of the old Lingenfelter articles on torque monsters. Most of his engines were very short on cam timing, high velocity heads. You will get 400 lbs torque no matter what you build. With high velocity heads and short timing, you can get more. 1 5/8 headers will work, but if somewhere down the road, you decide you want more HP, you will need 1 3/4". You should first decide what octane gas you want to burn, and go from there. That would be my deciding factor. Remember F1 cars use low octane, no lead. (How da do dat?)