392 to ????

[mreid]

It all depends on what you want to do with the car as was detailed quite nicely in the other thread. Will your weber set up work well with the Z cam in your crate engine? I had the 430hp version of that engine in my FFR coupe with stack EFI and it was amazing. The initial and mid-range acceleration was intense. Where it suffered was at upper rpms where the lack of a common plenum caused it to run out of air (so yes to that question). I think you will see the same issue once you sort out the tuning. Hopefully, Bob will chime in on this as he has an EFI stack set up and runs it at the track with great results.

Personally, I like a big displacement small block for any driving requiring great handling which is what I enjoy. My Kirkham FIA has a 540hp 427w.

[Jimbocobra]

Originally Posted by mreid

My Kirkham FIA has a 540hp 427w.

Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords got 537 HP out of that bone stock crate 392 with just a head swap, AFR 185's. It also put out over 500 lbs/ft of tq. The heads are $1500 bucks. So, if money is an issue (and it always seems to be), that puts you within 3 hp of the 427ci. If you have tons of dough, go with the big block and you can pick whatever power level you want...

[Dwight]

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Dwight

[digginfool]

Originally Posted by mreid

The initial and mid-range acceleration was intense. Where it suffered was at upper rpms where the lack of a common plenum caused it to run out of air (so yes to that question).

That's what I love about my set-up. The torque is incredible with the Webers. The power delivery is very linear; no big top-end rush like you get when the secondaries open. Just linear power (and LOTS of it) until it's time to shift. I haven't really noticed any roll off but I tend to short-shift around 5500 RPM or less anyways when I'm running it 'hard.' I guess I could be shifting at that range because that's where the seat of my pants says it's time rather than taking it out to redline.