Does anyone own one of these or have experience with one. I 'm looking to buy one from Bill Mitchell's Hardcore Racing. I was going to use:

454 SBC Short Block Kit:

Motown Block 4.125" Bore
Scat /Eagle 4340 4.0" Stroke Crank
Eagle H-Beam 6.0" Rods
Ross -12cc Reverse Dome Pistons
JE Moly Rings 1/16,1/16,3/16
Clevite Bearings

AFR 227 Heads

TPIS Miniram
1300 CFM ThrottleBody

Hooker 1 3/4 Headers LT's
Mufflex 3" Y-Pipe with Mufflex 4" exhaust with Spintech muffler

Obviously there are some things that I still have to figure out, but
I'm really leaning towards doing this. Anyone have any feedback, good or bad.

 

The AFR 227 is a big head but 454 is also a lot of cubic inches to fill. Since you're going to be spending a lot of money anyway, are there any other SBC heads available that are bigger? The AFR227 will probably work just fine but not as good as some bigger heads to feed a big engine.

The 1-3/4" headers are going to be small. Minimum should be 1-7/8" for a big engine. 2" would be better.

Personally I think by the time you're done with a "big" SBC, it would be cheaper to just drop in a 454 BBC. Building a big SBC isn't considered an economy daily driver so any argument about cost cutting differences shouldn't be used.

Don't forget that building a high hp engine also requires the rest of the driveline. Transmission and diff need to be able to handle the increased HP and torque.

 

Ah, well I was looking at Bill Mitchell's web site and the largest smallblock head he has is the Motown 220. He puts them on his 427 SBC engines, so I figured that AFR 227 should do just fine. Does anybody make a 1 7/8" header for a smallblock, I know that Hooker has them for BBC swap. I looked at dropping a BBC in, but that also has it's expenses. Find a suitable engine and rebuild or build, around my area that seems to be slim to none. Change to a carb or get Fuel Injection for a BBC. Change wiring for injection or carb. Change fuel pump for carb or get regulator, plus fitting the engine and exhaust on the car. If I keep it a smallblock, then my Miniram will work, wiring and ECM will work, need major tuning of course, exhaust and headers will work and it will basically drop right in the car. That's how I was looking at it, plus the WOW factor. My brother has a 430 cid smallblock in his 85 Camaro. Oh yeah, it's not my daily driver, so I'm not too concerned on economy, it can be a little nuts.

 

Im yet to see any large tube headers for a SBC but you could buy a kit and make them yourself.

 

How are emission laws in Canada?

 

http://www.hedman.com/pages/RACING/strt-strp-chevy.html

Big tube SBC headers

 

Well in Manitoba I don't think they exist. I currently have no cat or emissions on my car and I've been to the dealer twice and an exhaust shop and no one said anything. I don't know about newer cars but mine is a 92. Never heard of anyone in Manitoba getting emissions tested either.