Main cap girdles re-discussed
I see a bit of stuff about high horsepower 3rd gen Hemi builds. 800hp is kinda the new 500hp.
So as much as I love mopar small blocks, and would love to be able to run 800-1000hp in one reliably with forced induction.
it seems at a glance like once you start needing to pay $4000 for a block and then another few thousand in addition to get it machined ready to run, the value for money in a 2009+ 5.7 or 6.1 seems hard to beat.
Of course, I would also assume the Ritter block or similar has a much higher capacity for horsepower than the OEM hemi blocks.
But with 1000hp turbocharged street/strip cars becoming more and more common, an affordable small block configuration that can be reliable at 800-1000hp would present excellent opportunities that don't currently seem to exist as far as I'm aware. (Though I could be wrong)
I'm currently plodding away at a home-built blown 360 project with most parts being custom fab or adapted from something else.
The blower itself is quite small with horsepower limitations which are similar to the alleged engine block limitations. 600whp territory.
It really does niggle at me that if later on I decide to swap out my little eaton blower for a bigger whipple or Kenne bell to add a couple of hundred horsepower, I'm probably going to need to pay $5500-7000 for a new aftermarket block for it to have any hope of being reliable.
If that itch does occur, unfortunately It'll be most cost-effective for me to go back to the drawing board and adapt all my bolt-ons a G3 hemi and run that instead.
Call me cheap, or not a real racer. Amateur or whatever. And you'd be right. This is just a hobby for me.
But I'd say that more often than not, needing an aftermarket block is a deal-breaker and not even a consideration for most people.