i have a 412 small block short block sittin waiting to be done somthin w/ it has 6" rods and flat top pistons w/ 4 valve reliefs and a 4 bolt main do you guys thing that would be worth stickin into a third gen or do you think i'll have more problems then its worth. the 350 i pulled out just seems to keep developing issuses i dont know that i really wanna spend the money to fix at the moment and w/ the other motor only needing a little bit of cleaning and oiling due to sitting i'd much rather do that and put steam holes in my other heads and run the 412 if it would be worth it. what do you guys think?

 

Well ive never been a fan of the factory 400 SBCs they were the most unreliable of the SBC family. They estimate about 1 in 10 blew out into the water jacket and since it seems yours is punched out alittle that means you could be at an even greater risk for that to happen. They also dont tolerate things like overheating nearly as well as the other SBCs. That being said if youve got it why not put it to use and if it fails it fails nothing lost nothing gained. It will give you quite a nice boost in performance assumeing supporting mods. My biggest concern would be with the rest of the drive train holding together as our transmissions and rear axles werent the greatest. Ide go for itit will drop right in as its just a punched out stroked out conventional SBC. May require a bit of work if its fuel injected though.

 

What did you choose for heads?