AJ's Opinion; what size SBM do I need

Ok you poked the bear ........ again
My advice as to cubes is based on the old adage that for performance, you need a 10 cubes per 100 pounds so a 3200 pound car and driver needs a 318 minimum. Since 1970, I have found this to be pretty good advice.
3200 loaded means about 3000 for the car only. Good luck with that.
Sure you can make horsepower with a 318 just by spinning it. But what you can't do is get bottom end out of it, with the big cam in it.
And street performance is all about bottom end. With the typical 3.23s she don't come alive until AFTER 30 mph! unless by some miracle you can get both tires spinning; and as we all know, spinning ain't winning..
So then you gotta bandaid the combo with stall and gears, to get some low-speed performance back .
So now not only do you have this pipey 318, but you also had to spend cash for the stall and gears and now you are wearing out your iconic318 on the freeway, not to mention wearing earplugs.

OK, granted you can engineer a 318 to get a modest amount of bottom end to go with that crazy cam. No argument. But the vast majority of all guys who come to FABO with 318 power on their minds, want nothing to do with putting proper pistons in their slouchy smoggerteens. They just want to bolt stuff on, to make a fun streeter; which is NOT ENGINEERING. And telling them to put a 268 cam or bigger , into their smoggerteens with no other changes, is just very bad advice. And probably 7 out of 10 guys are gonna say just that.

So if you actually thought about it, you might figure out that I actually am watching out for 318 owners. Not just in their pocketbooks, but also as to their expectations.

Please notice I never said a word about any other engine than the 318.