Well I bought a 350 block for $100. I haven’t had it dipped, decked, line honed or bored yet. I bought 10.72:1 compression pistons for it and some other miscellaneous stuff for it. The thing is... I want to have about 500 to the wheels. I had a change of thought and was thinking about an LS3 swap, Should I keep going with the 355 build up or sell it all and do something else like the LS3? Oh and I forgot to mention on a "budget build" I understand I can get 2000hp from a TT 496 but if I had the money to do so I wouldn’t be making this post So simple thoughts on the best motor for a nice STREET car that is capable of getting around 500 the wheels. Thanks,

 

500 N/A HP to the wheels is asking a lot out of a 355. Especially for a street motor.

 

Yeah I kinda figured... My engine shop where im doing the block work told me around 450hp but thats not to the wheels. Which is why im thinking of doing somthing different. Im able to get a Gen 1 454 block prity cheap off my buddy

 

450 at the crank is very doable. Thats probably where I'm at. I too want to build another motor one day to get 500+ to the wheels. It will probably be a LSx. I can tell you though that even 450 at the motor makes for a fun street car. I have stock tires and a 6 speed, but a few days ago I broke the tires loose at 60 in 2nd gear.

 

500 with nitrous is easy to do. 500 with mild boosted setup is easy to do. N/A thats gonna be very tough. Think all forged rotator, 4 bolt main conversion, long rods, 11 to 1 or so compression, solid roller with hp peak around 7200 rpm with a 210-220 cc head that flows a ton of air...that should do it or atleast be close

Wont be that streetable It will work but its gonna be rough man. Need atleast a 5000 stall. Loads of gear. Build a 383 out of it and its alittle easier to do but still need solid roller/210-220 cc head or so and 7000+ rpm

 

Was it a "depends" moment? lol. See like some of what you just said Orr is all confusing to me... N/A? Not sure waht that is. And when you do nitrous or boost you have to have certian compression correct? Im sure if I get 450 to the crank all motor I will be a happy camper untill my buddy passes me up in his mustang with saleen motor

 

May as well go for boost, only way to easily and cheaply get that sort of power at the wheels out of a 355 small block. 500 at the wheels is a ton of power though, man.

My slow little Mustang with 3.73 gears, big 285 tires out back, and a T56 chirps the tires going into 3rd at just over 65 MPH, and chirps them going into 4th at about 90, with half of the amount of power you want at the wheels. Double that amount of power would be a real handful.

I'm just wondering what 400+ RWHP will be like. I'm going to be making roughly a 150 RWHP jump this winter, when On 3 Performance releases their new single turbo kit. I need to eventually put some money into the IROC though.

 

I need to get a damn T56 swap out BADDD

 

It's worth it, definitely go for it if you can afford the swap. I bought my T56 with only 4,000 miles on a rebuild with billet shift keys, carbon synchros, plus the Fidanza flywheel and Centerforce DFX mentioned in my sig, the Steeda Tri Ax, and 03-04 Cobra aluminum driveshaft for $2,000 + my old TR3650 setup from the flywheel back to the driveshaft + another $150 for the install.

Lot of money to drop into a Mustang that I paid only $6,200 for, but the T56 is ridiculously awesome. When I raced ninetyone's Firebird, I was out of gear at about 120 in 4th, and pulled in 5th for a little bit and I think I came close to 130. Problem was, my old 5th was a .67 overdrive gear. Now with the T56, I have two overdrive gears, and can just keep pulling in 5th. It's practically a close ratio, double overdrive 6 speed.

1st - 2.66
2nd - 1.78
3rd - 1.30
4th - 1.00
5th - 0.79
6th - 0.63

And the GM T56 is even better than that if you do a lot of highway cruising, has a .50 6th gear.

I'll give you an example of how awesome the T56 is if you're into roll racing, and just doing high speed pulls on the highway, etc.

Both have the obvious 1:1 4th gear that has me at 115 MPH at 5,600 and 123 if I run it out to 6,000 RPM. My old 5 speed's overdrive gear would knock me down to just barely above 3,500 RPM if I wanted to pull in 5th, which isn't even into the peak torque range for the Mustang.

Now with the T56, I can wind out 4th to 5,600 RPM, and that brings me into 5th at 4,440 RPM. Right in the middle of my peak torque range at 115 MPH, and I can continue to pull.

