406 piston Dish

[jcs89]

What is the CC piston dish for a .160 cast 400 or 406 piston? I believe there are different ones, .160, .180 and ?

Wanting to build a 406 tire burning tow vehicle with 186 2.02/1.60 64cc heads
I Would like about 9-1 CR and any cam and intake recommendations please, I'am budget minded.:

Truck Spec:3/4 ton 4x4, 4:10 rear, th400. 33'' Tires

[alabama mike]

Originally Posted by jcs89

What is the CC piston dish for a .160 cast 400 or 406 piston? I believe there are different ones, .160, .180 and ?

Wanting to build a 406 tire burning tow vehicle with 186 2.02/1.60 64cc heads
I Would like about 9-1 CR and any cam and intake recommendations please, I'am budget minded.:

Truck Spec:3/4 ton 4x4, 4:10 rear, th400. 33'' Tires

Well while I'm no expert, I do know that factory compression on the 400 with a 76 cc head was about 8.9-1, and the 64 cc head would put you at 10.5-1, a little high for today's pump gas unless you use aluminum heads. As far as piston dish size goes, summit or jegs can get you just about any size piston to might need, but know that when you start deviating from stock the price will go up dramatically. I know Keith Black used to make a set of hyperutetic pistons call "claimer" pistons, would give about 10-1 with 76 cc heads, I've quite a few sets of them through the years. The 186's are yesterdays technology, A good set of Vortec heads would flow better. as far as the intake, a good aluminum dual plane intake, I've always had good luck with edelbrock performer RPM intakes, but there are many brands to look at, but the dual plane will help with the low end torque. as far as cams goes, I'd call CompCams hotline and let them know what you got, they have always seems to come thru for me in the past, and they have many new grinds out, more of a choice than I had back when I was building alot of engines. you should be able to get 325 - 350 hp out of the 400 and still be very streetable and tow anything you want to tow, with a great amount of torque on the bottom end.

[jcs89]

Thanx for the input. I agree with you about the heads, but I have them and they are in great shape and fit mini budget.
I have a performer manifold right now and edelbrock 1406 carb. I was hoping they might be good enough since i'm not trying to pull anything over 5500rpm

[jcs89]

I do believe that the 400 sbc came with three different CR's and piston dish's through out their development

[alabama mike]

Originally Posted by jcs89

I do believe that the 400 sbc came with three different CR's and piston dish's through out their development

That might be possible, but I've only heard of 2, 8.5:1 from 1975 to 1977 Then from 1977 to 1980 it was 8.3:1 ratio, these are the stock advertised ratio's. I'm not sure of the exact cc of the dish, but if your looking for an engine to build that has the lower compression ratio then look for the newer engine, I have an old book i use when going to the junk yard looking for parts,

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listin...-2689854576688

its been a valuable tool in finding what I'm looking for. Your intake sounds fine, and since you have the 186 heads I would use them too if it was me, I will tell you from experience if you really wanna make it run you need to stay away from the edelbrock carb, a good holley will run rings around it, and since its going in a truck make sure you find one with vacumm secondaries.

[jcs89]

Thanx MIke, What is the name of your Book? Any model Holley and Cam combo you might be fond of?

[alabama mike]

Originally Posted by jcs89

Thanx MIke, What is the name of your Book? Any model Holley and Cam combo you might be fond of?

the name of the book is :Catalog of Chevy V-8 Engine Casting Numbers 1955-93 and Stamped Numbers

I put the link in my post so you could see it, as far as the carb, holley has so many differant numbers now I couldn't tell you the exact number, but look for a 750 cfm dual line with vacuum secondaries, holley sells factory rebrubished parts on ebay, that would be a good place to look. If I was building I would go with a Comp 268H cam, good street manners, no need for a stall converter, since your going with a 400 you might be able to get away with a 270H on the stock converter, but that would be pushing it, I think the 268H would probably be the better choice. the more cubic inches you go with the bigger the can you can run and still remain street able. if you go this route make sure you have headers and at least 2 1/2 inch exhaust, the 400 really do good when you open them up and let them breath.