pal with a early 70s Cougar had a broken 351M, so after he sold the car to another friend I found 400M heads for him via ebay (rebuild) and a stroker kit (400M rotating assembly, all bearings, gaskets). got it from rpmmachines someone recommended here

Now the car has gotten a complete going over, stripped and custom paint job after finish, which they won't show me until the engine is finished.
So buddies are working on it, i'm just helping out whenever I pass along.
Now we said instead of shoving the beast into car for first start, why not mock up a frame to put it on to run in. so we can see if everything is ok before we shove the engine in and out and in and out ...




looks the business, doesn't it?

 

here is a mockup of a 6mm steel plate. borrowed plasma cutter from another friend. We'll need this to hold the starter in somehow. don't like the idea of starting an engine with a drill on the crank *g*


I have the fuel pump mounted to the frame, which we will gravity feed from a plastic tank. We have a temp gauge, oil pressure gauge. Missing a tach.
Have a switch for ignition and start button. I'll probably wire it all up during the week. Starter relay and fuel pump relay I had spare as well

 

Thats cool. Alot of engine builders do it, so yeah why not do it at home too. I'd like to see a video of first start.

 

It seems to be a lot more trouble than it would be to just put it in the car where it will have to eventually be anyway.

BTW, 400 (there's no such thing as a 400M, it's just called a 400) heads are the same as the 351M heads. The ONLY differences between a 400 and a 351M are found in the rotating assembly. Also if it was a 3351M in such an early car, someone must have put it in there, not the factory. The 351M didn't come about until the late seventies.

 

tx65coupe: yes. there will be a video. definetly. I'll make sure of that :-)

MB: yes. heads are the same. the originals we brought to the engine shop. they said one would be good to go with skimming, but the other was scrap. so we replaced them. but ya. you're right. they are the same as the 351M

as for the engine and originality ... owner doesn't car about this one. the engine is late seventies from the casting. but i'm not sure of the year of the car itself. sure I'll check on it when I they finally let me see the car
as for putting it into the car, we all said let's run this one outside (usually we just plant them back in). The frame is constructed in such a way that we only need to make up a new adapter for motor mounts and starter plate if a different engine type goes in (chevy etc). The rest will remain. So we thought this up to be with us long-term ... and I always wanted to see an engine running out of car ... should be fun

 

I'd bolt in a rear-end, some steering, weld on a bench seat and give it a drive!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!

Once you get ready to start it in your stand, if you don't run it with open headers, you don't have a hair on your.... er......, you don't have any sporting blood at all!

Enjoy it. Sounds like fun if you've got the time.

 

that would be fun :-) wouldn't get far, but imagine the looks you'd get driving a V8frame down the road
i said we run it open headers but they're worried about neighbours but i'm having none of it. If they still argue we'll do it in the garage door closed

 

leave a window open

looks like a nice build, I'd also be interested in a start-up video (with open headers of course)

 

I'd say F the neigbors. if it was in my hood, nobody calls the police unless it breaking n entering or something serious. otherwise the're doin more dirt than runnin a V8 WIDEOPEN!