I would like to see you build 2 torque monster big blocks in the 600 cu. in. neighborhood.  One a Ford, the other Chevy.  Step up the builds like Hot Rod Mag did with the  540 Chevy in the July 2008 issue. The Chevy should use a Dart tall deck block and be a 632.  Build the most area under the torque curve for pump gas. Test the engines from 2000 to 5500 RPM. No holes in the torque curves please!  When you have completed the builds and comparisons, drop a blower on one and shoot for a flat 1000 ft.lbs. from 2500 to 5000 RPM.  I would image the engine going into a 3500-4000 lb. vehicle with a tight converter, 3 spd auto, and a 2.70ish gear.  

I Dont Care as long as the engine is fuel injected!
I haven't built an engine with a carb,, well in decades. The only thing I own that has a carb is the lawnmower (may be I should fix that). All of the Engine Master coverage is great with this exception.
    Take a good look at the calendar and take note of the year...  or take a good look at the price of fuel, there are ways to make our street rods and muscle cars better, and you don't neet to buy a crate motor to do it.

  Ross Hay
    Calgary  AB.  

How about a diesel? I'd like to see something beyond the normal cold air intake, programmer and exhaust. While I'm in the minority some of us would like to put a diesel( Duramax) in an A body. And didn't Olds start their diesel phase back in 79?  

How about hydrogen power? You could take a Dodge Viper and transform the powertrain to hydro power and call it "The Vapor",a venomous power adder.Or not. B. Wilson, Cleveland,Tn.  

I personally am a cadillac 472/500 guy but that for me.

I would be thrilled to see a streetable E85 anything. For availablity sbc probably be best, But i also like 385 series fbc.

If you what a back page special you could build a turbo chevy flat six. (corviar Yenko stinger)  

How about a 1.21 gigawatt flux capacitor that runs on old banana peels? We could even bolt it into a DeLorean!  

Johnny Hunkins:
How about a 1.21 gigawatt flux capacitor that runs on old banana peels? We could even bolt it into a DeLorean!

hell, I would read that.  

HEY , WHEN I SAW  GUYS HAD THE BALLS TO PUT A CHEVY ENGINE INTO A MUSTANG I KNEW YOU GUYS HAD SOME GUTS OR WAS CRAZY LIKE ME, HOW ABOUT A 1988 MERCEDES 560 SEC WITH WIDER THAN amg all steel  body with a 5.7 hemi in it  with f1 paddle shifters {LONG TERM PROJECT 6 MONTHS} ?? my  pro street laguna will be done in 60 days thu with the same high quality. KEEP IT THE SAME , ADD MORE PROJECTS CARS AND ENGINES  THAT THE ADVERAGE GUY CAN BUILD SOMETHING CLOSE TO THIS IS WHY WE BUY THIS MAG. SL3  

A Delorean Hot Rod!!!!!!!!....Now that could be fun! something wild sticking thru the hood and tubbed, or go ultimate G-Maching with mini tubs and and wicked super charged small block and bullit proof trans and rear axle and a sleeper style twist! Indefinate options!  

After reading your editorial (..re economy..) and the story of your Dart, I challenge you to do a straight six build shoot out. Rules? Flat top pistons  250 cu inch limit. Normally aspirated but that is the only restiction there. Hydraulic cam less than .510 lift.
Sixes get a bad rap and yet having built quite a few I discovered they are amazing engines and a lot of fun. Parts are not readily available which is absolutley wonderful because one is free to be creative (C R E A T I V E means you can make your own parts.) And no Bubba it aint that hard. Interest is currently very high with gas prices. I have built some sixes for drags for others and often when at the drags there is a crowd gathered around the 6 cyl car totally ignoring the normal combos. People love the underdog I guess. I know that it would be easy to find at least 6 or 8 builders who would enter an entry. If it wasnt thousands of mles away I would enter one myself.
Sixes offer fun per dollar that if you haven't had one you just dont understand . Power is a lot more than you would guess. The six doesn't know it is a six. It only knows for example ,it has a cylinder bore of 3.5 inches and a stroke of 4.12 and perfoms accordingly. If you dont want a shoot out but want an article I would do one on my current old school dragster motor (244 Slant 6 ) or a more general article on three race engines I have done with success  A 300 Ford (T Bucket) two 250 chevies (Vintage stock car and 39 chevy coupe street rod) and several slant six race engines I have been involved with. Probably though you have your own sources. We whine and moan about the tuner cars and yet refuse as a group to explore the power in our own domestic powerplants. There is something wrong withthat picture i think. Just so you know I am not anti V8 either having built hundreds of them and authoured the 440 Mopar book Old Reliable It is just that the power and fun I have found in my 6 cylinder experiments never fails to fascinate me. I dream of a 62 valiant 170 with twin turbos and drugs (Nitrous) cranking 8000+RPM (which they will do) out Tuner hunting. The best thing about sixes is they are not exensive unless you go insane of course.  Don D  

