Some "Small" big-blocks that are still viable but overlooked....

The current trend in the buff magazines seems to be "Bigger is Better" as they feature 500+ inch stroker engines incessantly. A 454 Chevy or 455 Pontiac or Olds or 440 Mopar or 460 Ford seems to be "entry level" according to these writers. The reality is-you can have a very strong performer with-here's an oxymoron-a medium sized big-block. Here's some that are overlooked but can still give you major horsepower and torque.  # 1. 396 / 402 Chevy. With GMPP selling 572 inch  Rat motors with 720 hp, and people fighting with machetes for 427s and 454s to build, it's easy to see how these "little brothers" get overlooked. The reality is because they can use the same heads, cam etc-a 396 / 402 can make just as much power as a 427 or 454, just at a higher rpm. The original L78 396 was rated at 425 hp in the 1965 Corvette-the same as the legendary L72 427 and only 25 hp down from the legendary 450 hp LS6 454. You can make 350 hp with 8:1 compression on junk gas and using factory iron intake and exhaust manifolds. You can make 450-500 hp so easy it's almost criminal. Edelbrock claims 540 hp and 530 lbs of torque from their "Performer RPM" package on a 454. Most big-block Chevy builders go by the rule of thumb that all other things being equal, a 454 will make 20 hp more than a 427, and a 427 will make 20 hp more than a 396. Using that formula you'd still have 500 hp and 500 lbs of torque, which would make any street car a major rocket.  # 2. 383 / 400 Chrysler. Everyone talks about Hemis and 440s, but just like the Chevys-you can make just as much power as a 440 just at higher rpm. Chrysler engineers took the heads, cam and intake from the 440 Magnum to power the 383 Road Runner. The 383 was rated at 335 hp and the 440 was rated at 375. Edelbrock claims 417 hp from their "Performer RPM" package on a 383 and 469 hp on a 440.  Not a ton of difference.  A great testimonial to the might of 383's came from Carey Loftin-who was stunt coordinator on both "Bullitt" and "Vanishing Point"-THE two car-chase classics in most people's book-spoke about the iconic Challenger piloted by Barry Newman in the film. "We had 5 cars." "Four were 440 / 4-speeds, and the camera car was a 383 / Automatic." "I used the camera car to tow the camaro we blew up toward the bulldozers at 80 mph because the automatic drivetrain wouldn't jerk when shifting like the sticks and slacken the tow cable."  "I honestly think the 383 would run just as fast as the 440." "That 383 was a great running car."  The 400 used from '72-78 is just a bored out 383. Either one would power your Mopar project just fine, so don't sell your soul for a 440.  # 3. 389 / 400 Pontiac. Cutting down a 455 crank and putting it in a 400 block to get 461cubes ( with a .030 overbore ) is all the rage now, although Smokey Yunick was doing it in the early '60's for Fireball Roberts when his Pontiacs were the scourge of NASCAR. A 389 / 400 has 3 inch main bearings, while a 421 / 428 / 455 had 3.25 inch mains. Smokey figured out that the smaller main bearings would hold up better at high rpm and break less when running 500 miles at Daytona. To win the race, you've got to finish the race, right?  So Smokey was cutting down 421 cranks and putting them in 389 blocks to build his 421 race engines. 50 years later-guys are doing the same thing. You can buy stroker Pontiac crank, rod and piston kits from several sources. However-if you have one already in the car or can buy one cheap, a 389 / 400 can make just as much power as a 455, and probably stay together longer. 389s were in every Pontiac built from 1959-66, and 400s were in everything from '67-78.  Edelbrock claims 422 hp and 441`lbs of torque from their Performer RPM package on a 400. The "regular" Perfromer Package makes 387 hp and 439 lbs of torque on a 400, and has a much smoother-idling cam that makes 15 inches of vacuum at idle instead of 10. With the RPM cam-( which is basically a replica of the factory RAIV cam ) your giving up quite a bit of low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. In a same-weight car, with similar gearing, on street tires-is a car with 422 hp really going to be any quicker than one with 387 hp? I doubt it.  # 4. 390 Ford. Everyone wants 427s, 428s, 429s and 460s. The problem is  ( except for 460's which were used in trucks until 1997 and are still being sold as SVT crate engines to this day ) those big-inch engines are rare, and thus expensive, if you can find one for sale at ANY price. When's the last time you saw a for-real 427 or 428 or 429CJ engine for sale in a want ad?  By contrast 390s were used in virtually every Ford model from 1961-76 and are plentiful. And they are externally identical to the other "FE" engines so if your building a Thunderbolt or Cobra or Fairlane clone or CJ Mustang clone no one will know it's not a 427 or 428 unless you tell them!  Edelbrock claims 452 hp and 428 lbs of torque from their dual-quad Performer RPM package which would certainly give you the look and the oomph to back it up.  # 5. 400 Oldsmobile. These were only used from 1965-69. Everyone chases the 455s used from 1968-76. If you have a 400 already in the car, or can buy one cheap, by all means use it. Don't empty your bank account and search the galaxy for a 455. Everything that fits a 455-Edelbrock aluminum heads and intakes, aftermarket cams, headers etc will work on a 400. And like their Pontiac cousins-400 inch Olds motors make massive low-end and mid-range torque. When you've got 400+ lbs of torque from idle on up you don't need to rev to 6 or 7 grand!  # 5. 400 Buick. These also were only used from 1965-69, and like the Olds fans, Buick guys sell their souls for the 1970-76 455s. If you have a 400 in the car or can buy one at a reasonable price I would definitely use it rather than chase a running or rebuildable 455. Even bone-stock, anything 400 cubes is going to run pretty damn good. And there are hot rod parts available for these engines-Edelbrock sells heads and intakes for them, Crane and Lunati make cams, etc. So if your building a Skylark or Century or Regal project, or want a more modern power plant in a 50's convertible or early Riviera, ( but want to keep it all Buick, you don't want a big-block Chevy or an LS motor ) a 400 may be just the ticket. If you can afford a 572 Chevy or a 514 Ford or a 505 Mopar, etc-more power to you-pun intended-but if your on a budget-these 400 inchers offer a LOT of "bang" for the buck.  Mastermind