[Jack21]

Thanks for the complement. Can't say I always have the right answer, but can say I have and opinion based on "a few" years of hot rodding and living with or reworking my own mistakes.

SVO does make an aluminum block 351 last time I checked. The aluminum block was 120#, the iron block was 195#. Iron sportsman blocks were ~$800, SVO ~$1800, aluminum SVO ~$3200. For a street motor, it's a waste of money. For a race motor, depends on your Visa credit limit, and do you really need to shave off 75# with an aluminum block?

With an automatic trans, the 408 will give you a little more bottom end, and you won't rev it up where the small valves (for a 400 inch motor) are hurting you. Cleveland heads changes the equation.

For a daily driver street motor, I'd still opt for the 393; not too wild on the cam (218-228 @.050) or carb (700 - 750) or you'll hate it. Off the shelf parts, easy to build, not wildly expensive, tons of torque, and should go 100k miles. Get the Powermaster starter from Summit and you won't have hard starting problems. Use forged pistons instead of the KB's an put a blue bottle in the trunk if you need a little extra sometimes because of that Porche down the street. MHO