The 502 Jegs crate is a good "bang for the buck" motor, one of my coworkers just did one in a '68 camaro with no major install issues. just my $.02.

 

zz4w/either edelbrock efi or holly ef1 -t56-

 

Two way to go IMO...
1) Add some FI to that 350. EFI would be nice being a daily driver.

2) Go rat power. Again EFI would be nice, but carbs work if fuel cost is no huge concern.


I have a BBC in my 67 conv. I love the sound and torque. It's pretty mild, but I want to keep the car close to stock. 500 hp is VERY EASY to get out of a BBC and can be done with great reliability... hell you can even make way more power than that and still have the engine look stock! If you want real big power later you could always add FI to it. I think a BBC gives you a lot more options all around. The only down side to them is the weight. Go aluminum heads to save some big-time weight.

 

I really really like the BBC idea, i've always loved how they sound....you can't mistake it thats for sure.

Now, which BB should I go with? Anyone have a good BB/Head combo?

Also Im not very familiar with FI on BB as much as I am on SB motors, someone have a recommendation for some FI on a BB?

 

Now that you've decided to go BBC (good choice), you now have to answer these questions...
How much money do you want to spend on the engine?
How much power do you want to make?
EFI or carb?
Do you want prepackaged or are you willing to do work yourself?

If 500 hp is all you're looking for, then that number is very easy to achieve for little $:
468+ ci - bigger is always better, but cost more
solid bottom end 10:1 cr - forged with larger rods bolts.
good set of heads - rectangle port allows room for growth
healthy cam - doesn't have to be very radical to reach 500 hp.
headers/FF exhaust
Single plane intake and 850-1050 cfm carb.

These items will get you to 500 hp with room to grow. I should point out it is worth doing some reading at this power level. Oval port heads and a dual plain intake will give you better lower rpm performance and probably get you to this number. A cast bottom end with the weaker rods should make it to 500 hp as well. I made the above suggestions because this at this power level you can go either way, but with the components I listed above, this allows a lot more room for growth. You could use a hotter cam and spin the rpm's higher to make well above 500hp with reliability with what I've suggested above. Like any NA motor, heads make a big difference and are money well spent.

If you want FI you'll be way over the 500 hp mark. Roots type blowers offer a lot of performance for little money. The low profile 4/71 SC can be kept under a z/28 style hood and make over 500 hp with just about any heads and a good FI cam and a 850+cfm carb (FI BBC engines like more carb). Next is the 6/71 or 8/71 blowers. These will be sticking through the hood and need twin carbs. 650 to 850 hp is reasonable to expect from a properly set up engine. Then you get into the 10+/71 blowers... these are the big boys and can make BIG power. Sky is the limit here. Forget the centrifugal SC's. The other option is to go turbo(s). This is something you'd have to fab up yourself or be ready to pay big $ to have built for you. A single of twin system get you what ever number you want to see... just depends on $. Single will have more lag, but with 468+ ci lag wont be much of an issue.

I'm a big fan of aluminum heads on the BBC. They save a ton of weight and offer more power. They also reduce the chance of detonation slightly on FI engines. They are worth the extra $ IMO.

Again EFI is very nice but will add thousands to the cost.

Hope this helps a little.

 

What is the total weight of that motor? Does it come with alum heads?

 

I don't know the weight, but yes it does have aluminum heads.

It has a forged 4340 steel crank with 4.375 inch stroke, shot peened forged 4340 H-beam rods, and forged aluminum pistons with full floating wrist pins. Rectangular port aluminum cylinder heads....9.6 to 1 cr. Hydraulic roller cam with 0.632 inch lift with stainless steel valves. Hardened chromemoly retainers, roller rocker arms, and dual valve springs. Tall deck single plane intake manifold and 850 CFM Demon carburetor deliver enough air and fuel to make the 620 horsepower at 5500 RPM and 650 ft.lbs. of torque at 4500 RPM. Ignition is handled by a GM HEI distributor. The is a 12 to 1 cr "R" version availible as well that makes even more power, but I don't think you'd want to feed a thursty BB race gas for use on the street.

 

You said that there's a 350 in the car now..... find a local engine builder, have them build it with some good aluminum heads and good forget internals ( scat or callies would be would be my choice) and drop a vortech or procharger on it with a griffin intercooler that's bigger than the radiator, add an Accell DFI setup, there's your 500+ HP and TQ to the tires, and you can drive around all day long on shitty pump gas, and it won't blink an eye. Do the install and whatnot yourself, and it could probably be done for under 15 grand, probably close to 10 if you're luckey.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I was curious about a few things. Let's say you put a ramjet style efi intake on a 454 and an ATI F1R or a Vortech Ysi or something bigger. You dont think you could make big power? I was just curious as to why no centrifugal's.

 

i would keep the 350 if it a 4 bolt main rebuild it make it a 383 and throw on a procharger kit that could make over 800 horspower to even a 1000 with a good motor build

might be gettint one in the future for my 422 sbc for my 69 nova

check out procharger.com have some good supercharger