DJ Dep

Just making sure you guys don't forget me ;)
:smash: :smash: :smash: :smash: :smash:

Dep

Shark Racer

Sounds like Paul67 pushed a couple of the right buttons.

:D Welcome back.

pillowmeto

302s are some of my favorite small blocks, those a 355s. Id love to build a sand rail with one.

MAtt

DJ Dep

Pacin: Thanks! I been in touch off-and-on with Chuck Harmon and Wes Tarbox via e-mail. Workin' on converting my 1972 into the SECOND ZL-1 Corvette built ;) I know...blasphemy...but I want to make it look and BE pretty close to the white one. Found a place that sells aluminum 427 short blocks (PAW). Not cheap but OH MAN!! :D :D :D

Dep

bence13_33

Why a 427....and not the 302 you are always bragging up? Surely cubic inches don't give you any sort of advantage :confused:

GrandSportC3

What ET's are you getting with it???

Paul L

Dep,
You have stirred things up again ;) .

The_Dude

Since it's got a small block, are you going to put Caprice badges on it as well? :jester

Cajun99

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

DJ Dep

"Why a 427....and not the 302 you are always bragging up? Surely cubic inches don't give you any sort of advantage"

Because:
"Workin' on converting my 1972 into the SECOND ZL-1 Corvette built"

No ZL-1s came with mouse motors. Plus, I already have a Vette with a 454 in it, so dropping in a ZL-1 will be a fairly easy switch. If I HAD a smallblock Vette, the 302 WOULD be the engine I'd have in it.
Half the universe is running around with small block Chevys in their Vettes. I want to be different ;)

I'm wondering why people would fiddle around boring and stroking a smallblock for power, when they can bolt in a REAL big block??? :confused:

Dep
Stirrin' that pot :smash: :smash: :smash:

Bearcat

So are you saying you'd prefer a 302 small block, or you'd prefer a big block?

There's one good reason to stroke a small block rather than to destroke it. TORQUE. As good as the 302 was (4 inch bore, 3 inch stroke), torque was not one of its talents. It was still capable of an honest 400 hp and 8500 rpm, but to get that, you have to cam it right and stick steep enough gears in it to use it. Camming it would make it have difficulty passing emissions. Also, the revvy nature and lack of low end grunt would make it a difficult engine to drive nicely on the street.
I'd love to see a little 302 in a V8-converted Fiero that weighs in at 2650 pounds...that would be fun. But in a weighty car like the Corvette, torque helps it get off the ground.

I converted my 327 Vette to a 427, and there's really a lot of hidden cost. You have to rework the suspension for it, get a new hood and a much bigger radiator. So it's not really a very straight forward swap. Stroking a small block or building a 400 up is a great way to make extra torque without having to rebuild the rest of the car for the different engine.

Kevin Mason

Dep: to save weight, that's the short answer.

tersian

This month's Car Craft or Chevy HiPerf has a chick in it that dropped a SBC in a Fiero. :eek:

427V8

She lives near me I see the Fiero at shows. Looks nice but it's hard to keep axles in em :smash:

DJ Dep

"So are you saying you'd prefer a 302 small block, or you'd prefer a big block?"

LOL...that's EASY! Given the choice between a ZL-1 or a 302...the ZL-1 will win EVERY time.

"There's one good reason to stroke a small block rather than to destroke it. TORQUE."

This is the mantra of the current "small block" owner. I guess when REAL big blocks disappeared, the alternative became building monster cubic inch small blocks. But TORQUE is strictly a "steet racer" goal. They want the "feel" of power. If that's what you want, that's fine. But you can get GOBS of torque from a big block porcupine engine. And you can ALSO get gobs of HORSEPOWER. Way more than you can get from any stroked smallblock. If you know HOW to drive a 302, you don't worry about TORQUE. Because you have RPM, what the smallblock was REALLY designed to make. The 302 was/is a RACE motor. It was made to live and survive AT ungodly RPMs. It works best AT those RPMs. If you don't or can't drive a car that makes power at the upper limits of the RPM range, then you might as well bolt in a Caprice motor and toot around LOOKING cool. I guess when you switch from a smogged up late 70's Vette engine to a stroker crate motor, you DO feel like you've made a major upgrade. You probably have. You just aren't using the smallblock for what it was originally designed for, and for what it does BEST. Emissions? In my state a 1969 car doesn't even TAKE emissions tests. Not a worry for me.
A WEIGHTY car like a Corvette?????? Can't believe you wrote that. You must be driving one of those late 70's cars! The 302 came out of a STEEL body Camaro. More weight than a Vette there. Maybe you need to rip out that air conditioner?? ;)
Like I said...I have a 454 and bolting in a ZL-1 will be quite easy. Converting to a big block from small block isn't cheap, but not all that difficult.
Converting from a smog motor Vette to a 302 is a bolt in. And they DID drive those engines quite regularly on the street back in the late 60's and early 70's. No power windows. No air conditioning. It was a PERFORMANCE car.
Seems like nowadays people want to compromise a lot. The 302 is a NO COMPROMISE engine. So it's NOT for everyone. For those that compromise, there's always that smogged-up motor :)

Dep



[Modified by Dep, 7:21 AM 9/29/2003]

DJ Dep

"Dep: to save weight, that's the short answer."

Kevin: Do you know what a ZL-1 is and what it weighs?
Check it out before posting. :)

Dep

Shark Racer

Well, TECHNICALLY you could save weight with a small block if you went to an ALUMINUM small block, but somehow I think the cost to power, and weight savings to power ratio is far more favorable with the ZL-1...

-Steve

PROSOUTH

Welcome back DEP.

Guys, Dep is saying that if you go small block go for the RPM of short stroke and if you want torque go for the real thing and do it with a big block.

To quote the famous saying of Mr B.B. Wowbagger here on the forum. I don't know what the question was, but the answer is Big Block!

Glad to see you back 10-08 Dep. Jim

Twin_Turbo

what's the use in hauling a heavy big block over a quarter mile? Sports cars are not bade to run in straight lines (if they were the vette woudln't come with an IRS now would it), so for me a big block is a no no. I'd rather have a nice tweaked up modern LS6 or so.

Fevre

Match the eng to your particular driving style and needs, no rights or wrongs just good matches and bad matches. One reason to choose a stroker sb over a bb is parts are dirt cheap and plentiful in comparison to bb parts.