Don't fall into the "Bigger is Better" trap....

In all the buff magazines all their project cars and and featured reader rides all have mega-buck, mega-cube stroker motors. 572 inch Chevy Rat Motors,514 inch Boss-Nine Fords, 528 inch Chrysler Hemis, and 505 inch ( 440 based ) wedge engines. There's crank kits to turn a 400 Pontiac into a 467, a 400 Mopar into a 451. There's 392 and 427 inch "Small-Block" Fords, 383, 427 and 454 inch "Small-Block Chevys. There are 410 inch ( 360 based ) "LA" Mopars.  All of these mega buck, mega horsepower crate engines are fine if you can afford one. But many of us can't shell out 15 grand just for the engine for a toy. Be honest-most musclecars are the fourth or fifth car in a household. You've got your daily driver, your wife has one, and if you've got teenage kids they have one. So putting 15 large for just one component into the 5th car usually isn't in the cards. But don't despair. Just run the engine that came in the car. And you can make some improvements. For example-if your car has a 350 Chevy in it, you couldn't ask for a better base for a hot rod. The small-block Chevy has been the test mule for new parts for like 60 years. If your rebuilding it, Eagle, Scat and other companies are selling crank and piston kits so cheap, that it won't cost any more to build a 383. The extra cubes will definitely give you a big boost in hp and torque whether you build it mild or wild. Ditto for a 302 Ford. Whether you have a '68 Cougar or a '91 Mustang, Eagle, Ford SVT and other companies sell rotating assemblies to turn a 302 into a 347 or a 363. And you can just "Run what you brung". A 396 Chevy can make serious power. You don't need a 454 or a 572. Experienced Chevy builders will tell you that all other things being equal-i.e.-heads, cam, etc-a 454 will make 20 hp more than a 427 and a 427 will make 20 hp more than a 396 / 402. Ok. Edelbrock claims 540 hp and 538 lbs of torque from their "Performer RPM" Package on a 454. Using this rule of thumb-a 396 would still have 500 hp. Magazine writers spout numbers flippantly, but 500 honest hp will make any car an absolute rocket. Depending on car weight, traction and gearing you'll easily run in the 12s, and maybe high 11s. That's serious power. The same goes for other "Mid-size" big blocks. Edelbrock claims 434 hp from their Performer RPM package on a 390 Ford. They claim 387 hp and 439 lbs of torque on a 400 Pontiac with 15 inches of vacuum at idle from the base Performer Package. That would really rip on the street-low 13s or high 12s depending on traction and gearing-with a glass-smooth idle. Edelbrock claims 422 hp and 441 lbs of torque on the Pontiac "RPM" Package on a 400. A 383 Mopar makes 417 hp with this package. See what I'm saying?  So if your Chevy has a 396 / 402, or your Pontiac has a 389 / 400 or your Ford a 390 or your Dodge a 383 / 400-use it. Don't search the galaxy and spend thousands more than you need to buying and building up a junk 454,455, 460 or 440.  If you need an engine for your Javelin / AMX but can't find a 390 / 401 AMC engine, don't despair. There's literally millions of 360 AMC engines in junkyards in Jeep Grand Wagoneers from the '80s and '90's. Edelbrock claims 433 hp for their Performer RPM package on a 360. A 403 Olds is a bolt-in replacement for a 330 / 350, and you know 50-70 more cubes is going to give a serious boost to hp and torque. You don't need a $15,000 500+ inch mega motor to have fun.