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I don't get to the track as often as I like, but when I do I want stupid power. So having insane power on the street isn't an issue...you just use however much you want by working your right foot. Traction will of course be sketchy on the street even with drag radials if you go nuts with power......but when you go to the track...you'll have plenty of power to have fun.
My car is useless on the street as far as actually using all the power it has......it lights up drag radials at 100+ MPH. At long track events I can't put my foot into it completely until 140 MPH even with drag radials...and with giant speed rated tires it's more like 180 MPH before it doesn't spin. Heck..a good Honda would gap me! LOL But once it's rolling and you judiciously roll into the throttle it's a blast!
But for "normal" street toys...it doesn't take insane power to have fun. I managed to buy back my first new car last summer when I stumbled upon it. A 1982 Mustang GT. It came back with the original 302 mildly upgraded with aluminum heads, better hyd flat tappet cam etc.....and a TKO 5 speed. I swapped in some 4.10's and I'm telling you...it's a heck of a lot of fun to drive. Not fast enough to hurt you...but it can keep the tires burning through 3rd gear and pulls hard to 6500 RPM.
A buddy has a 388" in this '65 Vette we assembled from used parts. It's a deep 11 sec car even with 3.36's and a 4 speed. He recently dropped in some 3.70's and it really likes those!
i am a pretty die hard sbc guy, I’ve had my ‘69 as a sb for 40 years. This last engine I built 18 years ago. 12.1:1 355 with aluminum heads, with a 4 speed would run solid 11’s pulling the front wheels. Lots of fun and enjoyed it for a long time. When the engine had an issue a BB was not even a thought. I was planning for a while to go big inch sbc 427-434 etc. had been planning it for a few years prior to the engine having an issue.
anyway, when I had the engine apart I started to think about how much I was gonna drag the car. As I always work on it I spend more time making it nice. I also know you can make a car junk in the blink of an eye on the track. So now I thought about a fun street car. Well fun to me is instant tire smoking tq. I started to look at big engines and I wanted something out of the norm with big power. Here is where you get everyone’s opinion on what’s too much, for me, for fun there is no such thing as too much. Now for practicality or useable sure there are limits. But I don’t care about that.
i swapped in a 582 that’s makes a very streetable 800hp 760 pound feet of tq on pump gas. Is it useable, no, is it practical, no….is it fun as hell….yes! Healthy solid roller cam breathing through 2 1/8” side pipe headers with flow though mufflers the sound is amazing.
no major changes, run the same trans, I did upgrade to a BB radiator and core support. (A stock sbc core support and easily be modified for a BB radiator) mine was rusted so needed a new one. I don’t run AC so a simple serpentine belt system from March was used. Because of my headers and the car is not totally straight (not many are) I had to do some clearance grinding on the driver side frame. But again I am running big tube sidepipe
headers. Other than that this is all I changed. I also added a removable cross member kit which was nice. I left in my stock sb Springs and I love how the car sits.
cool factor achieved, fun factor is there and I love it. Of course you don’t need anything near this to have fun. 500-600hp BB is easy to achieve and the tq will be all fun!
it truly comes down to how you use the car….fun street car BB’s rule and you just don’t see a lot of C3’s with big engines. At least I don’t at local car shows. I’m still a huge fan of screaming small blocks but man something about a big rat in a C3!
A BB is going to take a bunch of parts to make work, pulleys, radiator, etc. A SB is just a swap. A 500HP+ SB is easy and reasonable cost to build anymore. A decent 383 putting down 500HP + can probably be built in the $6K-$7K range. Need more, 434 stroker can be had in 10K range.
i am a pretty die hard sbc guy, I’ve had my ‘69 as a sb for 40 years. This last engine I built 18 years ago. 12.1:1 355 with aluminum heads, with a 4 speed would run solid 11’s pulling the front wheels. Lots of fun and enjoyed it for a long time. When the engine had an issue a BB was not even a thought. I was planning for a while to go big inch sbc 427-434 etc. had been planning it for a few years prior to the engine having an issue.
anyway, when I had the engine apart I started to think about how much I was gonna drag the car. As I always work on it I spend more time making it nice. I also know you can make a car junk in the blink of an eye on the track. So now I thought about a fun street car. Well fun to me is instant tire smoking tq. I started to look at big engines and I wanted something out of the norm with big power. Here is where you get everyone’s opinion on what’s too much, for me, for fun there is no such thing as too much. Now for practicality or useable sure there are limits. But I don’t care about that.
i swapped in a 582 that’s makes a very streetable 800hp 760 pound feet of tq on pump gas. Is it useable, no, is it practical, no….is it fun as hell….yes! Healthy solid roller cam breathing through 2 1/8” side pipe headers with flow though mufflers the sound is amazing.
no major changes, run the same trans, I did upgrade to a BB radiator and core support. (A stock sbc core support and easily be modified for a BB radiator) mine was rusted so needed a new one. I don’t run AC so a simple serpentine belt system from March was used. Because of my headers and the car is not totally straight (not many are) I had to do some clearance grinding on the driver side frame. But again I am running big tube sidepipe
headers. Other than that this is all I changed. I also added a removable cross member kit which was nice. I left in my stock sb Springs and I love how the car sits.
cool factor achieved, fun factor is there and I love it. Of course you don’t need anything near this to have fun. 500-600hp BB is easy to achieve and the tq will be all fun!
it truly comes down to how you use the car….fun street car BB’s rule and you just don’t see a lot of C3’s with big engines. At least I don’t at local car shows. I’m still a huge fan of screaming small blocks but man something about a big rat in a C3!
yes sir, very happy with it! All quality parts and the build was done very well. I’ve been out in long cruises and it doesn’t skip a beat. It’s a serious head Turner at shows and it’s a blast to drive.
