Hey, "rumor has it" is my trademark saying, leaves a little wiggle room or sometimes it's just tongue in cheek. Obviously it's tongue in cheek when I'm also saying you CAN make 1,500 horse with a Shelby block. Not that any regular's around CC will ever go there, "we" rarely exceed 600 horse. An original side oiler can easily reach that AND live to tell about it!
Mine made 667 horse, open headers, original parts, dual carbs. The only major modern component was the solid roller cam. Le Mans rods, 428 crank, standard bore, 12.5 to 1 compression, 1964 intake and heads (from an orignial T-Bolt car), 7,000 plus rpm. Near "period correct" if you would! Rumor has it, Dick Smith was making similiar horse power with his side oiler when he drove it to near 200 mph.
Did it live? A MODERN roller lifter let go between 8,000 and 9,000 miles! The internals looked remarkable. The rod and main bearings, bore, pistons, block all good. No cracks, scratches, dings hit or misses. I reused all the original internals with the exception of new forged pistons to reduce the 12.5 to 1 compression ratio. Added a flat tappet cam of similiar grind you could have found "back in the day".
I don't know what the upper limit of horse power is with an original side oiler block, the same block the SOHC motor used. What kind of power did THEY make? For the most part, that limit is higher than most of us would ever build to.
Folks talk about how tough the small block Chevies were/are as well. BUT, there was no end to the number of blown small block GM engines to be found laying around, "back in the day". Simple reason: Folks ran 'em hard, they were used extensively for racing, like the side oilers (which didn't come in your Fathers Ford)! If you had one of them it was for racing and exploring the limits at place's like NASCAR and Le Mans and the local drag strips, peddal to the metal. Big difference today with the Shelby blocks is that, by far, most of them are for used for a good hard Saturday afternoon "cruise". All though, I have no doubt they would hold up well in a true hard core racing environment. Just like the original side oilers did!