That is why the T56 is a brilliant transmission.

 

Im going to have to bite the bullet and drop big cash to get the T56. Im not going to bother with the T5 anymore

 

N/A stands for naturally asperated, meaning no power adders. All motor.

The T56 is very nice. Mine is out of a 03 Cobra so my 6th gear is .63 instead of the GM .5 Still enough overdrive that when I get 4.30 gears out back I can cruise at 75 at about 2500 rpm. Since my motor makes more power up top anyways, this is perfect.

 

Gotcha. What compression do you need to run boost?

 

Depends on how much boost and wether its intercooled or not. Thats not my expertise area though. I would think that if your just running 5 or 6 pounds with a cooler, then 9.5 or 10:1 would be ok. The guys that build for serious boost usually will run 8.5 or so:1

 

n/a or na is short for naturally aspirated...aka all motor no power adders no nitrous.

Making that power all motor will be difficult in a 355 but easy with nitrous or turbo/blower

 

In the long run, you'd save money, by not going through a dozen T5's! I was going to buy the T5 swap from Hawk's third gen for the IROC a long time ago, but I decided to keep it an automatic car. But on the other hand, I bought the Mustang with a TR3650 5 speed, it's a slightly beefier trans than the T5, it's rated at 360 LB-FT.

Great trans if you don't powershift, or don't make an insane amount of power. But, my reflexes got the best of it. Bent shift fork, bad shift keys, synchros were shot too I believe. The guy I bought my T56 from is rebuilding my old TR3650 and selling it off as a complete swap.

It's a desireable trans for V6 Mustang owners, or automatic GT owners just to get into a manual setup, but the T56 is the way to go.

I'm glad I'm keeping the IROC an automatic though, for some reason, despite not liking autos that much. What's really going to be fun is when I can afford a 6 speed 2003-2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins. I'd feel like I'm going through the gears of a Peterbilt, with an inline 6 diesel roaring away, backed by a 6 speed.

But regarding your engine, why not build something like a mild 383 stroker with a small shot of nitrous? You could have a mild mannered street engine, with the extra kick of nitrous on tap to achieve your power goal when you'd like. I personally wouldn't do nitrous, but it's a cheap route for lots of power. Boost would be best in your situation however, of wanting a high powered small block for the street. Depends on how much cash you have really.

 

Well, I guess i can only dream. I really like the idea of doing a turbo. I will see if i can get a donar car with an LS1 and T56. I think really thats the way i wanna go insted of this Gen 1 350 Block

 

LS1 motor will have better luck getting 500whp but it still isnt easy. A 6.0 liter is a better bet, and with big heads/big cam you'll get near or at 500whp. Its quite common to hit 430-450whp without much effort on a 6.0 with half decent heads. Good heads and big cam hit high 400's all day long

 

What about that LQ9 block? I was reading a thread on here about the LS1 compared to the LQ9, seems like every body is likeing the LQ9 over the LS1. And im sure i would have room for that ugly intake with my 6'' cowl

 

LQ4 & LQ9 are both 6.0 liter, cast iron block. Everything is the same between them except the pistons. If you're going for big power, you won't be using the stock pistons, or the stock truck intake; and LQ4's are less expensive and easier to come by than LQ9's.

 

An LS motor would be easier to get 500hp out of for sure. I'm not trying to be a jerk here but have ever ridin in a fairly lite weight car with a true 450hp at the crank? That is a fun ride on the street, the reason I ask is if I had a dollar for every guy I've talked to with a intake and carb say they were making 350 to 450hp I would be rich man. Mine only makes around maybe 385hp at the crank (educated guess) but it makes for a fun street car.

Mark.

 

6.0 has much better chance at 500whp than stock internal LS1... just put heads and LS style intake on it. I'd rather see a EFI style single plane with big sweeping 90 deg elbow to keep smooth transition of flow into a 90+mm TB. Need a 3-4" cowl to really get this to work right but it will beat a LS6 intake and is cheaper than FAST 92 stuff

 

I have been in a nova with 580 at the crank and it was prity scetchy. Also i know what you mean about people saying they have 400/450hp from a head swap and a carb. I simply ask where the dyno slips are. Then you hear crickets. Kids...

 

What are the LQ4's out of???

 

6.0 liter silverados talk to JJ's Automotive, they should have something...but i know they have a few LS1 dropouts