A decade ago, the FE parts market was fairly bare. I was just thinking a few minutes ago about all the different options we have now. Pond blocks, Shelby blocks, BBM blocks, Pond heads, Edelbrock heads, BBM heads, Survival Motorsports heads, Blue Thunder heads, etc. Off the shelf cranks all the way up to 4.375" stroke.
I'm doing (and have done) a few builds that I haven't posted a lot on, but thought I would this morning just for the sake of information and discussion.
That is a 445 FE, that made 525 hp and 588 lb-ft of torque......yes, 588 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower peak was at 5500, so you would shift at around 6000-6100. Very streetable, very peppy, very torquey. Believe it or not, that was with a set of Survival Motorsports as-cast cylinder heads, an out-of-the-box Performer RPM intake, and around 10:1 compression.
That's Darrell Kennedy's 511 that's all finished up. It made 616 hp and 671 lb-ft of torque using a Blue Thunder intake, hydraulic roller, and Survival Motorsports CNC heads.
I'm building a 482 for a guy right now using BBM heads and a BBM block. The BBM block is a beefy piece and is really nice, especially for the money. I am going to make some suggestions to Doug for some changes...the block has the rear pipe plugs for the main
oil galley and bypass like the original 427 S/O blocks, but there is no bypass....so there are an extra 2 plugs that do nothing except open the chances up for leaks. The rear main cap studs also stick up way past the nut/cap/pan rail, so it keeps the
oil pan from sitting down on the block. This is something we struggle with on factory blocks, but shouldn't have to on an aftermarket block. The
oil feed from the front cam bearing to the distributor feed was also left un-drilled, so this could potentially be an issue for guys who aren't used to seeing what an FE block should look like.
Other than that, they are built really well, and I expect some growing pains with a new product. The good thing is that the caps are billet steel, are doweled on all 5 caps, can use either an FE or Cleveland main bearing, and a lot of the detail work is already done for you. Nice piece.
Some pics...
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Lots of really nice aftermarket FE parts out there now....
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