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P400 Build

6.5L

Old Iron Runner
Messages
1,177
Reaction score
433
Location
Northwest Wyoming
Well, Leroy confirmed it today. I am moving forward with the P400. It should be here sometime first half of June. Nothing too exciting outside the standard build I had. The base P400 already took care of most of what I was going to do to the engine anyways. Some people are looking into injectors that are P400 specific. My pump guy has disassembled some and found some interesting things. Will keep updated there. I had my 4911 flowed and it was moving 88cc's. The custom pump I had built for me will flow 100cc's and maybe more, with basically an external fuel screw. Modified the housing. No more digging into the pump thank god. But will still need to fine tune it once it hits the truck. During dis assembly I discovered my clutch was again broken. I got through them in a little under a year lol. Thank god for Car Quest warranty clutches. Looks like I will be heading to a South Bend unit. But they are pricey so any better clutches than can handle some good power that people know about, I am open to suggestion.
 
Good to here on your p400. Intersting on both the injectors and the external fuel screw. Hmm...

My clutches last longer because there are more of them, and they are covered in fluid inside the trans- sorry no help here. It is fun to shift, just not enough fun to deal with the headaches.
 
Yes, very interesting on the injectors. I'm interested to hear anything you can share on this. I look forward to seeing your build!
 
During dis assembly I discovered my clutch was again broken. . . . Looks like I will be heading to a South Bend unit. But they are pricey so any better clutches than can handle some good power that people know about, I am open to suggestion.

FWIW: two of my local shops recently decided to refuse installation of SB clutches unless the customer *absolutely* insisted (and let them off the hook). Reasoning was that both of the shops had warranty issues with SB.

Based on recommendation from Slim, I am giving MPact clutch a try.


Only thing I'd do different on the P-400 is gapless rings to cut down on soot in the oil.

Get ready for *FREQUENT* oil changes as my analysis at ~20K is still coming in high for wear metals (numbers are coming down, but still fall into the range that gets extra commentary from the tech).
 
Yeah, I'd call and talk to any clutch manufacturer and see what they are selling for the 6.5. I haven't researched it lately but iirc South Bend and Center Force were using a LUK disc and pressure plate and changing the friction material. If not LUK they were very similar. They weren't really any tougher.

I take it the clutch disc (metal disc "spokes" area) was damaged?

What did your pilot bearing look like and input snout? I'd suggest replacing the input bearing and make sure the pilot bearing is well greased (add some more grease to take up all the space of the pilot bore if needle roller and not set it too deep. The pilot bearing install tool sets it out of the crankshaft pilot bore a fair amount. If you don't use the tool measure your stack up. To see how much of the input snout actually penetrates the crankshaft.
 
I refuse to use a needle bearing. Never had good results with them. Piles of crap. Everything else looked alright. I'm gonna replace all of it anyways. I will look into some other clutches.
 
SB clutch will take care of you. Just talk with Peter and make sure you are not going over the HP and TQ the clutch can handle. There is a reason you are eating clutches - just need to find it.

Oil changes are at 2500 Miles for HD use in the 1993 Owner's manual and UOA said 3000 miles was pushing it past oil failure. Gapless rings are a different story.
 
Are you getting more than 50K out of the clutch trans? That's the miles I get out of the auto's before I need to replace the TCC from slipping.
 
I honestly don't pay attention to how many miles I get out of them. Like I said, I'm really hard on clutches. Lot of street racing and hard launches on stock clutch with modified engine. Doesn't mix well
 
I honestly don't pay attention to how many miles I get out of them. Like I said, I'm really hard on clutches. Lot of street racing and hard launches on stock clutch with modified engine. Doesn't mix well

That's an understatement! I suggest you reconsider feet being chopped off if you blew the flywheel and/or clutch up from that kind of abuse. Consider a clutch that's SFI rated for competition sled pulling and put it in a blowproof bellhousing. You may have to make your own blowproof bellhousing. Sled pulling "steel" flywheel and clutch may be overkill but the blowproof bellhousing isn't.

Maybe it's time to go automatic and just put a blanket around it...

Blowproof bellhousing doing it's job:

 
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