"Biggest engine you can afford".....The key word being "Afford"....

In the last few posts I've talked about the pros and cons of many engines the various manufacturers offered over the years. I got started on this because like I said in an earlier post there's an alarming trend of "Bigger is Better" in the buff magazines. Not everyone can afford, or even needs a 500+ inch monster. The old sayings-"There's no substitute for cubic inches,except cubic dollars" and "Always build the biggest motor you can afford" are still true. But the key word is "Afford".  For example-If your building a small-block Chevy-either stock or modified-a 350 makes way more power and torque than a 305 and costs no more to buy or build. Further-if the engine in question needs to be rebuilt-i.e.-needs a crank or new pistons-parts are so cheap for SBC's-that it doesn't really cost that much more to make a 383 than it does to just re-furbish the bottom end of a 350. So yes, I would tell someone that your going get a tremendous more amount of performance out of even a mild 383 than you would a hotted-up 305. Conversely, if you have a 400 Pontiac in a late '70's T/A-assuming it runs good, has good oil pressure, doesn't use oil, doesn't smoke etc. Your far better off just adding an aftermarket carb and intake, headers and dual exhausts and maybe a cam, or even an axle-ratio change and a mild converter than you would be trying to buy and build a 455. Even if the 400 needed to be overhauled-rings,bearings, and oil pump and gasket set is not that much. As opposed to the small-block Chevy-I've seen 383 crank kits as low as $399-a stroker crank kit to turn a 400 into a 455 starts at $1999. For two grand you could buy the aforementioned cam,intake,headers,gears, converter etc. And honestly-all other things being equal-a 455 is only going to make about 40 hp more than a 400. Car Craft built a 400 with the Edelbrock Performer RPM package. It made 440 hp and 460 lbs ft of torque. So if you spent the extra 2k on a 455-you'd have 480 hp. On street tires, in the real world-is a car with 480 hp going to be noticeably faster than a car with 440 hp?  No.  On the other hand if you have a 302 Ford in your Mustang it's totally reversed from the Chevys. With the proper equipment 302's can really rock. With the exception of the small-block Chevy there's probably more speed equipment available for them than anything else on the planet. It would make much more sense to pump up the 302 that's in the car than it would to hunt down and buy and build a 351W. And again-like the SBC's-the stroker crank kits are so cheap-it would be easier and probably cheaper to build a 347 out of the 302 you have than it would be to get a 351W. Switch to Mopar and it changes again. A 360 makes way more power than a 318 and costs no more to buy or build. Even if you don't have an engine and have to buy one-a 360 Magnum out of a Jeep Cherokee from a junkyard might cost you $150 more than a 318 Magnum from the same yard,with roughly the same mileage! If your building a big-block Mopar, just like the Pontiac-don't throw away a perfectly good 383 / 400 and then spend an extra 3 grand buying and building a 440. Each engine line is different. And-magazines and everyone else always talks about building from the ground up. You don't have to do that. You can add headers or a carb and intake or even a cam to the engine that's in the car without pulling it and completely re-building it. And here's where you have to take expert's advice-even mine-with a grain of salt. If you have an '84 Z/28 Camaro with an LG4 305 and a 5-speed that runs good and you'd like more oomph-an Edelbrock Performer Intake and matching cam and a cat-back exhaust will give you a HUGE boost in hp and torque and easily show your taillights to those smug 80's and early '90's "5.0" Mustang owners!! You don't have to trash the 305 and immediately swap in a 350 because the magazines said so!!  If you have a Duster or Dart with a good running 318-a 4bbl carb and intake, dual exhausts and a shift kit in the Torqueflite will "wake up" the performance immensely-you don't have to pull the engine and go buy a 360 because you want a little more power!!  If you have a 350 Pontiac in your Firebird or LeMans-yes if you want 500 hp-you need a 400 or 455. However-barring the need for 500 hp-I'd certainly invest in a 4bbl carb and intake,some dual exhausts, a shift kit in the TH350, and swap the 2.56:1 gears for some 3.42:1's, before I yanked it and went searching for a 400 or 455!!  See what I'm saying?  So think hard and do the math before you start pulling out your engine and your credit card!  Mastermind