SB Road Racing/Nascar/Sprint Car/Reving BUDGET BUILD

junkyardhero said
the more i look at where you're trying to go, the more i'm inclined to say just go 5.9

you get cubes, good flowing heads and a roller motor from the jump. snap on a 4bbl intake, throw some garage porting at the heads, get a cam and match the springs, roller rockers if you're feeling it, upgrade the timing set and throw a road race pan at it, knock some headers on and call it done.

you'll easily reach your 400hp goal without exotic parts and have room to grow from there. it's not gonna rev to the moon, but you'll have plenty of useable power. the recipe is already there for that, and worst case if you have to rebuild the motor bearings/rings/pistons aren't going to break the bank.

i would 100% say go with an aluminum flywheel and as lightweight of a clutch/pressure plate set up as you can afford and are comfortable driving.

Thank You, this is good advice and information to think about.

The other part of this is, I really want to try and do things like the porting etc myself and learn by trying.

I want to try and throw this engine together like you mentioned and just replace the critical parts like bearings and rings.

It really is between the 5.2 and 5.9. I like the 5.2 because as some have mentioned I will be able to move that RPM a little higher. Here is the thing I have learned along the sport car path. If I can make power in the higher power band and eliminate the amount of shifting I have to do because I can carry the car through the corner and out with a lower gear than I am better suited.

If I could find a way to mix the 5.2 and 5.9 (340) then that's something I would look at. There is a 340 for sale, but it's bare as bare and would need a cam and heads.

I am in NO HURRY to figure this out, I just like the brain storming part with everyone as I am not looking to perfect this, I just am looking to find a starting point for the path to the 6.4.