Long read but typing this stuff out helps clear my head and i post this stuff so it might help others also.
I know Ive posted a few threads about what I should do to build my car. ive also gone back and forth about selling it BUT I have officially decided to keep it and rather than sticking with the small block crowd I'm highly considering dropping a 460 block into it. Nothing huge just a 466 or maybe 472ci stock crank/rods motor.
I have been battling with myself over what to do with this car for about 3 months now. I want to make as close to 650hp as possible while also keeping a fair amount of reliability and driveability. If I stay with the small blocks I would need at minimum a 351W and a turbo or supercharger or a dart blocked 302 with some kind of boost. The car would actually be seeing a fair amount of miles (75-100per week) so that rules out any cheap turbo kits and budget strokers. I just dont feel they would be able to provided the reliability I want and i dont have $25K to dump into top of the line parts. You have all seen me post the following (cheap, fast, reliable...pick 2) So NA is what makes the most sense and we all know there is no replacement for displacement. So I have priced out several different SBF stroker combos and none of them will even come close to my HP goal while sticking to pump gas, moderate cam, and under a $7K engine budget.
Completely out of the blue a few weeks ago My buddy and I were BSing about dropping a big block+200shot in an old RX7. Just for shitsNgiggles I decided to look up some big block vid and one thing lead to another and I found the "battle of the big blocks" episode on horsepower TV. That is where I really started considering doing a big block swap. Now I dont take to heart what those guys on that show do BUT, i was impressed witht he power they made in a $2300 motor. I'm 25 so I grew up in the fuel injection SBF Generation. Obviously I knew that the big blocks were the way to make monster NA power but I didn't know how cheap it has gotten over the years. SO I started comparing BBF vs SBF builds and $ for $ its a MURDER with the 460 coming out WAY on top. I knew the 460 would make more power mod for mod but I never thought It would make more power $ for $. I also would never have guessed they can make over 600hp on ported stock cast heads.
It turns out for the same money it would cost to build a 550bhp 408 stroker I can build a near 700bhp 466/472. Obviously that meets my HP goal and in turn will also meet my goal for reliable street car that gets moderate use. Plus its just cool to say you have a 472 big block in your little fox mustang, lol.
So i started looking at the extra weight of the big block and what could be done to counteract it. I have only found a few sites claiming engine weights for the 5.0 and BBf460 but from what I have found (with cast heads) a full 302 tips the scales at right around 475-500lbs minus accessories while the 460 comes in at around 700lbs. These numbers seem pretty excessive but I haven't found any EXACT #'s to go off of and these #'s are partly based on shipping weights so bear with me. I know you can cut nearly 35lbs off a 460 just by putting an aluminum intake manifold on it and I have heard (fellow drag racers) that aluminum 460 heads are nearly 50lbs lighter than there cast iron counterparts EACH. So based on my (bad) math, putting an aluminum top end on a 460, along with losing the A/C, smog systems, and the various other non required things to run a Carb motor, you could probably get the total car weight down to that of the stock mustang(give or take 25lbs) without having to add a tubular K-member, pull out the bumper, strip the engine bay, etc.
Having found several big block swap kits for fox mustangs all ranging in price from $600-$1000 w/ long tube headers and the fact that at any given day you can go pick up a COMPLETE intake to oil pan junkyard 460 for under $250 im really surprised that you dont see as many of them on the forums of SVTP or corral.net. I know the SBF is popular but with so many people on a tight budget it just makes sense to me to go this route rather than the SBF route. BUT it is "custom" and that scares a lot of people who want to just bolt on a blower and go racing, so I can see both side of it I guess.
Anyways this is what I do when I cant sleep, lol. If anyone has any experience with these big motors in our little cars please feel free to post it up. If I'm wrong about anything then please feel free to correct it. Like a said above the only reason I am posting this is because it could help others down the road. /ramble:beer:
good night
I know Ive posted a few threads about what I should do to build my car. ive also gone back and forth about selling it BUT I have officially decided to keep it and rather than sticking with the small block crowd I'm highly considering dropping a 460 block into it. Nothing huge just a 466 or maybe 472ci stock crank/rods motor.
I have been battling with myself over what to do with this car for about 3 months now. I want to make as close to 650hp as possible while also keeping a fair amount of reliability and driveability. If I stay with the small blocks I would need at minimum a 351W and a turbo or supercharger or a dart blocked 302 with some kind of boost. The car would actually be seeing a fair amount of miles (75-100per week) so that rules out any cheap turbo kits and budget strokers. I just dont feel they would be able to provided the reliability I want and i dont have $25K to dump into top of the line parts. You have all seen me post the following (cheap, fast, reliable...pick 2) So NA is what makes the most sense and we all know there is no replacement for displacement. So I have priced out several different SBF stroker combos and none of them will even come close to my HP goal while sticking to pump gas, moderate cam, and under a $7K engine budget.
Completely out of the blue a few weeks ago My buddy and I were BSing about dropping a big block+200shot in an old RX7. Just for shitsNgiggles I decided to look up some big block vid and one thing lead to another and I found the "battle of the big blocks" episode on horsepower TV. That is where I really started considering doing a big block swap. Now I dont take to heart what those guys on that show do BUT, i was impressed witht he power they made in a $2300 motor. I'm 25 so I grew up in the fuel injection SBF Generation. Obviously I knew that the big blocks were the way to make monster NA power but I didn't know how cheap it has gotten over the years. SO I started comparing BBF vs SBF builds and $ for $ its a MURDER with the 460 coming out WAY on top. I knew the 460 would make more power mod for mod but I never thought It would make more power $ for $. I also would never have guessed they can make over 600hp on ported stock cast heads.
It turns out for the same money it would cost to build a 550bhp 408 stroker I can build a near 700bhp 466/472. Obviously that meets my HP goal and in turn will also meet my goal for reliable street car that gets moderate use. Plus its just cool to say you have a 472 big block in your little fox mustang, lol.
So i started looking at the extra weight of the big block and what could be done to counteract it. I have only found a few sites claiming engine weights for the 5.0 and BBf460 but from what I have found (with cast heads) a full 302 tips the scales at right around 475-500lbs minus accessories while the 460 comes in at around 700lbs. These numbers seem pretty excessive but I haven't found any EXACT #'s to go off of and these #'s are partly based on shipping weights so bear with me. I know you can cut nearly 35lbs off a 460 just by putting an aluminum intake manifold on it and I have heard (fellow drag racers) that aluminum 460 heads are nearly 50lbs lighter than there cast iron counterparts EACH. So based on my (bad) math, putting an aluminum top end on a 460, along with losing the A/C, smog systems, and the various other non required things to run a Carb motor, you could probably get the total car weight down to that of the stock mustang(give or take 25lbs) without having to add a tubular K-member, pull out the bumper, strip the engine bay, etc.
Having found several big block swap kits for fox mustangs all ranging in price from $600-$1000 w/ long tube headers and the fact that at any given day you can go pick up a COMPLETE intake to oil pan junkyard 460 for under $250 im really surprised that you dont see as many of them on the forums of SVTP or corral.net. I know the SBF is popular but with so many people on a tight budget it just makes sense to me to go this route rather than the SBF route. BUT it is "custom" and that scares a lot of people who want to just bolt on a blower and go racing, so I can see both side of it I guess.
Anyways this is what I do when I cant sleep, lol. If anyone has any experience with these big motors in our little cars please feel free to post it up. If I'm wrong about anything then please feel free to correct it. Like a said above the only reason I am posting this is because it could help others down the road. /ramble:beer:
good night