Take the path of least resistance......

I get e-mails all the time from people asking my advice on should they or shouldn't they invest a ton of money in the latest and greatest thing. It's like their unsure and they want a professional to validate their wishes. I hate to be a jerk, but my advice is almost always no, there's an easier and less expensive way to do it. Here'a a few of my personal favorites. # 1. High-Port heads and aftermarket blocks for Pontiac engines. The allure of the Pontiac has always been it's massive low-end torque-like 500 lbs ft at 2,700 rpm!! ( A 1970 455 Bonneville engine ) That's what made the '64 GTO such an awesome street machine-even with only 389 inches and small port bathtub heads they make 424 lbs of torque at only 3,000 rpm!! When you've got 400+ lbs of torque from idle on up, you don't need to rev to 7 or 8 grand. That's why the legendary GTOs, Firebirds and Trans-Ams were so popular. Yes, for racing a 427 Chevy or Ford or 426 Hemi Mopar may make more power for going 7,200 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona-in the 60's and '70's-or for drag racing where you could run slicks and 4.88:1 gears they were king. But on the street-in stock or near stock trim with reasonable gear ratios-like 3.55:1- the wedge-style Pontiacs were awful hard to beat in a "Stoplight Gran Prix". The fact that they weren't reliable over 6,000 rpm didn't matter because they made such massive torque from idle-5,500!! That was the beauty of them. With a Pontiac-less was always more-you didn't need a huge cam that made power to 8 grand because the heads didn't flow much over .480 valve lift anyway. Even the vaunted RAIV's aren't much good over .530 without porting. But that low-speed and and mid-range port velocity is what made them SO STRONG at low speeds. If you want a 500 inch engine that will spin 7,000 rpm-go buy a Big-block Chevy or Chrysler Hemi crate engine. The GMPP 720 hp 572 Rat makes 685 lbs of torque and is redlined at 6,700 rpm. Mopar makes a 528 inch Hemi that makes 610 hp. Ford SVO has a 514 inch "Boss 429 / 460 based stroker with 650 hp, and they all cost less than a "High-Port" custom Pontiac. And for god's sake-Jim Butler or Len Williams will build you a "Regular" Pontiac 455 with 550 hp that will run on 89 octane gas for about $7,500. If your GTO or T/A "Needs" more than that-then you need a Chevy 572, a competent therapist or a cage. You want a Rat Motor, go buy one, but don't try to make one out of a Pontiac. # 2. 427 and 454 inch Small-Block Chevy. Dart and Blueprint Engines offer these, and they have like 540 hp. They also cost $10,000 or more. My question is-"Why?" # 1. If you want a 454 inch Chevy engine with 550 hp, you can buy or build a 454 big-block with that power level for a lot less than 10 grand, and it will be a lot less peaky and more reliable than a stroker small-block. #2. 540 hp isn't that much. If you need that much power out of a small-block package-because of a small-engine compartment- that can't physically house a Rat Motor-i.e. a '32 Ford, Cobra Replica, '57 'Vette, '63 Nova or whatever-again-you can get that much power from a 350 or 383 pretty easily for a lot less than 10 grand. # 3. 460 / 514 stroker in a Fox-bodied Mustang. Yes, it's possible-but why would you want to? I know guys that run in the 10s with 302s or 347s ( a 302-based stroker ) both with and without nitrous. I know guys that run in the 9s with blowers and or / nitrous on their 302s. Is a 460 going to be faster than that? Probably not, and it's going to cost more to build, and be a bastard to do it. Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it's the best thing to do. Mastermind