Big block or small block

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Black Duster

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I am ready to give my duster some more power, any thoughts on powerplants. Trying to decide on big versus small block. Car in question is a duster with a 4-speed. Looking for opinions based on personal experience in regards to cost for horsepower and handling.Also are you happy with your engine or would you do it differently if you could do it again? Car will mostly be street driven. Thanks in advance for your input.
 
if the duster is a factory 4 speed car and a v8 car originaly you will need a big block bell crank at least to switch over,,if you already have headers for the small block and other items as such you are going to need all those to fit the big block,,so if money is no object,,its pretty much your choice,,it wll be nose heavy with a big block with iron heads for sure,,but will put ur butt in the seat when u stomp on it,,,

all depends on what you plan to do with this car and your budget good luck
 
Since you mentioned handling, definitely go stroker small block. :burnout:
 
Car is originally an auto, someone else installed the stick. It doesn't matter though, I am a stick shift guy all the way. Was leaning toward stroked smally, seems like 500 hp is easy to achieve based on all the info I have gotten on this site. Anybody want to offer some input on the forged versus cast 4.00 in stroke crank controversy???
 
Interesting threads. Haven't read them all yet, but I will.

FWIW, there is an article in the Engine Masters mag on the stands right now with a 600+ stroker smallblock with a MP/Scat cast crank. The other thing about the article is, it was supposed to be a "bolt together" motor, no special parts or anything. Used a solid roller cam and "Air Wolf" (?) heads. Didn't read it, just paged through it. Now I wish I had picked it up, wonder if they defended the use of the cast crank. Dulcich wrote the article.
 
Stroker small block. For the cost of all the big block parts you'll need, you can build a pretty mean stroker. 500hp isn't that hard to achieve with a 408 or similar.

As for cast vs forged, what's the use of the car? 500 hp is about where I would draw the line on a cast crank, and if its going to be a frequent racer then better to go with forged. But if its a street car that only sees the track infrequently and 500 hp or less, there's nothing wrong with a quality cast crank. Just my thoughts though, I'm not an expert.
 
On the big vs small block this is the best advise I've seen so far.X2 on this one
fstfish66 said:
if the duster is a factory 4 speed car and a v8 car originaly you will need a big block bell crank at least to switch over,,if you already have headers for the small block and other items as such you are going to need all those to fit the big block,,so if money is no object,,its pretty much your choice,,it wll be nose heavy with a big block with iron heads for sure,,but will put ur butt in the seat when u stomp on it,,,

all depends on what you plan to do with this car and your budget good luck
Click to expand...
 
Been there, done that! For your driving enjoyment, stroke the smallblock! The big block is very nose heavy,even with the correct torsion bars. It does require some attention when cornering.
I'll take the stroker over the big block anytime for the driver you are talking about.
For the $ involved, you will get more bang for the buck from a stroked small block.
 
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