[olddog]

Well I think I understand how it looks from each persons perspective, and their point of view. You never know for sure until you have walked in someone else's shoes. I'm glad both apologized and hope we all can all bury the hatchet here - so to speak - and move on. No point in anyone piling on or pouring any racing fuel, on the smoldering embers as this one fizzles out.

Most of us appreciate all the help and free advise Bent and the other builders who chime in from time to time. But I will say it anyway, thank you.

Funfer2 I get it. Once in a while I would like to just shoot the breeze on ideas and bounce them back and forth. It seems not too many folks on the Net is looking for that or at least they are hard to find.

One of the problems of people tossing out opinions is that a whole lot of untruths, superstitions, and what not gets out there and stays out there forever. Then those who are in the know are trying to kill these falsehoods. We live in a time where everything known to man is at your finger tips, with a google search, almost instantly. People don't want to take the time to talk or hear a good story, they just want the facts and move on.

So I will humor you a bit. I understand what it is like to want something and not have the funds yet. You still want to be active, so you want to examine your options every-which-way from Sunday. It is better than crying in your beer, and it prepares you for when you do get the funds.

Engine choice can drive you nuts. The Modular was and now the Coyote is the choice for someone who wants new modern technology and has no longing or nostalgia for the good old days. Blasphemy the purist scream. Realize people born after 1980 (37 yrs old) have no memory of the cars of the 1960's or what it was like.

The first Cobra's were small block and the purest do not want them in a 427 Cobra body, but there are tons of them out there. Even though I have a 5.0 / 347 stroker, I cannot recommend this engine. The factory blocks are not that strong and you have to get fairly radical to make the power.

The Cleveland was a great engine in its day but Ford and most of the world left it behind, as unfortunate as it is. I think Shelby would have loved to put that engine in a Cobra. Had it existed perhaps the 427 FE would never have been used, but the timing was all wrong. We will never know.

That leaves the 351 Windsor, small block. What started out as the ugly duckling, became a swan, when stroker kits became the rage. Now make that a 427 cid Clevor (or CHI down under heads) and damn. This is becoming an engine porn story. At this point you are talking serious power, great looks, and reasonable costs.

And now for the 427 side oiler that started the whole awesome Cobra story. Like it or not it is the holey grail of Cobra engines. The problem is the price. Few original unmolested blocks are out there, and the aftermarket blocks just make the price tag even higher. You might get lucky and find something in a barn, but you might get burned with a boat anchor, too. These things just cost too much for many of us.

So we step down to any old FE. With stroker kits, a 390 FE can go to ~440 cid. Plenty to build serious power. So for a lot of extra money and extra complex engine design to possibly cause headaches, you can have an FE that belongs in a 427 Cobra. Nothing wrong with that if you can afford it.

Now you can argue how many 428 FE were put in the original 427 Cobra and how most people couldn't tell the different between a 427 SO and any other FE, if it makes you feel better. Truth is the only thing that could possibly turn on a Cobra nut more than a 427 SO would be a Cammer, and the original purest will frown on that too. Not to mention a Cammer is Premo-Money.

So that leave us with the 385 series engine. One it doesn't belong in a 427 Cobra body any more than a Windsor or Coyote. Two you have to have a magic shoe horn and mirrors (a little smoke would help) to fit it in a Cobra. But it will fit. There are plenty out there. Now if you get past one and two, here is an engine that can make huge power on a beer budget. When you have over 500 cid, you cannot help but have monster torque. A decent set of heads and a reasonable cam and you have huge HP. You just do not need to spend a bunch of many to make 600 HP.

This all said, you never know when you will come across a good buy on any engine, but if you have to build one from scratch, I believe HP/$ the 385 series engine family wins.