Input on Building a 427BB Street Motor

[Born30YrsLate]

Ok boys...I'm in process of talking myself into building a 427 big block engine. I'm looking for a good combination for a hot street set-up...only requirements are it will be a 427 engine, run on pump gas and use hydraulic-type cam.
What cam/heads/intake/carb combos have you guys had success with and what was the horsepower you got?

[markjohnson]

I'll start this up. A 427......I'd use oval port heads for starters. It's a proven fact for camshafts .650 and smaller, they are superior. GM #781 or #049's work great. A set of Merlin OVAL port heads would be even better and there's a lot of used sets out there these days. Just make sure they've got the 2.19/1.88 valves. I'm NOT a very big fan of hydraulic camshafts. A solid is well worth the little bit of trouble of lashing the valves once a year and you'll look cool to the neighbor kids doing it. If you really wanna have some fun, stab in a Comp Cams 288 Street Roller that is incredibly street-friendly and will just tear your head off your shoulders at any RPM. Trust me on that one, it's WELL worth the money to step up to. As far as intakes go, the Edelbrock Performer RPM's (especially the Air Gap) just can't be beat for a street car. Nothing left to say. Intakes are fetish of mine and I have tried MANY. There's lots of terrible ones out there. I also like the Holley 950 HP Double Pumper #80496, but an off-the-shelf 750 or 850 Double Pumper would be fine. A good ignition, fuel system, 10 inch street convertor with a 4.10 rear screw and this car can run mid 11's all day long after being driven to and from the track. I've had the 468 CID version of this motor and it was so much fun, I'm lucky to even have a driver's license still!

[Salvatore]

Other than maybe the intake and dual quads Benny's motor is what you want to a "T". His red car!

[VintageMusclecar]

Define "hot"...or more accurately, what are your specific goals?

For some, "hot" is a 12 second combo, for others it's 10 seconds or quicker. Both are easy to achieve, it just depends on how much you're willing to spend, and what you're willing to put up with on the street.

Be a little more specific with what you want and we can go from there.

Eric

[ANDY M]

Fred, just remember that cubic inches = cubic $$$.
Keep checking on craigslist.
Andy

[Born30YrsLate]

[ QUOTE ]
Define "hot"...or more accurately, what are your specific goals?

For some, "hot" is a 12 second combo, for others it's 10 seconds or quicker. Both are easy to achieve, it just depends on how much you're willing to spend, and what you're willing to put up with on the street.

Be a little more specific with what you want and we can go from there.

Eric

[/ QUOTE ]

Here’s some more info…looking for about a 525-550hp @ 6000 rpm combo. Would like to keep it as maintenance-free as possible, thus the hydraulic cam and pump gas. Gonna be sticking with a muncie 4-speed and don’t want the rear gearing to get higher than 3.73 because of hi-way use...the car will see annual trips to Wisconsin Dells (about 150 miles), see the drag strip a couple times a year.
My initial thought was to use a set of GM 077 heads and an Edelbrock C427X intake, to keep it nostalgic, with a decent hydraulic roller cam and run on pump gas, but I’m not sure that will give me the numbers I’m looking for…plus I haven’t convinced myself to use a NOS pair of 077 heads.
I’m not overly concerned about the money but want to get the best motor for the money spent and not waste money trying different combos to find that “magic” set-up…anyone ever use the Dart Pro1 top-end kit?

Thanks again guys!...

[VintageMusclecar]

My $.02 worth;

Considering you want to keep the rpm level down, I would skip the rectangle port heads and save them for another project where they would probably be better suited.

A good set of oval port closed chamber heads with valves upgraded to 2.19-1.88 and a good bowl blend would work great for what you're wanting to do. I know a lot of people tout the open chamber (781/049) versions, but I've personally found the closed chamber units to work quite well. The closed chamber heads offer several benefits over the open chambers such as having two quench surfaces (which helps avoid spark knock [detonation]), and it takes a much smaller piston dome to achieve a decent static compression ratio. I would shoot for 10-1 to keep things simple & happy on 91 octane gas.

I would personally skip the hydraulic valvetrain and at least run a solid flat tappet. If you're set on a hydraulic cam, I would make it a hydraulic roller, but I doubt it would be worth much (if any) power over the flat tappet, which means unnecessarily spending $$$ that could be better spent elsewhere.

I would have normally recommended one of a few Crane grinds, but since they're temporarily on hiatus, I would look at something along the lines of a Comp 270S, 282S, XS274S, 143S (Comp's version of the GM 143 LS6 cam), or even one of the new blueprint 143 cams from Rob Clary if he has any left. If he does, follow his advice to a "T" in regards to degreeing it in. EDM lifters are a must!

You can get away with running a rectangle port intake on oval port heads, but given the plethora of quality oval port intakes available today, I would recommend either a Weiand Stealth or Edelbrock Performer RPM. As far as a carb, a well-prepped Holley 3310 780 would work great on this. You could run a mechanical secondary carb if you wanted to use one here, but I doubt there'd be much of a difference in performance unless you went to one of the new HP series Holleys, but then you're sacrificing the ability to use a choke set-up (should you desire one in the first place).

I would wrap it up with a set of 1 3/4" primary tube headers with 3" collectors and a full length 3" exhaust system behind it.

Assuming the car itself is set up properly, this would be an easy 11 second combination and would be about as fussy as an anvil.

Again, just my $.02 worth.
Eric

[Chevy454]

Fred: do you have any parts to start with, or are you gonna have to nab everything? Also, what model will this be in?

[kwhizz]

Fred has Lori ......He doesn't need anything else.......LOL

Ken