[Hal Copple]

AJ, the magazine Muscle Mustang and Fast Fords has done lots of stroker motor articles, and in one issue a year ago, had a lot of pro motor builders comment on small block stroker issues, and virtually all of them commented that the 347 was just too much for reliabiltiy and durabiltity.

I think if one has the abiltity, an aluminum Windsor is the way to go, but i have heard that there are several different aluminum blocks out there, and some are supposedly better than others.

If one builds it so, a motor makes more power the higher it can rev, to the point that the RPM is just not very feasable, or very expensive, the extreme of that being the F1 18,000 motors.

It takes a lot of money to build a high rev motor, you can put in shaft rockers, all expensive internal parts, but sometimes just a small bump in displacement can get you that power cheaper and at a more useable, lower RPM.

All motors are some sort of compromise, and at some point, it gets hard to use a really high horsepower motor in a light unsophisticated car like a Cobra Replica. I guess one needs to closely examine what your desired parameters and finances are, and then put it in the car.

Mike Stenhouse, and SPF owner, has an RDI aluminum stroked Windsor, that makes about 540 hp or so, is pretty drivable, very reliable, but a large part of that is his gearing, very long-legged, to let his car use his power without wasted "thrust".

I think he can pull something like 90 mph out of second gear!

If you want to talk aluminum motors, i can put you in touch with him. He has had various internals (cams and such) in his motor, with lots of different dyno runs, and finally settled on a very streetable and very potent motor. He also has some pretty clear opinions on aluminum block differences, and worked with a NASCAR motor builder to arrive at his final build.