Small Block Choice

[mikey]

Hi Guys
Need your valued help and opinion please. I have just sold my Cobra sob sob but I am building another – yipee.

I am wanting to put a Chevy motor in it with a bit more umph than my last one (much worked 350 that was still very nice to drive on the road) I built which was giving a genuine 379 bhp at 5500 RPM and 410 Clb-ft at 4300 RPM on the rig.

I don’t want to start a Chevy vs Ford war and I respect both marques, but I want to build a Chevy a) because their parts are cheap over here and secondly the devil you know.

I still want the motor nice to drive on the street which makes me think that I need to up the engine size to a 383 or 400, but I don’t necessarily want to go the big block route unless you think otherwise because of the weight.

What in your opinion is the best spec to go for and what genuine BHP can I expect without ruining torque figures as I drive on winding British roads for much of the time.

I would be prepared to ship over a crate engine or specialist built if you can advise me of any good ones, especially if they can build to a specification as I want to go alloy heads etc and many that I have seen seem to keep the cast iron ones in crate form.

Finally I have also considered an LS1 set up with say L6 heads or similar. Do these put out better power than the original small blocks or is it close as they are much more expensive. I guess weight reduction due to the alloy block will be an advantage though. Again if you know anybody that does the LS1/LS6 I would appreciate their web address.

Finally thanks again for your help especially with the latter section as our knowledge of the later engines is somewhat restricted over here.

Mike.

[George Snyder]

Mike,
That is definitly a hard question to answer. A 350 Vs. a 383?
I suggest you try here for answers to your 383 questions. http://www.chevytalk.com/

As for new GM crate Engines. Ls-1 is only 320 Hp w/ 345 Lbs of torque. It seems to be little less than you had before. The fuel injection and weight advantage are nice and certainly worth considering. They are a bit pricey though.

I would also suggest a nice ZZ4 385 fast burn. I have heard nothing but praise for these engines. If you are looking for a little more performance you can change the cam to Hot Cam and rocker arms from 1.5 to 1.6. You are now in the 430 Hp. range @ 5,800 w/ 430 ft torque @ 4000.

If you perfer a touch more Hp, you may also consider a little more cam, say model 12370847 or 12480110.

You can view the engines at www.paceparts.com
Good luck,
Bud