I want to build a good street/strip big block. I will be using a procharger F1 blow through with 10/12lbs of boost. Should I go with a 427,454, 496 or what? What is the sweet BBC to build? I plan on using stock port and polished heads. What cam would you recommend?

Do all your sums on parts and machining and have a realistic hp expectation.. Then compare it to a zz572/620 or 720.

In my case, I have a 454 that I built and it owes me easily a good 20% more than the price of one of those crates.
..and I'm spinning it with AvGas to make the same power as the pump gas friendly 572/620.

(Bear in mind tha the 572s are a tall deck.. The only issue you may have regarding hood and brake booster clearance, and you can easily get around it.)

Just a suggestion..

Give some more details on your actual goals for the car. Street/strip only goes so far....plus everyone has their own opinion.

To be honest with you, a naturally aspirated 496 can easily sink into the 10's on pump gasoline with good enough street manners to boot. It takes good parts and a well engineered combo of course(which is the hard part)....but if you use all good parts(especially heads) and put together a nice combo with the right solid roller.....than once its all together, the hard part is done and going real fast in a streetable car will be the easy part. See what Im sayin. You could go a LOT faster if you wanted to with some changes to the cam, compression, and of course the addition of the pro charger. Or, maybe you dont necessarily want to be faster....maybe you want to run super tame 11's. I dunno. Depending on what your looking for, theres many routes you can take but it would be best to help us out on some more specifics so we know what your lookin for.

As far as what motor would be best....that all depends too. They are all big blocks, and built properly, any one of them can run great and do a great job for the intended application. A stroker with a procharger just might be WAAAY overkill and unnecessary for your goals. And then again....it might be worth your while to put that pro charger on top of a 540.....all things depending. Let us know.

The engineers at Chevy, and I have always been big fans of over square engines. The original Mark IV 396 was built and tested with both the 409 bore and stroke (4.313" x 3.460"), and the 4.125" x 3.760" that went into the eventual production engine (because it offered more bottom end torque with rectangular port heads; the only option available at the time).

CanAm racing introduced the 430cid 7.0 liter all aluminum block which was another big bore (4.400" x 3.470") short stroke terror. Then comes the Gen VI big bore thin wall series of short deck blocks. Bore is safely limited to 4.500" unless you wish to invest in steel sleeves, though many have let 'er rip with a boring bar to 4.560" running 0.090" over leaves a very thin cylinder in need of hard pour. Of course if you wanted a longer arm in the Gen VI 4.500" bore block with a 4.313" stroke you can have 555cid of mayhem sitting in a Chevy orange 396 labeled package.

My recommendation would be to build a 499 (498.57 cid) BBC with a 4.6" bore after market two piece block and a 3.75" stroke crank (like out of a 427). Have the best of both worlds with a Pro Stock style motor that has the potential to shift at 10,000 RPM, and yet still pushes 500 cubic inches for that feel of big block torque.

I personally built a 582cid which is as big as you can go in a 9.8" deck block, but it wasn't worth the expense, for the difference in cubes, go with a standard configuration. But if I hadn't done that I couldn't tell you not to, so in that regards it was worth something.

I've got a 66 396 sitting in my garage right now that I am going to start building this summer. I have my 66 Impala SS getting a frame off since last August. I'm thinking the 396 up to about 475HP hooked up to a 700R4 with the 12 bolt posi should be a good combo.

Larger dave, I'm with you on that combo.. I've often thought of a 502 block & 427 crank for 478 cubes with nice rpm and power potential.

I want to build a good street/strip big block. I will be using a procharger F1 blow through with 10/12lbs of boost. Should I go with a 427,454, 496 or what? What is the sweet BBC to build? I plan on using stock port and polished heads. What cam would you recommend?


Build the biggest motor you can afford-low comp big cubic inch motors make plenty of power on pump gas.

We currently got a racing 496 going 8.12 at 2700 ft which equals a 7.90 corrected in a digger with a 200 shot of nitrous, our previous combo with a 468 on the same nitrous unit in the same digger at the same track ran 8.27.

Link to a pic of the digger>http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventorder?photo=024S009H000035&start=0&album=0&adjust=-1

My friends street driven 496 in his 3800lbs Chevelle ran 10.30 on the motor, no nitrous and when he swithed to a 540 it went 9.86, in the same car same track, no nitrous. It forced him to have to get an NHRA competition licence. No replacement for displacment.

Pic of the enginehttp://myspace-573.vo.llnwd.net/00280/37/58/280088573_m.jpg

Pic at Route 66 Cruisehttp://myspace-361.vo.llnwd.net/00278/16/35/278795361_m.jpg

496 Stroker Motor Rotating Assemblies
External Balanced Part #EB4961

Crank: 5140 Forged Steel 4.250 stroke
Pistons: Keith Black Hypereutectic Flat Tops 8.6:1 CR
Rods: 4340 Forged Steel I-Beam, 6.385 (.250 long)
Bearings/Rods & Mains: Clevite 77 'H' race bearing
Balancer: New OEM style 8.0 diameter
Flexplate: SFI approved external balance, 168 teeth
Balance: High performance street/strip,
piston and rods matched +- 1 gram
$1,595.00



http://www.dallasexportsales.com/images/piston.gif

http://www.dallasexportsales.com/RA496.htm

540 Stroker Motor Rotating Assemblies
Internal Balanced Part #IB5401

Crank: 4340 Nitrided Forged Steel 4.250 Stroke
Pistons: Forged 4032 Alloy 4.500 Bore
Mid Dome 10.0:1 CR w/118cc
Rods: 4340 6.385 steel H-Beam w/ARP bolts
Bearings/ Rods & Mains: Clevite 77 'H' bearing
Balancer: Pioneer Street Performance Steel 8" diameter
Flexplate: SFI approved, 168 teeth

Balance: High performance street/strip,
piston and rods matched +- 1 gram
$1,950.00

I go along with most. The biggest you can afford. On a street car a change from a 427 to a 454 can definately be felt.

Thanks for the info guys. Sounds like a 496 or 540.

A 496 8.0:1 CR with about 500 Hp N/A should make about 800 HP with the F-1 procharger at 10-12 lbs boost and pump gas at 17-18 lbs and race gas double the HP the engine would make N/A

I built 2 big blocks in the last few years. My next engine is definitely a crate engine. Building an engine is expensive and sometimes a pain. A 572 crate engine looks mighty good to me right now. My next car is gonna get one................

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