Let me see......if I was gonna build a N/A flat tappet engine, and I wanted it to be fun as hell, have back breaking grunt, (500-600 RWTQ) rev-able to 6500-7k w/o having to worry about breaking sht, wanted it to cackle and pop indicative of a high lift, long duration camshaft,...and wanted to do it as cheaply as possible w/ all things considered...What would I do.........????
Oh wait! I've already did it.
Here's the blueprint for a 7.0 consistent 1/8th mile ( 11.14's in the 1/4) that you drive in the gate on pump premium, that'll sound outright obnoxious, have enough torque to carry the front tires 2' in the air, and 20' out on slicks looking every bit like a super stocker, run cool as a cuke, last for freakin ever, and stop like it's stock.
And I did it three years straight back in the late 90's.
Ready?
Grocery List:
1. seasoned 460 block..................................................................................................200.00
8. reconditioned stock rods w/ bolts replaced..............................................................150.00
1 polished stock crank.................................................................................................. 65.00
8 forged stock replacement pistons (Used to be TRW 2404f now speed pro).............370.00
1 4.390 bore .030 over moly file fit ring set .................................................................200.00
1 Comp cam mechanical flat tappet cam kit.... 605/ 605 294/294 Cam, lifters, springs, timing chain
.....................................................................................................................................460.00
1 set seasoned JY 429 Thunderjet T bird heads.........................................................200.00
8 manley SS intake valves..2.19".................................................................................80.00
8 manley SS exhaust valves........................................................................................80.00
Boom! 7.0 somethings all summer long.....I had about 800.00 bucks in the machined short block.
I didn't put an intake on there because I used a Weiand stealth dual plane and a 750 vacuum secondary carb to complete my El-Cheapo stock bottom ended Chevy killer. When I added plate nitrous (to a dual plane intake manifold) this car stepped up and ran 6.50's......and when I stacked another "Mike modified" power shot plate on top of that the car picked up again to run 6.37-6.40. And I put bottle after bottle of nitrous through that engine.
I finally killed it after being prodded by my "friends" to grab both kits off the line, and the car responded w/ a 6.22 once.
The very next attempt to back that up ended with water pouring out one of the headers. Detonated the bloody hell out of it on the last pass, split #7 cylinder wall clean open.
( the fact that I was running a dual plane that probably leaned out #7, was still running 37 degrees of timing, and used the same 93 octane premium as my enrichment fuel might of contributed to that............I think)
This was by far the most fun engine I've ever built, It was so blatantly cheap, I kept the stock valve covers, Used a stock duraspark distributor, had a MSD 6 (not even an "A") ignition. I forget where I sourced the pan, but there is even a stock double sump pan for it. It was the perfect answer to all the southern Chevy boys that kept telling me that a Ford cost more to build than a comparable Chevy.