why CHEVY?

[grumpyvette]

just to get you thinking thru your choices

 

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I was asked why I build the engine combos that I do,....

why CHEVY?

 

well, its mostly PERFORMACE PARTS AVAILABILITY, AND PRICES and the fact chevy makes CORVETTES, which I like the styling of..

 

most guys build off the basic stock engine that came in thier car ,mostly , because they can,t afford to drop large bundles of cash at one time and want to add or modify bits and pieces at a time to keep costs low.

It helps if your friends know hopw to work on a car, and the greater number of similar cars out in public hands the greater the market for parts and the more skilled guys will be working to solve the little glitches and tweaks, and find the better ways to increase performance of those combos, and parts.

theres MILLIONS of chevy V8s out there so thats a huge advantage

many guys don,t have the skills, tools, knowledge or location to do projects that keep thier cars out of service for more than a few days at a time.

Ive built and raced Big Block mopars(383-500cid) and 389-468 displacement pontiacs and in some ways they have better engine designs ,I would prefer the 392-417 DONOVAN hemi, basic design to anything out there,the pontiacs are vastly under rated, yes, in some ways the chevys are superior, but the parts availability and prices always seem to favor the chevy.

I dislike sbf engines and the BBF is far too expensive, try pricing out a BOSS 429 stroker combo some time

If all drivetrain parts were dirrectly interchangeable,and you could build an aluminum block/head 392-417 donovan hemi , 426-528 mopar hemi, 440-572 chrysler wedge or boss 429 ford based engine in the 500-600 cubic inch , or larger displacement range for exactly the same price as a sbc, I doubt they would be selling many sb chevy parts, I build far more BBC engines than all others combined, but its parts availability, and price that are the major factors

face facts if it was not for the lower price and better parts availability why would anyone bother building less than 500 cubic inches in a performance engine, application?

the smart route is to build a seperate drive train , to swap in once it up, tested and correct,or to have a differant car as a project to play with rather than, put thier basic transportation out of service, but most guys work on a very limited budget, on limited time and with limited tools and skills, and under those conditions and with todays prices and parts availibility the CHEVY has a STRONG FOLLOWING.

[280zwitha383]

"face facts if it was not for the lower price and better parts availability why would anyone bother building less than 500 cubic inches in a performance engine, application?"

 

Cause they want an engine that will rev...

:lmao:

[grumpyvette]

if you can exceed 800 ft lbs of torque and 750 hp with a 605 displacement or a turbo on a 540 displacement BBC or 528 hemi,and never break 6500rpm, I just don,t see the big draw for extra rpm

[280zwitha383]

If I could do that I would never leave the house.... wait that doesn't work...

 

That's just the argument people have given on here grumpy :shrugs:

[G.I.jonas]

face facts if it was not for the lower price and better parts availability why would anyone bother building less than 500 cubic inches in a performance engine, application?

 

 

 

Well for one,not everyone wants to do something that has been done already 68 million times and is probably taking place 5 times per second somewhere in the world,and b,not everyone feels the need to build engines with efficiency numbers that call for their fuel pumps to be directly connected to a petrol refinery

[280zwitha383]

oh ye who has the man-sized turbo in his signature....

[Z-Noob]

Well for one,not everyone wants to do something that has been done already 68 million times and is probably taking place 5 times per second somewhere in the world,and b,not everyone feels the need to build engines with efficiency numbers that call for their fuel pumps to be directly connected to a petrol refinery

 

Bingo.

[dustin280zx]

if you can exceed 800 ft lbs of torque and 750 hp with a 605 displacement or a turbo on a 540 displacement BBC or 528 hemi,and never break 6500rpm, I just don,t see the big draw for extra rpm

 

I'm no far near the knowledge of you, but I'm just basing this off from my case. There's nothing that I would like better than to build a NA big block. But comparing costs of building a big block compared to a small block, it was to much for my budget. So to get the same power out of a small block compared to a big block you need to have it rev 9-10 grand which you already know. I also know to build a sbc to withstand that abuse isn't cheap either, but it is cheaper than to building a stoudt big block simply because big block parts are more expensive. For my case I turbocharged my 350 which is more of a "equalizer" for the small block, but still remain under 7000 to lengthening the life of my small block and produce more power than most big blocks that people build poorly. So overall I believe it is due to a cost and you have to rev your sbc to make power out of it NA.

[dustin280zx]

woops grumpy already covered the cost comparison. I dont know how I missed it. haha.

[rudypoochris]

I chose SBF for:

 

1. The weight, it is lighter than an SBC.

2. My brother had an SBF lying around, although either is cheap enough that it wouldn't make a real difference.

3. I don't anticipate ever needing more than 450-500hp, in which case I would most likely switch engines entirely any way.

