Some forgotten engines that are still viable...

After the last post talking about engines that I would not recommend spending money on, I had some questions about which ones, outside of the obvious would I recommend. Here's the list in no particular order. # 1. 289 Ford. A lot of cars had these from 1963-68. In a light car-Mustang, Cougar, Falcon, Comet or Fairlane-they can really run with the right equipment. In heavier cars, their just too small. # 2. 396 Chevy. With the current "Bigger is Better" trend in the buff magazines, and GMPP selling 502 and 572 inch crate motors, people often overlook the original Rat Motor. However the L78 was rated at 425 hp in the '65 Corvette-just 25 hp shy of the legendary LS6. There was a lot of them produced between 1965 and 1972. ( Technically after 1970 they were 402 inches, but some Chevelles, El Caminos and Camaros were still marketed as SS396s ). Anyhow if you have a 396 / 402 or can buy one for a reasonable price by all means use it. You can make just as much power as a 454, just at a little higher rpm. # 3. 383 / 400 Chrysler. The "Bigger is Better" thing has infected Mopar enthusiasts as well.  With Mopar Performance selling 472 and 528 inch Hemis and 505 inch wedges, a 426 Hemi or a 440 is now "Entry Level", or so it would seem. However, there's a lot of cars out there built from 1963-71 with 383s and from 1972-78 with 400s that have a ton of potential. You can make just as much power as a 440 with a 383 / 400, just at a little higher rpm. If you have one, don't chuck it and spend a bunch of unnecessary money buying and building a 440. Remember the axiom "Biggest engine you can afford". Emphasis on the "Afford" part. # 4. 430 Buick. Buick enthusiasts will fight with machetes for a 455, but these are often overlooked. They were used in practically every model from 1966-69. Any speed equipment-heads, intakes, cams, etc that fit a 455 will fit these so there's plenty of parts available. And anything 430 cubes is going to have some serious torque. # 5. 428 Pontiac. Poncho enthusiasts primarily concentrate on the 400 used from '67-78 and the 455 used from 1970-76. The "hot" thing in the buff magazines now is to put a cut-down 455 crank into a .030 over 400 block to make 461 inches.( I say cut-down because 400s have 3.00 inch main bearings and 455s have 3.25 inch mains. These builders are making 4.21 and 4.25 inch cranks with the smaller 3 inch mains to be more reliable at high rpm. Smokey Yunick was doing this in the early '60s when he and Fireball Roberts were the scourge of NASCAR. He was cutting down 421 cranks and putting them in 389 blocks. They won 22 races in the 1962-63 season ) Anyhow-428s were only built from 1967-69, but they were used in almost every model-mostly "big" cars. If you have one or can buy one cheap by all means use it. They can make every bit as much power and torque as a 455, and rev higher. If you want to-Eagle, Kauffman and Butler performance also offer 4.00 inch stroke cranks and rotating assemblys if you want to make a 428 / 433 from a 400.  # 6. 403 Olds. These were only built from 1977-79 but there were millions of them used in Olds 88s and 98s, Buick Rivieras, Electras, and Park Avenues, Pontiac Catalinas and Bonnevilles,and Trans-Am and Formula Firebirds. Anything that fits a 350 Olds will fit these so there's plenty of speed equipment-intakes, cams, headers, etc.  403s actually made more torque than the 400 Pontiacs, at a lower rpm. The only reason people think their "dogs" is the fact that except for  WS6 Formulas and T/A's that had 3.23:1 gears-they were used in big, heavy cars with salt-flats gearing like 2.41:1 or 2.56:1.  If you have a 330 or 350 inch Cutlass, a 403 is a bolt-in swap, and 53-73 extra cubes will give you a nice power and torque boost, either stock or modified. Hope this helps. Mastermind