Jeff, I would like some help please man.

A guy that I know at a machine shop locally has a late model 350 4 bolt complete and ready to assemble. He want's $575. Is this a good deal? I was worried about finding a stroker crank that's 1 piece so I don't have to use that silly adapter...

 

I've always wondered why people with room for a big block always go with a big cube small block???

Go with the big block, it will make much more power, look at the heads.

 

Money. Unless you can show me that I can build a rat for very little more I'm sticking with the mouse. Besides, I want to run 10s and most people agree it can be done easily with a 383 setup right. So I don't need more...

 

you never NEED more

I don't see why everybody says a BBC is more expensive than a SBC? A stock crank 454 will do what you want and will keep you from having to buy a new crankshaft. The only reason BBC stuff is more expensive is because there is simply more metal being used.

 

If you think about it from a cubic inch point of view, a 434 is a big block stuck in a small block body. Look at a set of decent bbc heads and then try to find some sbc heads comparable in flow. It will get expensive fast. My budget 468 with cast iron heads in a 69 Chevelle stomps my 383 LT1.

 

Don't take this the wrong way but truth is you can build a BB cheaper and will make more power and torq than a big inch SB. I know this because I have seen it done a few times.

I just seen dyno numbers of 780hp(at the crank) NA,no bottle come from a 468 BB Chevy and this was all done for less than $5,000.00. Some of the parts where purchased used but this motor was nothing fancy nor did it have anything that was really trick. Motor did have high compression,roller cam(used),stock rods with 7/16 ARP bolts,cast iron Pro One heads(used) and so on.

The cost of a big inch SB will run big dollars! 4.000" stroke crank,after market block,special timming set,special cam and so on. Figure big $$$$$$$!

If I was in your shoes and had a choice I would step to BB Chevy for power over the SB. Once you drive a car with a BB you wouldn't think twice about a small block again.

 

God Bless, I'm sold! Anyone have a Big block (block only) for sale?

1 question though, was that 780hp done on pump gas?

 

Motor is 14.5 to 1 comp. Must use race gas. Another buddy has a 70 Chevell with 540ci pump gas motor made a little over 650+ hp NA with cast iron heads 8.5 to 1 compression nothing fancy either on this motor.

 

I just dyno'd a pair of 588 BBC boat engines that we built. Here are a few power numbers you might be interested in.....
3400 rpm 655.1 tq 424.1 hp
4800 rpm 697.4 tq 637.4 hp (peak tq)
5600 rpm 659.7 tq 703.4 hp (peak hp)

This is on pump gas, and idled smoothly at 700 rpms. For passenger car use, you'd obviously want to use more cam, and rev higher. These were about $11,000 each, but were built using very high quality new parts.... Dart block, AFR heads, Callies, etc. I'm sure that if you were resourceful, and found good deals, you could have similar results for quite a bit less money.

 

Are those dyno numbers for the pair or for each engine?

They sound like great boat engines, which get to work a lot harder for long periods than do car engines.

 

They're engine dyno numbers for each engine. Both engines were within 1% of each other from 3400-5900. It took about 15 pulls to get the first one tuned. We had the second one equal by the 4th pull, and did 3 more just to see if we could improve. They're going in a 38 ft Scarab. The customer was happy

 

Care to share some of the specs? Compression, heads, cam, and how you got to 588cid?

 

4.560" bore X 4.50" stroke
9.75 compression
Hydraulic roller 240ish @.050
AFR 335 heads
Dart intake
Custom dominator carb

 

Okay, I'm pretty familiar with small blocks when it comes to stroking them. But I'm dumb when it comes to BB. So, if a 454 was the largest V8 Chevy produced? then what crank would yield much larger CIs? I'd guess it's all aftermarket...

So what's the typical 454 stroke to? Like 350 is to 383....

Thanks

 

496 is pretty common... .060" over with a 4.25" stroke. A few years back I did a 535 using a 427 tall deck truck block..... .100" over with a 4.50' stroke. That involved sonic checking and lots of clearancing.