8 to 900 hp out of a 1st Gen. SBC Block.

[GARY C]

We always ran production blocks with nitrous 1/8 mile dragrace, Roys 434 dynoed 675 straight motor and he ran 200 too 300 shot of nitrous on a regular bases.

Here is a 357 sbc I dynoed on nitrous.

[77cruiser]

How much was Santos making with there TA/D in the 80's? They were stock blocks weren't they?

The ones I saw were Rodecks.

I don't remember when Mike drove but I thought I heard GM block.

[tenxal]

I don't remember when Mike drove but I thought I heard GM block.

Certainly possible. I saw one Rodek with .750 thick plates of 7061 welded to the top of the decks and fitted with .625 studs. The engine builder told me that when the blower overdrive got up to where it was really making power, the decks would really shake around. Pre-NHRA overdrive rules, obviously.

[PackardV8]

We always ran production blocks with nitrous 1/8 mile dragrace, Roys 434 dynoed 675 straight motor and he ran 200 too 300 shot of nitrous on a regular bases.

Again, horsepower X time. How many times does that 434" fire in 1/8-mile?

[GARY C]

We always ran production blocks with nitrous 1/8 mile dragrace, Roys 434 dynoed 675 straight motor and he ran 200 too 300 shot of nitrous on a regular bases.

Again, horsepower X time. How many times does that 434" fire in 1/8-mile?

All I know is he never broke a block in it or the production block 421 he built and he raced weekly round after round plus testing for many years.

[dannobee]

How much was Santos making with there TA/D in the 80's? They were stock blocks weren't they? Wolfplace would know for sure.

1800hp, give or take. Don't remember what brand block, but Brodix heads and the blocks were solid aluminum, so definitely not a "stock block."

[Circlotron]

What mainly causes a block to give up?
Horsepower?
Torque?
Unwanted vibration harmonics?
Reciprocating forces at high rpm?

[GARY C]

The biggest problem I see with production blocks now days is that the majority of the good ones have been consumed.

[steve cowan]

What mainly causes a block to give up?
Horsepower?
Torque?
Unwanted vibration harmonics?
Reciprocating forces at high rpm?

i believe a bad tune and going into detonation causes a lot of failures.

[Diodedog]

Just from my personal experience, I will say this. OEM engineers designed the SBC for what 400HP ? So in discussing how much power you can make out of the engine, we are talking about exceeding the design of the factory block by 800HP? I ran big block mopars in my drag car for a lot of years in the 700 HP range, they held up OK for about 3 seasons, and then I would freshen them, three in a row the blocks had cracks, barrel shaped cylinders, etc. so they were just junk. The cost of machining a different stock block those three times would have paid for an aftermarket block, which I bought when they finally became available.
I think the topic should be not how much can you make, but how long can you make it at that level.
I helped a guy last year put together an engine out of a pile of used swap meet parts, it ran low 10's in a 65 Plymouth, and I was at the starting line last weekend watching him spin circles at the big end when the block gave it up. So I think I am done building stuff for people that may get them hurt. His car was OK, and only his pride and pocketbook was hurt.

Would you be willing to share any details on your friend's 65 Plymouth, weight, engine build, etc.

[dannobee]

What mainly causes a block to give up?
Horsepower?
Torque?
Unwanted vibration harmonics?
Reciprocating forces at high rpm?

Yes.

In the most basic form, a V8 has 8 pistons trying to spit the crank out onto the ground and blow the heads to heaven.

Paved oval track racing was particularly hard on parts because of the time on the track element. On the longer tracks where the rpm range was rather narrow harmonics played a larger part. Obviously you try to check the blocks before wasting any time machining stuff, so the routine was to check for core shift (lifter bores centered, cam centered to casting, freeze plug holes centered, oil galley holes centered, etc). Then sonic check the bores and hope for the best. And we'd still see goofy failures that sometimes left us scratching our heads, in addition to "losing" a good block because of a crash.

I'm not going to blame GM for failures because the vast majority of blocks that we rejected would likely last the life of the vehicle in normal circumstances. It performed as designed for the power output needed for production vehicles.

And yes, as Gary said, it's hard to find good blocks. 15-20 years ago it was hard for us (and we had an ample supply from our dealership's core pile!), I can only imagine how hard it is now.

[PackardV8]

And yes, as Gary said, it's hard to find good blocks. 15-20 years ago it was hard for us (and we had an ample supply from our dealership's core pile!), I can only imagine how hard it is now.

Not going to be at all difficult. GM just put the 350"s back into production. https://www.autotimesnews.com/gm-resume ... 50-engine/

350 V8 engines are brand new and have no remanufactured components. In addition, they are covered by a three-year warranty or 160,934 km.

[pdq67]

OK!!

My line of thinking is to use a SBC engine to run against Big Red 1 in its early years, say like 800 hp or so.

800hp, 540 BBC vs an 800hp or so SBC engine to save weight. Hell, it might even be a TT 302!!! Or even a 325 built off a 400 block with a 3" crank.

pdq67

[englertracing]

https://youtu.be/AcAjAfjZKEQ
Yep better use a 3" stroke crank because clearly a 3.75" stroke would be lethargic when you free rev it

[77cruiser]

https://youtu.be/AcAjAfjZKEQ
Yep better use a 3" stroke crank because clearly a 3.75" stroke would be lethargic when you free rev it

Sounds angry.