We've all heard the cliche. I am trying to assess the costs.

Some of this seems to depend on what skills the individual has (mechanic vs. thumb-king), and what tools the individual has (5 axis CNC mill vs. butter knife screwdriver), so let's keep it middle ground.

Assume the peson has/can get basic tools from Sears. Assume they can follow decent instructions. Assume that minimal machining work is gonna be done. Assume all new parts (including engine block) will be used to keep this as buy-and-bolt-it-together as possible. The engine has to pass emissions, idle relativity smoothly, not hand grenade in parades, and suprise to stuff out of onlookers at the strip. No big blocks allowed, please (gotta keep the weight down).

How much is the minimum and how much power can be generated?

 

when you start out you can make big leaps in power compared to cost outlay. after that the cost go up and the power levels go down. it's not a liner equation but more exponential.

 

i think what hes saying is its pretty easy to go from 16sec to 14s.... and it gets a lil harder go go from 14s to 13 and harder from 13s to 12s, ect...

after awhile you end up spending big money and only go a little faster...

where you are when you hit that "wall" of the cost not justifying the speed increase varys on alot of things.... esp the person and the size of their wallet, hence the cliche.. a guy with only $100 a month to spend sees a new cam as a big expence, while a guy wil $3000 a month to spend doesnt have a problem with that at all...

 

I think the reasoning here is correct. One thing that moves the curve over a bit and allows you to get to higher HP levels on the "flatter" part of the money curve is CUBIC INCHES. No other parameter has as much an influence on how cheaply you can make power.

 

So from that perspective the most cost effective way to do it is to get an engine block and stuff the biggest stroke and bore that it and you can afford.

So as speed relates to cost is there a HP/$ ratio? I.E.

300HP cost $
400HP cost $$
500HP cost $$$

Does it matter where in the rev range the power is made?

As I have never been to the strip I would probably run 20s the first time. So if you know that you want to run 12s can't you build to get there in the first place?

It seems that some people are able to get a lot of mileage out of serendipitous experiences. Some just keep throwing money at it and get nowhere.

If you have the opportunity to plan (which I have right now), but don't know what you can accomplish how do you figure out which way you're going?

Stock replacements are easy. They are at most $2000.00 and at best will put you back on the street the way GM intended.

After that it's kind of fuzzy. I see the car mags and they claim to make stupid power for little of nothing. I know it's BS as they don't talk about all of the machine work they have to do to get these really cheap parts to work, and I am convinced that the machine shop is the hot rodders version of drugs. It may be neccesary sometimes, but if the right parts are chosen in the first place doesn't that reduce the shop time?

Crate engines seem like a good alternative, but you have to accept their choice in parts, sometimes chosen for pricepoint and not strength, durabilty, or performance. It is also nice to know you at least turned a wrench yourself.

So if you are going to pick the parts how do you come up with a plan that hits your numbers? How do you determine what you numbers are?

 

Cubic inches + Rectangular dollars = Speed.

 

Can we put some numbers to this?

An example would be "If you want 200 hp at 4800 rpm it will cost you $1295."

Can this be done at, say, 300hp, 400hp, and 500hp?

Thanks,

 

cost to HP isn't easy to define and there are too many variables. 300 at the wheels with factory tpi or tb is pretty much the max so going to 400 may be unrealistic. one or even one and a half HP per CID in a SBC isn't hard to do. anything more gets very expensive. i ithnk i'd change the scale someone posted aboveto so the ratio of cost to HP since it was liner, i think it'd look more like this:

300hp= $
400hp= $$$
500 hp = $$$$$$$

 

So what you are saying is that you start changing to aftermarket parts after 300 HP.

One and a half HP per CID on a 400 cube "350" is 600 HP :rockon: :rockon: I'll take that ANYDAY.

But that doesn't tell me the rectangular dollars it takes to get there.

If you got a fist full of dollars you have already limited yourself to what you can make. I'm trying to figure out how big the fist needs to be to get the performance.

It appears that maybe this isn't the popular way to approach this. Does it not make sense to see how high the mountain is before you choose to climb it? If you already decided on what gear you need (cash) before you know how high the mountain is (power) or how long it will take (reliabilty) or whether you even have permission (emissions) it seems to be setup from the start to be disappointing.

 

ok for example i'm doing a very basic preformance 408 chevy. i have 1400 dollars in it so far and haven't bought bearings, rings, intake, headers, timing set, or pistons. considering i install my own cam bearings and grind my own valves it'd be easy to add 200 - 300 dollars for machine work that most people would have to pay. i expect i'll have another 1000 dollars or more to spend and i'm guessing i'll be lucky to have 1 HP per CID at the wheels.

 

jrg77..

You have to figure out either how much money you have or how much power you want.

Myself am going for about 450 fwhp with a budget of about 3-3500. I already have the block,but need new heads cam etc..

I'm not sure that my numbers are realistic I have a few deals that will help me get there.
Scoty

 

Well, in any case I have to buy a T56 as my T5 won't hold up. That will be anywhere from $500 (some lucky stiff quoted that as his purchase price) to $3000 (G-force transmissions T56 good for 900HP according to their brochure).

Then there's the 12 bolt as the 10 bolt won't suffice.

And the springs and dampers.

And the brakes...

And chassis stuff...

And SEATS (I feel like I'm sitting at a bar stool in the stock one )

So I figure when it's all said and done I'll have about $30k in the car. For that princely sum I'd better be able to whip on a stock Z06 .

If $10k goes into the engine I would not be supprised.

I can hardly see the point in doing something else. I might as well have just saved for the down payment and bought a 4th gen .