Do any of you guys have ideas the ideal small block with any combo but this should be relatively streetable. I am starting to save up my money and Im trying think of combos that have 2 parts power, 1 part reliability, 1 part cost, and 1/2 part gas mileage.

 

check sig

 

650hp on pump gas
Free
with installation and a warranty.

Honestly you can't beat the crate engine prices out there for big cube SBC setups. from 396 to 472 cubic inches you can pick anything you want. 500-700hp is possible with pump gas usually. Set aside bout 15 grand if you want to get crazy. Maybe think about upgrading the entire drivetrain also you are looking for reliability also.

 

434 lil m dart block, brodix track 1 heads, comp cam with north of .650 lift, jesel rockers, t88, dfi 7, victor jr intake plumbed for efi.

That'd be reliable

 

So far, I'm not seeing one answer that meets the "1 part cost" part of the equation...

 

Oh common, mine wasnt?

Seriously, you may look into LS1 swaps. Pretty easy to make 350+ rwhp with a small cam and maintain good gas milage (20+ highway) at a decent price. All of the parts that you used to have to fab up are now made by companies - aside from exhaust, although you can still save some coin by doing the stuff yourself. There's a good FAQ for it on thirdgen.org on the engine swap board.

 

Um I thought mine was affordable

Block = 1500
Crank = 400
Pistons = 600
Heads = 1000

That's pretty cheap I thought..

 

Well Im thinking about something like a blown 383 because I personally dont like the idea of running nitrous oxide. I just have no clue what combo would make the most power for the money.

 

For NA, I like the 434 and 454 SBC ideas... except top it off with some worked 15 or 18 degree heads. Hefty HR cam can make some serious power (550-600rwhp) on pump gas with those cubes and still be a little docile for the street... until you open it up. Then add enough nitrous to satisfy your sadistic taste. Mr. Horsepower has a 434 SBC with SB2.2 heads in his camaro and it makes near 700rwhp on pump gas without nitrous or boost. Quite impressive.

Blown 383 would probably be cheaper though. Might get away with 600rwhp on pump gas with a inter-/aftercooler. If it starts knocking, add an alcohol or methanol injection kit. [FWIW, on the turbo buicks methanol shows very little improvement in performance than regular denatured alcohol (ethanol). It's cheaper and a lot less corrosive than meth. I was running 25psi with 93 pump gas and alcohol injection with no knock. That's a 8psi increase over what i could run on pump alone.]

 

Great! You got 1/3 of a running engine. Now how about the other stuff you neglected to list? The total sum of missing parts would equal or beat what you listed!

Scott Shafiroff builds very nice engines. A tad over $9000 gets you a completed running 600HP 434ci SBC, with an unbeatable warranty. The price may seem high now, but building one similar on your own usually ends up costing much much more.

That might go over your "1 part cost" factor, but it will cost a lot of money for an ideal or ultimate SBC. Besides, when you have 3 parts power and 2 parts reliability, who cares?

 

Get an LS1 drivetrain and mod that as you go. $5K should get you a decent milage one with tranny, pcm and harness.

 

You need to provide a lot more info to get a decent answer. You can make quite a bit of power for a few grand, but it is not hard to spend $50,000 on a SBC (I see them at work regularly). Even in the super expensive range, there is no 1 "ultimate small block". What are you trying to do with the car? What is your budget? etc.

Dustin

 

$9000 for Scott Shafiroff's 434(600hp) is a screamin deal that I wish I hadn't passed up.

With your ratio of cost/reliability/mileage, etc,etc...I'd say do either a RamJet 350 crate engine with a single nozzle nitrous express kit jetted for 100hp. Or if more money is avaliable, find a complete running LS1 doner car and swap that into your car. Headers that fit out cars, mounts, wiring, plumbing, a cam swap and again...a 100 or 150 stab of nitrous will definately make ALL of your drivetrain cry. 500-550hp on demand with great gas mileage and awesome street manners.

 

A local here had that whole setup for $3,000 50,000 mile engine, auto trans, computer, harness, acessories, etc...

Damnit! Pretty much as I'm waiting for my Pro Systems carb nd other parts to arrive...

 

i hear ya denny, i'm starting to rethink one of those bad boys.. nice little procharger and call it a day with some great gas mileage and a computer people can tune.