topfool

To be honest when I got back into the sport I wasn't really too bothered about big or small block (come to that I would have considered a ford or chrysler). The car I bought had a BBC in it ready to go so thats what I had..

At this point I should explain that racing over here in the uk is a little different, read that as being probably about 2 1/2 times more expensive but still quite good value for us Europeans.

I run in a bracket from 6.3 to 8.99 (1/4 mile) and to be honest thats where it ended up first ever run was a 9.7 easy pass and once I'd done a few it ran regular 8.5's. Now as we don't get the chance to run as much as you guys do, my choice was to make it go as fast as I can, I just enjoy driving the thing....

I've seen some pretty big $numbers up there in this post and as far as I'm concerned it's all about making what you have work..

I won't change my combo now until I get the car into the 7's, and that will be on a single carb and racing gas, I've got a killer engine in my shop waiting to be built and thats where it will sit until I get where I want to be.

This car ran 8.200 @ 160.odd on a 950 cfm 4150 carb, I'm sure it will go 7.90 @ 165-8 with the dominator on it, I'm looking at taking weight off where I can. It's easy to buy power (big or small block) but I think it's much more satisfying to make your stuff work and last, mind you I think I am going to have to rev it past 7000 to do it. I also ran 8.1 soft pass first run of this year so the signs are good (having a year out to get a new workshop built, my lifes a logistical nightmare) so I'll only get a few chances to run as a demo car at one of our 2 tracks.. If I don't get the 7 then I'll leave it in for next year..

When I get where I want to be then I'll put my 540 olds in 200lbs lighter and probably 300 horsepower more, alky injection should liven it up a bit.. I'll then set my target for that combo, it'll stay that way until I get there and then the only thing left is to fit the 14/71 and see where that goes..

In summary big or small does not really matter (and for the guy with the inline six, the number of cylinders is not an issue either) it's making what you have work to the best you can, rest assured friends you can be king of the hill at your track but sooner or later someone with a wad of cash will come along and go quicker. Best you don't try to keep with him, set your own goal and stick to it or it's going to cost some big money..

one thinhg I've noticed is a lot of the small block guys spend a lot of money trying to make them into big blocks, I went the other way I tried to get my big block down to a similar weight to a small block, retaining the torque that it will give oh and when I build it I'm going to rev the T**ts off of it, so in effect it will be a big small block with the advantages of both..

Have I promoted any one or the other? who knows it's just a friendly opinion..

bjuice

Terry below is a copy of my 1st post i used for example.


ok we can settle this debate fairly easy if we use the HP vs Body weight theory...( leave the unknown out of it such as hooking up etc...)

With all the on-line calculators to determine ET'S and MPH...We can narrow this down....

lets use RETAIL pricing on the parts for sake of argument...

now imgaine we have the same ( identical car) 69 camaro 10 inch tire car that weighs 3400 with driver......Keep in mind eveything is the same throughout car,,,even the driver... ( for the sake of agrument)

Our target HP goal is 900hp...( someone out there please find us one of those fancy charts to figure how fast we will run,,with 900 hp at 3400lbs)


next figure how much it will take to build a 900 hp BBC,,,,,and then how much it would take to build a 900 HP sbc........

lets keep it fair..naturally aspirated on both sides..can't be puttin blowers and turbo's on small blocks unless you allow it on the BBC.

So do some figuring on this...i can already tell you that you gonna need a minimum of an 18 degree Small block with exotic heads ( sb2 etc...)...i can already tell you that a convential head BBC will make 900hp no problems...

so lets start figuring.... SO the question is........can you build a 10 second small block cheaper than a 10 second BBC...i say no....what i mean by 10 second et's is 10.0 or teens...NOT 10.90'S...

mytmouz

OK, that lets my plan out. ops:

tommynos

someone call me
this is what i believe to be true if you want 10s,11s,12,s or 13s,it can be had cheaper with a small block,if you want faster im guessing a big block will start to become cheaper....if your car is a big heavy pig,you may want to go big block to get in the 10s or 11s cheaper....

small blocks rev higher,and parts are cheaper,and small blocks are my choice only because i like the element of surprise,like i stated before,if you have a big block your exspected to be fast(which most are not :lol: ..jk.)but with a small block built right and the use of a combo and some skillz will make a modded big block owner vote SBC plus i like all the room under my hood,and i like stopping and taking corners instead of having to drift around them like BBC owners do :lol:

bjuice

ok clarify what you are talking about when you say small block?...someone touched on it a few post ago...
you got all these people out here turning out 454ci small blocks...in theory is this really a small block when speaking of CI ???

I am with ZIP if you are trully a die hard small block guy and love shocking BBC guys then really go with a SBC...let''s say a "D" Stroked 283 CI that turns 12,000 rpm...

i do not buy the 500 ci small block theroy..and try to pass it off as sleeper "poor little ole small block " up against all these BIG bad BBC.


thanks- brian

tommynos

:lol:
well my camaro has a 406...when people here it they all thinks its a big block,i tell them its a 327 just like it says on the side

bjuice

i don't blame you i would too...LOL... :wink:

I claimed my 1st Steel headed BBC 468 to be a 396ci for yrs..because the badges on the 69 camaro..

your average guy didn't know the difference...LOL...

RonOwensRacing

If small block guy's really love them so much why do they try to get 500 cubes from them .
Like b said then it's not really a small block
So why not just go get yourself a 540 for less than a small block .

mytmouz

Anything over a 468 is a stroker big block, just to add fuel to the fire... :P

zipper06

I had been doing business with Bill Taylor from the mid 80's when i lived out west and he still owned TCI, but didn't get a chance to meet him until i moved to Ms. in the mid 90's, i watched his grand son go thru the junior dragster ranks and into his first procomp dragster. He used to come to Memphis every sat. nite 10 yrs. ago, but now his health is not what it used to be, so he only shows up at the major events. I no longer live in Ms. but i still have a residence there whitch i rent out, it's about 45 min from BTE. So i don't see him as often as i used to, but i still do business with him and have one of his strait cut 1.80's PG.
I was just kiddin about him paying me in for the million dollar race, but it's a nice dream.

Zip.