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jacob

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I heard from my next door monte carlo owner that his small block 350 was beating big blocks almost every time.I read that you can get just as much hp from a small block with out all the wheight to slow you down.He races his car at the zmax drag strip every now and then.My question is if this is true and has been proven then what advantages are there for each?

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I've been doing some research and may be in the market for vortec heads in the future. From what I have read, with a good set of heads and perhaps stroking a 350, you can have between 400 and 550hp and some pretty good torque numbers as well. I have no idea what kind of numbers a done over BB can do but I would think with the weight reduction of the SB you could be a contender. Take this worth a grain of salt though as I have never had the opportunity to work on the inside of my motor. Don't know anyone who does so I haven't been exposed to it. Would love to talk to someone who has though. Interested in building my own in the next year or 10...

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Must be one heck of a 350!

It would be nice to get one to lighten up the front end.

 

No Mike, ya need to add more weight to keep the front down. lol s/b's can make good power but when you start trying to keep up with b/b's it can get costly, especially if you are trying run it on nuts and bolts and pump gas.

 

David

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We are not sensitive just realistic! Lets figure we have some strong running engines making about 1.6 hp per cubic inch all motor no power adders. A 302 would make 483 hp, a 383 would be at 612, and a 496 would get you 793 hp. A combo to get to those levels would be fairly well built and maybe not so good for the street. Now maybe you are only making 1.3 HP per cubic inch on that 496 you would be pumping out 644 hp most likely at a lower RPM. I love small blocks but for me there is a better way to go fairly quick.

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I heard from my next door monte carlo owner that his small block 350 was beating big blocks almost every time.I read that you can get just as much hp from a small block with out all the wheight to slow you down.He races his car at the zmax drag strip every now and then.My question is if this is true and has been proven then what advantages are there for each?

 

Jacob, your neighbor is a liar and should be punished. Unless your name is dbreeze or Winston Wolf, small blocks are for farm implements like giant water pumps or generators. There is no replacement for a big block in any first gen.

 

Now the real answer. You can only go as fast as your brain and wallet will allow you to go. Most of the hot rodded small block Montes on the forum run circles around my 496 powered 71 Money Carlo.

 

It comes don to how fast you can afford to go. Cubic inches on a big block are generally cheaper than a small block. But with the right combo, a well built small block cam make more power than a lesser built big block.

 

But I think we can all agree that nothing makes torque better than cubic inches.

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^^^^^What Andy and Mike said^^^^^. Even us die hard s/b guys know that there is no replacement for displacement but we are a strange breed and some say we are sick, even....... delusional!!! crazygrin As long as you are having fun and staying within your budget, B/B or s/b it's all cool especially when they are in First Gen Montes!!!!

 

David

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I think when your talk BB and SB in the first Gen Montes most will agree once you get into the mid to low 11's with a sb the dollar amount to go faster and get into the 10's will be double or triple that of the money to make a BB go into the mid to low 10's.Like stated by others .. dollar for dollar there is no replacement for displacement

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So big blocks have more torque small blocks have the same power but what if I put alluminum heads on my car. Also I did a compression cacluator thing and I am looking at around 9:7:1 for compression some where in that range. I will be running 93 or higher so I dont think detonation will be a problem. And with that I bring up another question what octane helps the engine the most and wont eat up my money? I have never rebuilt an engine but my grand dads built more than I can count. plus his cousin is a mechanic and I have read 2 books on engines and wil be doing some work here and there at a hot rod shop this summer. So I will be rebuilding my engine ( hopefully a origonal numbers matching small block 350 ). I would find a big block but I think a 350 will be best for a 13 year old.

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What about 104 or 110 octane would that hurt my engine at all? or would it make it run better every one Ive talked to about race fuel has said it smells good and it wouldnt really hurt it to run a higher octane. But I dont know if that applys to my engine and car so I thought I would ask some one who owned one.

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