Quote:
Originally Posted by nxtruck
71Dragtruck is right; a 327 would have to be very high strung and very high maintenance (expense) to do what you want. A 400, however, could be built fairly easily to make around 550 or so and do what you want to do. It will take a good set of heads, decent compression, and a fairly aggressive cam to do it, though. A big block may be an easier route to go, but if you already have a 400 block, you may want to consider that.
A TH350 can be built to handle the power, but it will need to have about every heavy duty part available to handle both the power and the weight of the truck. A TH400 would be easier to build to handle what your doing with it.
Gear ratio will depend on your tire height, but I would plan on somewhere in the neighborhood of a 4.10 to a 4.56 with 29" to a 30" tall tire. A good converter will be worth the money also.
Good luck with it!
|
Im not gonna say its impossible to get 1.5HP/cube out of a 400 SBC- its not, but its certianly not easy. A buddy of mine built a 13:1 SBC 434 out of a 400 block, and has been extremely happy with it, real quick revving, nasty little motor. But with the money he has in it, you'd think he'd be running 9's.
A strong (not crazy, but strong) 454-496 is the way you want to go. Get yourself a pair of aftermarket heads (I almost bought a pair of aluminum pro-toplines, Edelbrock aluminum performer RPM, many people like them), or be prepared to spend quite a bit on getting some stock ones re-worked with 2.19/1,88 valves and some nice port work. Go with a cast crank and hyper/forged pistons (forged if you want to spend a lot of time on the spray), around 10:1. Nice ignition. Nice cam. Nice carb, you know the drill.
A TH400 or a glide would be much better options than your TH350. I have every heavy duty part availible in it, and no matter what- its on borrowed time. But oh well, I built it for my SBC and got a lot of use out of it. Im going to an NV4500 when mine explodes. Traction will be your enemy. You are going to want to mini-tub the rear (or find a really narrow one) and swap some nice gears, a locker/spool/LSD, and upgraded axles into it, along with a nice pair of slicks.
You arent going to be able to skimp much if you really want an 11 second time slip. Go to manual brakes/steering for weight, interior, glass hood, tubular front suspension, you can go as deep as you want.
Good luck with it, and have fun! Im not trying to discourage you in the slightest, I just want you to be realistic about how difficult this is to achieve in an old truck. I havent mentioned everything, but I've covered the basics