351W to 408 looking for 450-500HP

[hurri10209]

Part Manufacturer Store
Engine rebuild kit speedomotive speedomotive.com 225.00
Rocker arms Scorpion Ebay/maddog
Intake manifold Weiand (stealth) Jegs.com
Fuel blockage plate Summit Summitracing.com
Push rods Ebay/maddog
Roller timing chain Cloyes Ebay/maddog
Ladder bars EBay Ebay.com
Sub frame connectors Steeda Ebay
Torque converter(2700-3000) Jegs Jegs.com
Cam shaft Comp cams(XE284) Jegs.com
.541/.544 2300-6500

6” 408 rods Ebay
Pistons 9-1(69cc) Keith black Flatlanderracing.com
4” crank ME ME
1817.00
The block is a 351W not yet purchased.
Will I have to get the block machined to accept the connecting rods? And will the hypereutectic piston OK. And will the year off the block matter for the cam and liffters I want to use? And I am planning on getting a set of remanufactured heads from cylheads.com, will I have to get new valve springs even though the heads come with new ones, and if I do which spring? Should I get the 351W heads or should I get the Cleveland heads. I will be using this engine for a ¼ mile a few times a year. And would like to last at least little bit longer than just a year, a few years would be nice. I won’t be racing it every weekend but will be street driven. And could some one give me a guestimate on the power out put as is. And a power formula to get between 450-500+ streetable HP and I was looking for a set of forged pistons for $500 or less that will work with the 4” stroke and 6” rods but don’t want a custom set, so if you know of some, please let me know. I was looking at flatlanderracing.com and none seem to have the 4” stroke with the 6”in rods. And are there any advantages of running the forged pistons, I am not going to run nitrous or a blower. So like I said I am looking for a 450-500+ steetable 408 engine.

[brainsboy]

A 408 with 6" rods is basicaly a good motor for nitrous because of the short rod. If you dont plan on using nitrous go with a longer rod. A 6.125 or 6.200 .... In order to use a 6" rod you need to have the crank counter weights cut down .200" also you need to have custom pistons made. No one makes a piston for the 6" rod and 4" stroke. You need a compression height of 1.480. So that leaves two options for saving money. You can buy a set of 350chevy pistons with a 1.53ch and mill them down to fit or use a thicker head gasket. Also you could buy a chevy small block 383 piston with a 1.43ch and dry deck your block down to work. Both use a .927 pins. you need to have valve reliefs cut in the pistons since chevys are in the wrong place. If you use the 383chevy pistons pick up the 5cc dish by the time you cut the reliefs with 64cc heads you will have 10.5:1 compression. The only other choice are custom pistons at 450$+
As far as the heads clevlands will take too much time and money to fit and there are so many after market heads that are better. Also most any aluminum head on the market will be enough to get you in the 450hp range.

Ben

[hurri10209]

so i just have to get the pistons cut for the valve reliefs , get the block milled and some after market heads throw in some NOS and i'll be on ym way to making 450+HP
thanks

[brainsboy]

hmmm... You can make the 6" rods work, but its a pain in the butt. For your situation I think your gonna be better off with 6.200 rods. I just built a 408 with 6" rods but mostly because Im strange and do weird things that others normaly dont do, like putting this motor in my suzuki samurai... Anyhow by the time you cut the crank, add lots of heavy metal for balancing from cutting the counter weights, make chevy pistons work, you will have spent more then its worth. I partly did it because I had a set of 1200$ carrillo rods I wanted to use, and wanted to test some theorys with nitrous and short rods.

Save yourself time and money and go with 6.2 rods

Now on the other hand if your like me. I really enjoyed putting a motor together that wasnt just a common stroker. My enjoyment comes from building something different. It took me a long time to find those pistons that would work with a 6" rod, but thats what made it fun for me, trying something thats new.

No matter what you choose, take some more time and study different combinations, and get more opinions. Designing and planing your motor build up is just as much fun as building it.

Hope this helps,

Ben

[grego37]

There are block and oil pump modifications that need to be done. These cant be done until you have a rotating assembly on an engine stand. This means:
main bearings in block
crank installed ,main caps torqued down
rods installed with rod bearings, pistons and pins.
and spinning it over, again and again and grinding where you have clearence problems (pretty much at the bottom of each cylinder bore).

There are allways problems that arrise , re-machining this or that, cutting valve reliefs etc...
Save yourself all the headaches, time and money and buy a turnkey motor ready to go. Or in your case a stroker shortblock,There are many company's offering these stroker windsors with many different combos.

Good luck.

[SnakeBitt]

Check out DSS. They advertise in Mustangs & Fast Fords all the time. I don't have their number off hand but if you call them they will send you their catalog to order from (I'll bet their name comes up here if you do a search). Great company to deal with and they offer top notch stuff. Short blocks, long blocks, stroker kits, heads, intakes, EVERYTHING.

If you're looking to get closer to 500HP, I would suggest going with AFR205 heads and the Victor Jr. intake. You'll make the biggest gains in HP with Heads, Intake, and cam choices.

Have fun!

[SnakeBitt]

............just found my DSS catalog. Phone number is: 630-587-1169. They have a web site also: www.dssracing.com.

[Dwight]

http://www.cnc-motorsports.com

http://www.speedwaymotors.com

http://www.coasthigh.com/

http://www.speedomotive.com/