[olddog]

I could not make up my mind what I wanted to build. I ended up buying a used completed Cobra with the engine I liked the least, a 347 stroker with 10^ more duration on the cam than I would have chosen. So far I love it.

Now before this thread turns into another BB/SB war, I'll make a few quick points.

If you can afford it and can put up with its pissing on your garage floor, you will love a 427 FE and never ever have to make up a excuse for why your car doesn't have one.

One observation is that most Cobras I have seen had small blocks at around 2 or 3 to every big block. Last year I counted them at London, and it was very near 3:1, but I forget the numbers. Keeping this 3:1 number in mind, read the FE forum and the SB forum, and you will see there are more FE problems posted. Maybe SB are easier to work on and they don't need to ask for help, or maybe FE are more prone to problems. FE are a wierd pain in the butt to work on engine with many little things that can bite you. Once propperly built, I see no reason why they should not be as reliable as any other engine, but that is my observation.

If you want good low end torque and a nice flat torque curve CID is king. You can make a lot of power with a small engine, but you have to give up good low rpm manors to get it, short of a supercharger.