 

Just a thought. I like both, so its no biggie either way.

[e_racer1999]

because C.H.E.V.Y. doesn't stand for "found on road dead"

[Brad-ManQ45]

OR First On Race Day...

[e_racer1999]

i always heard another word for "F"

[dustin280zx]

All motors have to flow good and get fuel to make power, they don't care what name is stamped on their block.

[e_racer1999]

of course they are always faster if they are in a nissan

[Guest Crispy Chicken]

It seems like people that really know their stuff. Say chevy is all around better then ford. A lot of people put chev's in their mustangs. In stead of spending money boring stroking there 302 to 346's or whatever. When they can start out with a 350. When your talking about the ls engines no ford small block comes close. It really doesn't make a difference to me as I have both in different cars. I like everything for what it is...

[m4xwellmurd3r]

imo it's just one of those strange things in life that occurs

there are massive amounts of sbc's and a big aftermarket base in parts, so why not?

kind of like how mikuni's and webber's are popular for our z's, but i haven't seen many dellorto conversions (but maybe because the dellorto's are harder to find?)

[grumpyvette]

theres several engine familys , REGUARDLESS of brand that potentially produce massive power levels when correctly built and modified, but ALL of them make better power in the larger size displacements.

lets stick with the chevys at the moment,

look, I like the sound of a sbc spinning 6800rpm -8000rpm plus, but the fact is that as the rpm levels increases SO DOES the STRESS on the rotating parts, and keep in mind the STRESS LEVELS SQUARE as the rpms DOUBLE, or put a differant way, your much more likely to have component failures at 6800rpm-8000rpm than you are at 5500-6500rpm.

its far easier to build a 383-396 sbc that makes 500 hp than it is to build a 302-327 that will make the same 500hp , and have a combo you can use in a street driveable car, and an engine that will last for years without needing frequent rebuilds and components replaced

lets look at, youll rarely find a street driven combo exceed 1.3 hp per cubic inch of displacement with a N/A american V8, on a 302 thats potentially 393 hp, on a 396 similarly built thats 515 hp, if both have a 4000fpm in piston speed (which is about the max you can reasonably expect to hold together for long term use, and keep in mind that stress levels rarely reached , except briefly before you shift) the 302 will reach 8000rpm, the 396 will reach 6200 rpm.

the 302 is far more likely to have valve train control problems, its got noticably LESS torque and the cost to build either combo will be similar.

once you exceed about 550 hp the cost of building a competative sbc accellerates far faster than the cost of similar hp levels from a BBC, you just can,t overcome the huge advantage the larger ports, valves and increased displacement gives to the BBC as a reasonable cost without power adders like turbos or nitrous, and almost anything you can do to the sbc can be done in a similar manor to a bbc , too give even greater power.

below about 450-500hp the sbc is a bargin in parts cost, but its surely not the only route , the pontiacs, buicks ,caddillac, mopar and fords can all be built to be potent combos.

All Im suggesting is don,t jump into any engine build , do the research ,FIRST!

find the best combo for the application and budget, and in most cases the car WILL BE FASTER , and have fewer problems with a well thought thru combo useing a larger displacement in that engine family

[johnc]

face facts if it was not for the lower price and better parts availability why would anyone bother building less than 500 cubic inches in a performance engine, application?

 

Rules, packaging, and weight.

[Guest Gr8White]

A lot of people put chev's in their mustangs.

 

And they will burn in hell for it!!!! That's just wrong! That's like putting a SBF 302 in a 57 Chevy...

 

My supercharged 331 SBF Ford makes over 750 rear wheel HP and can idle in the staging lanes for 30 minutes, perfectly docile on the street until you hammer it. That being said, I'm putting an LS-2 into my 280Z... Why? I'm a Ford guy but can appreciate a motor for what it is, regardless of Brand. The LS motors are simply fantastic motors. You'll still have Ford people bashing these too, but most of the bashing on either side comes from blind brand loyalty, jealousy or a refusal to see something for what it is- I.E. ignorance.

 

I don't think the SBF gets enough credit and it's a fine platform provided the block is up to the task. The SBF stuff is as cheap as the Bowtie stuff these days. I've had my combo in my car for 3 years and it still is running strong with countless 1/8 mile passes. I don't even have to rev it hard and shift @ 6200 rpm (with a 6200 MSD chip before my stock rev limiter guts the fuel @ 6250 .:shock:)

 

Give me a Mopar too, provided it's the 440+6......(Hemi is too expensive)....