Mr. Bandit, you hit the nail on the head.
I haven't been to many shows and seen a 69 Chevelle SS 396 that was on steroids.
The fact that the Chevy performance parts book is twice as thick as the Ford performance parts book is somewhat insignificant to me, and to many!
I am reminded of a thread I read here one day that caused some bad blood (seems like they all do at some point, so worrying about it becomes kind of a waste) regarding cam choices. That there were TONS more cams available for a 289 than a 351. So what? There is a crapload of cams available for a 351 and unless you are building a VERY VERY purpose built 351, there are plenty!
So back to Chevy's performance book. First, 80% of that book, at a minimum, is going to be devoted to the Chevy SB mouse motor. Why only 20% for the big blocks? Because the fact of the matter is, the only time the big blocks are really "done up" is when they are specialty items in a specialty motor. For instance, a 638cid Dart BBC or something like that.
Not to say that someone doesn't occasionaly molest a Camaro/Corvette/Chevelle and build the motor up, but those motors are truly few and far between.
That is what they are, and that is OK. I'm not saying it in even a slightly negative tone. Something in me loves seeing a completely original Chevelle or Camaro.
But we are really comparing apples to oranges here. You don't see someone saying "Yep, completely original Ford Wagon Queen Family Truckster with a NOS 460." Call me crazy, but I'm glad! So there are the yahoos that spend 25K on a NOS 427 and may not even care about the HP/TQ numbers. So what, they say! Crazy in my mind, but I'm still jealous of their engines. They are truly something SPECIAL.
True, though, that if you were to go around and dyno every motor at the next 400 car cruise in...I bet you the average HP of the BBC's is 100 less than the average HP of the SBC's. Maybe that number is off, but the point remains....Check out my original numbers matching 76 Monte Carlo with the original 2bbl. Rochester Carb! Who cares! Stroking the motor out ot a 383 and running some ridiculous hard parts to make 700HP makes that car COOLER. Doing the same thing to a 70 Chevelle...does not really make it any cooler.
What a motor is capable of? One argument. What usually happens with a motor? Another argument. Is a BBC capable of everything a BBF is capable of? Given the right hands, the right wallet, and the right everything else, sure...most likely! But that kind of misses the point, I think. Or maybe it doesnt...it's just a DIFFERENT point! Which is O-KAY!!!
BTW, Tim, I don't think this thread has gone to hell at all. I think you might need to smile more!!! I disagree that you'd be the more fun date because as soon as your date wanted to talk about anything and delve into the deepest depths of a topic, you'd think the date was going poorly!! This thread is great, and the information contained within is wonderful!
It is funny, however, how it has morphed. It all started with some dyno numbers on an aluminum FE. Now look what we are talking about. Perhaps we should change the name and let this thing go on the course ordained by Steelcomp, Bandit, et al.
I'm enjoying it.
