Got Something to Say? I want to hear from you.Drop me an e-mail at john.hunkins@primedia.com.
For most of my career, I've been content to cover big-blocks from the sideline. When it comes to building engines for my own rides, I've tended toward small-blocks, mostly stroked or blown. This issue of Popular Hot Rodding is a personal milestone, because it represents the first time I've rolled up my sleeves to do a big-block. Boy, did I find myself out of my comfort zone on this one.
Fortunately, I had a lot of help to keep me on track-some from the usual sources, like manufacturers, coworkers, engine builders, and, of course, Dulcich. But the biggest influence has been the group of enthusiasts at Chevelles.com. When we started on what we've been calling the "Howitzer," (see "The Ironman," page 84), I had grandiose ideas about doing a 640hp all-iron big-block for a dreamy $4,500 budget. It didn't take long for that number to rise to $5,000, and then $5,500. Hold the presses, now it's $6,000. No, wait, $6,500. You get the idea. Building a big-block is no slam-dunk deal.
The Ford camp has it no easier. When we started working on this in February, we called Jon Kaase to build us a big-block Ford 460. His new P51 cylinder head was getting a lot of exposure on the message boards, and in fact we even printed snippets of a 460ford.com post in our April "Message Board" column. It was evident from the start that Kaase's P51 was going to be the biggest thing to happen in the big-block Ford world since the Boss 429, and we wanted in on the ground level. I asked Jon to build a typical P51-topped 460 that a reader could reasonably assemble, and he agreed. "Do you think you can keep this thing real?" I asked. "You could duplicate this for around $7,000," was the answer. We'll save you the trouble of looking, because our all-iron big-block Chevy ended up costing $6,633, and Kaase's Ford drains the checkbook to the tune of $10,322 (both assuming you screw them together at home).
Before you start cursing magazine editors as elitist snobs with no concern for the average guy, let me say that unless you've actually built a big-block, it's hard to comprehend what "budget" really means for one of these. Everything in a big-block is more expensive, from the small parts like fasteners to the cylinder heads. We even used stock blocks, cranks, and rods in both our featured engine builds.
Just between us guys, I'd say there's a lot of "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" going on in the typical big-block household. There are two sets of books: the one you show the wife (or a nave magazine guy), and the real one. It's like one of those congressional black ops defense programs nobody knows about, but that consumes a ton of tax dollars. Twenty years later, there's the B-2 Stealth sitting pretty on Northrop's tarmac-or there's a big-block Chevelle in your driveway.
All joking aside, it's going to be cheaper to build a small-block on the basis of horsepower-per-dollar. The only problem is that there is a limit to the amount of cheap power you can build into one engine. Unless you're going to build two motors and put 'em in the same car, you've got to either build a big-dollar small-block and add boost pressure, or build a big-block. And guess which one comes out cheaper? Yep, the big-block.
Our ChevelleWe originally intended for the all-iron 468-inch Chevy to go into our '68 Chevelle, but we've since decided to reach a little higher. Based on your Internet feedback-mostly from Chevelles.com-we are going to make some changes to the combo. Among the options we're looking at are forged pistons, a 4.25-inch crank (for 496 inches), aluminum heads, a larger carb, a hydraulic roller cam, or a combination of some (or all) of these. We don't know what we'll do, but it'll take a couple of months to get it together. It will be interesting to see how the parts stack up on the dyno against the existing combo. In the meantime, we'll be working on the handling, suspension, and safety punch list.