SyberSaint
Founding Member
Here is a nice article on building an engine. May be helpful. http://www.alternativeauto.com/Using_the_New_Boss_5.0L.html
Here is a nice article on building an engine. May be helpful. http://www.alternativeauto.com/Using_the_New_Boss_5.0L.html
Well i definatly appreciate your guys inputs and in the future i would really like to supercharge but if i were to supercharge in the future do you think while im in the process of building my engine now, should i go ahead and build the block with forged internals so i dont have to rebuild it when i supercharge or should i not even bother with a forged lower end. I do believe Bob Hughes had said the iron blocks would be fine up to 800 hp but i wasnt sure if he ment the whole lower end would be fine up to 800 hp or just the block.Personal opinion, but I do not agree that stroking a 4.6 is the right idea to make big power. The 4.6 already has a long stroke, at 3.543". For comparison, a 302 has a 3.00" stroke, and the 351s have a 3.50" stroke. So lengthening that 4.6 stroke out even more increases the already-high piston speed. This pretty-darn-high piston speed puts a lot more forces on your bearings, and consequently, you don't hear of very many stroked 4.6s lasting very long. Bottom line: only time I'd stroke a 4.6 is if it was in an all-out race car. And even then, I probably wouldn't do it.
As far as displacement goes, the 4.6 definitely could use more of it. And for the reasons I said above, I'd only consider a larger bore. Not only do you gain the displacement, but you also unshroud the valves. Even so, that's not necessary to make big power. There are plenty of 4 digit horsepower cars on the stock 281 displacement. To make a lot of power, you have to move a lot of air through the motor (note that I didn't say have a lot of displacement). To move a lot of air without a lot of displacement, you've got two options: forced induction or a LOT of RPM. Both serve the same purpose: getting tons of air through the motor in a short amount of time. Any small displacement motor that makes good power will have one of those two things. Which way you do it is totally up to the owner, but you will hit the ceiling WAAAY sooner if you're not using forced induction.
To the OP: if you are just looking for a simple, sub-400 rwhp build. Nab a junkyard PI motor from a Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, etc. and throw in that bad boy. If you want super easy, super streetable power, plan on a blower in the future. Do the bolt-ons for now if you want and have the money. If you're on a tight budget, I'd recommend against the cams.