I have a budget, It's 30k for engine, driveline, 9". The engineer will be happy and sign off on a 354. I was originally looking at doing it cheaper to save some money and use a mexican block. Though I kept hearing about standard blocks splitting north of 500hp. I then decided an aftermarket block was an option and that hell, I could spend the money, and that opened up a tonne of possibilities that just wasn't available with the standard blocks, plus I learnt about bigger strokes, I thought the biggest stroke possible was the 3.400 crank. I am in a position now in my life to build a car and I want and go drag racing, something I've been wanting to do since I was 11. I am now 45. How many times do you here of people building a car and later building another engine because the one they have isn't powerful enough for them anymore? I know I've asked a lot of questions, I know I have a lot of great information here. Possibly you are right, that I would be happy with enough power for 11's and to settle for a happy medium. I haven't built the thing yet, and I have considered that myself, though you can't have options, and the ability to implement them without the great information everyone's been so generous to provide, and I thank you all for that. But are you really flaming me for actually taking advice, listening, learning and then working through a combo with all the information people have provided me?ozmuscleowner wrote:I think you have enough information here to build several engines, seems your trying to build something that is not buildable, good people are giving you what they think... you take it and then go...what about this then you change either the bore,,,then the stroke,or heads or a combination of everything...thennnnnn you say you cant go over a certain cubic inches cause you want to stay legal, but you will build your MAX cubes then make it bigger later??? WTFfomocosteve wrote:think 378 cubes with a 7500 peak hp, max rpm 7800-8000 with a half decent curve. I'd rather have the capacity in the heads straight up than to replace a lot of hardware later, Have to keep it as a 354 initially to get it past engineer's certificate, then later (during it's freshen up) it would just be a bore, pistons, rings etc... and 378ci..wyrmrider wrote:Top end only or how broad a torque curve?
Bonneville or street?
Thanks, Steve.
PS, I dont mind the look of those AFR 220 heads, or the 205 11R TFS heads from TEA
Get a Budget and go from there, build yourself a nice 400/450HP engine and stick it into that Capri or Falcon and have some fun.. I think any more power will be too much engine for you.
Have you actually ever driven a car with even 350HP at the wheels,..I had a Big block 454 making a dyno proven 380HP at the tyres,275/60/15 (in a '67 Camaro)and at 100KM(60MPH) with 4 BIG guys in the car I could stand on it and smoke tyres for as long as I wanted .. or I was game to.
450 HP engine is plenty fun for a car that's a street and strip weapon..
If you don't know how to build the engine even a "cheap 450HP" engine here (Australia)is going to cost you around 10K for somebody to do it, and that's you supplying the basic parts,then you have a transmission, starting at about 3K, and a diff...and a converter and ignition system.. I run my own shop and I have spent over 30k on my driveline and I'm still not finished...
Horsepower isn't cheap and it definitely is not cheap this side of the American pond
A cheap 302 Windsor with a solid flat tappet and 10.5 to 1 comp, Dart iron heads or AFRs and a nice manifold will make all the power you need, itll runs 11s, smoke tyres, and you will not need a Cage in it, rego will be happy, engineer will be happy...
What more do you want?
The engine and hp grew along with the knowledge I learnt here.