how much HP

[mjmacqua]

Byron,

You may or not remember me, I had a lot of trouble cooling my 557, you offered a number of solutions. My engine had 650+HP and definetly had the pucker factor... With the cooling issue and the afore mentioned, I decided to rebuild it. I still wanted the big block, so stuck with the 428 starting point, when finished (almost) it will be a 514 with a mild cam. It will be, as most big blocks are, a torque monster, which is what really makes us go. Unfortunatley what sells cars is HP what makes them go is Torque. Hopefully none of us are racing on the street as we know that is illegal, but even more so, when the HP starts taking over, we are above 90-100MPH, another pucker factor in a go cart type vechile. (pardon the go cart reference I couldnt think of anything else to get the point across).
I think most of us love to DRIVE these cars and on occasion punch them out. They key is figuring out what you really want to do. You can spin the tires with a 302. And keep in mind the first 2 questions we are asked, is it real? and what's under the hood, 427? (two other selling points)

[mln385]

How did you remedy the cooling issue if you did?

[mjmacqua]

I rebuilt it...And I hope it works (it isnt finished yet)

I tried Water Wetter, New fan (bigger puller, more cfm, better shroud), burping the system (looking for air bubles), I was about to try a bigger water pump, when instead I rebuilt the motor and still changed the pump. I ran an electric mezeire 35gpm, now I have the 55gpm. My problem really seemd to be an air flow issue, standing still it would heat up, but if I got it moving it would cool down.

[greg schroeder]

I started with a Roush 427R having 561 HP at the crank. The way Superformance was doing the exhaust and fuel delivery at the time in 2005 when the car was put together it ended up producing a touch over 400 at the wheels. I changed the headers, side pipes, fuel line, carb and air cleaner and it put down about 475 at the wheels. I did also change to the aluminum flywheel, near solid motor mounts and stronger half shafts too. With the rear Mickey Thompson ET street drag radials in the 275/60 15 size it worked pretty good. I could see having another 100 wheel HP for kicks and still have the car managable.

I know quite a few guys with highly modified exotic cars. The Cobra with 475 at the wheels is pretty quick. There's very little on the road that would be quicker to 100 mph, but those drag radials are critical to use in my opinion.