a twin turbo 400 pontiac engine?  

Lets talk reusing everything. I have seen this combo talked about in hushed dimly light forums by the much aligned 305/307 crowd and read all the bashing that goes with it. But this particular combination has me thinking. After 25 years of building engines that are as practical as goat nads on a chicken, I had to either scrap a bunch of obsolete parts or build something. Well I have ordered the soft parts tonight. Here it is cheap as it gets and I will let you know how it turns out. And I am sure I will hear all about this.  307 chevy block .020 over{flat tops}, 400 small block rods 5.565 length, 350 crank {yes the math works}. 305 Vortec heads 520 castings. summit vortec intake with TBI abaptor. I'm going to put this in a 87-92 s/10 and see if I can get 14 sec 1/4 times and 22mpg. I think we have strayed away from the core hot rodding values we once had. I say build it with imagination not credit cards. And hey if this combo sucks  how much did I really spend? Most of the parts were throw aways.  

How about a higher end small block Olds build.  I don't think any magazine has put forth a real effort to build an SBO to make big power.  Use a diesel block and a custom billet crank so you can really lean on it.  Rumor has it that new heads are coming available, but if not, a nice set of custom heads, not just some as cast factory replacement stuff.  There are several guys running NMCA with SBO's and others who have very fast bracket cars with this combo.  I think you know a guy who could help put together an impressive package.  

I see theres a few guys that would like to see a shootout between 454 cid. small and big blocks.Well Im with you on that. Todays small block has came a long way I for one believe that the SB 454 would give a BB 454 a heck of a run for its money. One guy posted you cant get a SB head to flow like a BB head.He must of never heard of the GM PERFORMANCE SB2.2 head! These heads flow in the 400s with no porting and pretty cheap on ebay or racing junk.com. With numbers like that its not that hard to see 900 plus horsepower and rev 9500 rpm at the bat of an eye. I know first hand it can be done, and for the most part pretty cheap. If your not worried about a budget and want to spend a lil more money call Stan Justus of Stallion Racing in Tennessee you may remember him from the 2005 EMC.He did mine and they flowed 440 at 800 lift how about 370 at 500 lift. Im liking that, with a 458 inch SB I made 930 hp. at the flywheel with these heads coupled with a lil bit of giggle juice I make a whole lot more. It might be easy for a BB to do that but id like to see it, after all I am from the SHOWMESTATE !!! OUTLAW SMALL BLOCKS RULE!!!  
You could go pump gas or not it wouldnt matter both ways are nice. Thanks  

i agree with the cheap, powerful import motors.
i want to know more about these engine's.
i almost literarly know nothing about them.
and i waanna know, how to make one able to take super fire breathing power, cheaply. like 20psi boost, or something so i could say have 500rwhp with one, and use a t56 transmission in a rear wheel drive.
the more i learn, the more i wanna know. with pump gas of course...

i think the only reason hot rod's readers critisised them for it was cause were scared we're, out dated.
and compared to most of our builds, 500hp is luaghable when thats the absolute max some of those will put out.

but i need efficiency.

heck i think i was like what the hell when i saw that article, i probably didn't even read it. talk about bull headed. idiocy...