360 vs 383
Let me give you some "real world Data".
OK so anecdotal stories from 50 years ago are more accurate than clear drag strip results from 2023? Just because you lived in a time when high octane fuel was readily available or that you lived near a race track does not change the fact that 383s are not that great and never were. IMO, the race results speak for themselves no matter what lens you view them through.
I also never claimed 360s are inherently faster. Some cars with one of the two subject engines might be faster than others for various reasons. The engine architecture between the two platforms is too disparate to make this a truly valid comparison anyway but that said, at least on paper in stock form, they appear to be relatively similar which makes for an interesting debate.
Believe what you want, I don’t care. I’m also not sure what your point is though other than trying to prove what I posted is somehow invalid compared to some memory of yours that may or may not have happened exactly the way you think it did 50 some-odd years ago.
Look, any engine can be made to run if you put enough time, effort and money into it. There’s a well known ‘71 ‘Cuda 383 combo in NHRA Super stock that runs almost a second under the index which puts it well into the 9 second zone. It’s a bad *** ride even with the lower compression motor.
That’s a $100K + race car though wheeled by a pro who’s been doing it for over 40 years. The engine probably cost $20K to build to that level. It’s also an exception to the norm because you’d be hard pressed to find too many more competitive 383 combos in the upper ranks of NHRA super stock. Why? Because they don’t make sense to use when there are better performing options.
Again, I’m just not a fan of 383s. I wouldn’t choose to build one unless I was trying to fit into a certain class of racing or I was going for a factory correct restoration. The 400 is arguably the best platform to build so there is no logical reason to make things harder by starting with a lesser platform. I don’t need to prove a point that it cam be done, life is too short for that.
I’d also choose a 340 every time over a 360 but since 340 blocks have become unobtanium the 360 makes the most sense for small block builds. They are obviously more plentiful and respond to the same modifications as the 340 does. I believe a similarly modified 360 would be closer in performance to a 340 based combo than the 383 would be to the 400. Prove me wrong.