Posted by Chris (129.24.182.60) on February 16, 2001 at 18:13:44:
In Reply to: Stumped again..... posted by Fastman on February 16, 2001 at 06:19:26:
Here's what i think:
If you go with a 302, stroked or not, and you want to get into the 9's or 10's...you're going to eventually wish you had more displacement.
If you go with the cleveland (great engines, i think), you're going to run into some clearance problems, but it HAS been done without chopping the shock towers.
If you were to put the 5.4 in, you'd be disappointed...if you're going to spend the money to do all that work, then you might as well put a new V10 in...they've got a hundred times the potential of the 5.4 (which, from what i've read, isn't the greatest).
If i were you, i would get a 351W, put the cleveland heads on, and stroke it. The clevelands are good engines but have some oiling problems. The heads are really the best thing about them...HUGE canted valves will really beef up your high RPMs. Nearly any machine shop can adapt the cleveland heads to a windsor block, and from there, all you need is special pistons and a special intake (they also sell adapter plates, but i don't know where to get them). A 460 would be nice too, i think, but you get all the disadvantages of a big block: lots of extra weight, and no high RPMS. In Chevy's case, i've seen 350's beat 454's regularly (although, nothing sounds better than a big block :)
Keep in mind that the more you put into the engine, the more trouble you're going to have keeping that power on the ground--even with the stock 302's, tire spin is pretty easily accomplished--and you won't make it in the 9's with no traction!