Im going to look at a 400ci block friday and I was wondering what all I should look for and what questions to ask about it. Its a 400ci 4 bolt 2 piece rear seal, and the guy said its a "511" block whatever that is. Its selling for $125 is that a pretty good deal providing the block is good?

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Ryan
1971 Chevelle SS
Nevada Silver & Black
Stripes
350ci Automatic
Black Bucket Interior

First of all-take it to a machine shop and have them check it out-you might wind up with a boat anchor. they check all the metal and that way you know that its worth rebuilding.
if the guy says No-way than bid him farewell http://www.chevelles.com/forum/cool.gif

Yeah Ditto, I have one of those blocks sitting in my garage, magged and shake n baked, I am trying to get rid of it(Current '68 is a big block car) "511" refers to the last 3 digits in the casting number that is printed on a pad on the rear drivers side of the block, these are '70-'71 4-bolt 400's. Actually only 3 casting numbers were ever used on 400's. Make an appointment with a GOOD local machinest and ask the guy to borrow it for a day. If you shell out the cash before doing so, all you might end up with is a chunk of iron that you can invite your buddies over to have a few beers and say "yeah it's a 400" But it will never be able to talk to you http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif
Jim(The Chevy Dually and Big Block '68 Chevelle Guy)

Hey thanks a lot guys. Ill be sure to make an appointment to take it in friday.

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Ryan
1971 Chevelle SS
Nevada Silver & Black
Stripes
350ci Automatic
12-bolt 3.55 posi
Black Bucket Interior

I agree with above posts...... Find a knowledgable machinist and have him "Magnaflux" the blocks to check for cracks... Just a note, you'll need a 3.75 stroke small-block crank with the big "400" balancer. Also, I believe the rod lenght is different in a 400 also, either 6.0 or 5.5 but I'm not sure.... Good luck with your motor and I hope everything turns out for you http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

Happy Motoring!

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'70 Malibu
4.030''x3.480'' L-31
Muncie M20 (in conversion)
'62 Vette Posi 3.70 rear (in conversion)

Is the 4 bolt main 400 block a good engine? I have been reading that the 2 bolts are actually stronger because the decks on the 4 bolts were thin and the outer bolts were prone to cracking or something. Also i read that there are no water jackets between the cylenders. So is this not a good block to really modify on or what?

It should be tall, and handsome, and well spoken....


Dude...my friend John runs a 400 2 bolt main cast crank motor and runs 11.4's on the muscle and 10.6's on the bottle. Motor has an insane number of passes on it and the bottom end has survived since 1996 with a freshen up late in 2000.