Think hard, shop around, and get the most "Bang" for your Bucks!

I was talking to a friend the other day who had just bought a '71 Chevelle. He couldn't decide whether to go big-block or small-block. He first got excited about the GMPP 383 small-block package. It's rated at 425 hp and 449 lbs ft of torque. It retails for $5,499, and that's a "Long Block"-you'd still need to buy a carb and intake, a distributor and headers. Figure $200 for an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold, $400 for a 750 cfm Holley or Edelbrock carb, $200 for an Accel or MSD HEI distributor and $200 for some Hedman Shorty headers-and the tab is up to $6,500. I told him he could build a 400 hp Small-block for half that amount. He scoffed. I showed him an article in "Super Chevy" where they bought a garden-variety rebuilt 350 short-block from Checker Auto Parts for $650. They spent another $650 on a pair of brand-new Iron Vortec heads from Scoggin-Dickey, added a Competition Cams 270H "Magnum" cam, an Eddelbrock Vortec bolt-pattern Performer RPM, intake and a rebuilt 750 Holley from Summitt, and some Flowtech headers also from Summitt. When they were done it made 390 hp on the dyno-( The goal was 400hp; they just missed ) and the total cost to build it was $2,600!! I asked my friend-is 35 hp worth $2,900?  Then he looked at the big-blocks and lighted on the 500 hp, 567 lb ft 502 GMPP deluxe crate engine for $8,999. I pointed out that the GMPP ZZ454 / 440 crate engine was rated at 440 hp and 500 lbs of torque and cost only $5,999. "Believe me, 60 hp and 67 lbs of torque is not worth 3 grand." I said. "You can get another 60 hp out of a 454 for a lot less than 3K" I pointed out that Edelbrock claimed 540 hp from their big-block "Performer RPM" package-that was based on a 454HO short-block! If he switched to the Edelbrock cam and intake it would cost him less than $500 in parts. ( The ZZ454 / 440 has aluminum oval port heads from the factory-no need to change them.)  He'd have 540 hp instead of 500, and the total cost would be $6,499-a savings of $2,500 over the 502 crate package! The $2,500 he saved could be used for a Tremec 5-speed conversion, or bodywork and paint, or whatever else he wanted. He was stunned. I told him about the "Junkyard Jewel" article I read where the magazine built a 400 Pontiac that made 440 hp and 460 lbs of torque, and they were so proud of the fact that it cost "only" $4,400 to build including the aluminum Edelbrock heads. I showed him the dyno sheet for the 400 in my brother's GTO. It has iron 6X heads, cost $1,900 to build and cranked out 381 hp and 422 lbs of torque!! I asked my friend-"Is 59 hp and 38 lbs of torque worth $2,500?" He laughed and called me an evil genius. "I'm not a genius, I just do the math on what gives the most bang for your buck."  Take heed, and save yourself some big dollars on your next project. Mastermind