I appreciate all of the input, and by all means, keep them coming. I'm not too concerned about getting over the infamous 500 HP mark.....Hell if I got 450 ish HP I'd be very happy. 450 HP in a daily driver work/weekend warrior with 3.55's and a 5 spd sounds like a blast.....and yes a 302 could possibly get there as well....but how streetable? A good 347 would work too, but can get costly as well.
I'm thinking along the lines of a budget build here....not full on race engine. Something that will handle some torture, but not major racing abuse. You follow me?
I could only lunk for so long on this one ... Before getting involved
I see 2 things here that seem to me to be a focal point
1) HP objective of around mid 400's
2) Budget build
I won't get into which is best on the 5.0 or Windsor thing
cause
I wanna stick to items 1 2
347 or 351 NA could do 350rwhp Dynojet SAE with stock like drivability
which would be great for a street car
NOW ... IMHO ... Staying within the NA bounds ... as you move away
from that 1 rwhp per ci you will start to suffer with drivability
At what point between 350 and Johnny's 450 goal the drivability will
cause too much grief and frustration I could not say for certain
but
My gut feeling would be about 400 would be all that you could muster
and be able to tune away MOST of the gremlins
To go up and beyond that 1 per ci ......
you can always go spray or boost
But if you're gonna do that ...........
The need for parts that allow a max NA effort are not gonna be needed
therefore
I say you need to commit and decide before you buy all the parts :Word:
2) The 5.0 will fit without any additional stuff unlike a Windsor
You can spray or boost it as OEM or 306 just fine and get to Johnny's
hp goal
With budget parts such as OEM stuff ........
You can go beyond block splitting power with boost or spray
And if you don't mind something that causes a bit of a compromise
in drivability ... I think a NA 347 would be just fine with budget parts
for the stroker stuff and still stay a bit below the block splitting
range
I will point out this last NA idea is gonna need aftermarket heads
and not a set of ported E7's that were scrounged up somebody's
cousins best friend
Also ... You ain't gonna get to that NA 400+ with stuff like.......
OEM Cobra intake and e-cam
No ... you wouldn't need fancy forged crank and high dollar rods
but with the supporting parts ... you gotta be reasonable
anyway ... just some of my random thoughts
Grady