I want to reach give or take 500 horsepower with a 355. ive looked around at builds and i think i want to mimic this one

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...ild/index.html

That being said. i wanted to used forged pistons and rods. Scat and eagle both sell a cast crank thats good up to 500 hp. The build indicates that this motor makes 390 hp and 423 ft-lbs of torque. i want to see about 10:1 cr so im still able to use pump gas. To strengthen it, i plan to use screw in studs, ARP bolts and all the necessary bolts and gaskets. i know this might throw off the specs of the build, but i wanted to use a holley stealth ram with a 52mm throttle body. as far as a cam goes, im not quite sure what to use. id like to have a lopey idle but not so much that it destroys the driveability. if i do this build and use a 100 to 150 shot, is it possible to hit 500 hp? i accept everybodys 2 cents so feel free.

 

If you are starting from scratch and want to hit 500hp, go with a 383 chevy.

kit is around 1k
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SCA-1-90460-1/

 

I hate magazine article buildups. They always show what can be done however there's always so much information about the build that they never mention. Anyone can slap together a bunch of parts to make an engine but to build it properly, the engine is assembled and disassembled many times for extra machine work as measurements are taken during the build.

For your goals, a bigger displacement should be used. It's easier and more driveable to have a high HP big engine than a high HP small engine. A 383 or 400 is easier to reach 500 HP. For the cost of building a high HP reliable engine, it can be much cheaper to just buy a prebuilt engine to obtain your goal. Many places including Jets and Summit have suitable engines that have already been built and dyno tested.

For cam choice, you want one with a grind that will match your driving habits. One that starts to make power at 3000 rpm won't be a good street choice when you're always driving around at less than 3000 rpm.

Now, why 500 HP? Have you ever driven a 500 HP street car? For most people 300-350HP is more than enough in a street car to make them happy. Throwing on a NOS system to make the 500 HP isn't driving around with 500 HP.

 

i chose 500 hp because its good goal for me to build up to. plus not to mention it would beat up on nearly anything on the street within reason. as far as building a higher displacement motor, i think i should go with a 383 instead.

if i build a 383 with a goal of 500 hp, would i need both forged pistons and rods or just forged pistons. because i know that cast and hyper eutectic pistons arent reliable for nitrous. plus im on a budget so thats always a factor

 

I would go with forged rods and pistons. If your budget allows, i'd even go with a forged crankshaft. No reason to push a cast crank to its limit.

 

theres 3 builds currently that are being finished up, mine is one of them. You can look through each build to see where you need to be. I know 2 of us are in or close to the 500hp range, i think the other one is also.

My build
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...-383-swap.html Carb

Gbay's build
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...195-383-a.html FIRST TPI

Gunmetal build
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...ap-thread.html Miniram

Remember your going to need a trans and rear to handle the power. Make a build budget where you want to be, and exspect twice that to finish I tripled my build budget

 

As far as the forged crank. Ya buy one if you have the money, will cost a few hundred more. But its not needed for a 150 shot if done right. I have a buddy that only used cast cranks on his mud trucks pushing 750HP and he has never had a problem. I would however buy forged pistons and rods.

 

That's usually the best advice to any project engine build.

 

I've read it here a few times on different post. But for some reason it slipped my eyes before i started my build lol

 

you are spot on. Every time I read those posts from the youngsters I too wonder from where do they pull that 500HP number. If they have 300 RWHP, decent gearing and the suspension and tires to hook, they would be shocked at the performance you get.

Also, on the street, unless you do all highway,how do you spend 80% or greater of your time? It's probably under 55 mph.

 

I was the same way with my build. I picked 500 and went with it. I guess its just a sexy number lol The way i see it, 500 and under is reasonable, 500+ your gonna spend gobs of money to make it reliable and do it right. Just my .

 

I've never had my engine on a dyno. Using a power to weight ratio based on my best 1/4 mile MPH and ET and adjusted for the weather conditions, I'm making an estimated 880 HP. My goal is to make 1000 HP without a power adder.

My 540 may not be quite enough to do it without having it on kill. A 572 or 632 would be easier. A 632 could probably do it on pump gas but the swap into a third gen would be very costly.

Making 500 HP with a SBC isn't difficult especially if you use some sort of power adder but without a power adder, it's easier to obtain with a larger displacement engine. The original 383 that was in my car when I bought it had crappy heads and was really down on power because of them. With a better head swap, I was making an estimated 525 HP. It was enough to push my car into the very high 11's. I blew up that "street engine" after 2 years of racing and 200 1/4 mile passes. Cast pistons and stock rod bolts don't like to spin to 7000 rpm. The engine also had a lot of miles on it before I bought the car.