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But i bet he just impresssed the pants off the ac cobra kit guys at the local biffy burger cruise...
This was a 350 stroked to a 427 with twin turbo. The guy engineered the crap out of this and spent a butt load of money to the tune of $20K and dropped it into a 77 or 78 Vette tan in color if I remember correctly.
I tried to find the tread on this but no joy, I think I might have a picture of the engine on some old hard drive.
I bet very few people would find that 600 hp in an ac cobra isn't too much horsepower.
I remember back in the day when paper ads were the thing a lot of guys selling their high hp ac cobra immediately after the build was complete because "its too powerful for me".
I have a stigma from my kit car world, when the cobra craze hit most guys who wanted one came from driving a mini van or a 200 hp whatever but wanted tall hp they could never handle, and these were steet cars never seeing a track, so bascally posturing,
I knew a racer who sold cobras he built he told me he wouldn't sell one to a guy who didnt first attend his driving classes, more hp more classes, he didnt want a noob to die in one of his cars or take out some family,
Cool factor and bragging rights for tall street hp is what thats all about...
I look at it maybe a little differently. Big torque down low is fun, but that is also what makes some of these big engines less driveable on the street. I much prefer the feel of a bigger crammed engine which softens the bottom end hit a little, but hangs on longer at the top. A perfect example is my recent recamming of my 502. I went from a 600 hp at 6100 rpm solid flat tappet, to a bigger solid roller which made 653 at 6500 rpm. I don’t have the Dyno sheet in front of me but it did soften the low end a little. But let’s face it, any 500 inch engine is going to have plenty low end no matter how big the cam. I just like the feel of a little more rpm which is a bigger hp number but more driveable on the bottom. This probably doesn’t apply as well to auto trannies maybe. My two cents.
This was a 350 stroked to a 427 with twin turbo. The guy engineered the crap out of this and spent a butt load of money to the tune of $20K and dropped it into a 77 or 78 Vette tan in color if I remember correctly.
I tried to find the tread on this but no joy, I think I might have a picture of the engine on some old hard drive.
I never said some street builds are not well engineered,
Some are super stunning but still just a posturing tool if only used on the street,
Some are close but have other motivations, remember project insane asylum merlin, zillions spent and if i recall it never ran or drove in any practical way.
build your own engine.
i'd go aluminum heads to keep weight off the nose.
each part should be exactly what YOU want.
If you just want burnouts iron heads will help
Yep.... Iron heads are only good for burn outs..
And seeing as how the OP is posting up about wanting a Blueprint engine with stock rods, cast pistons and other ching ching parts in it, I'm guessing he isn't real concerned about each part in it. He likely just wants a good reliable street motor.
I have a stigma from my kit car world, when the cobra craze hit most guys who wanted one came from driving a mini van or a 200 hp whatever but wanted tall hp they could never handle, and these were steet cars never seeing a track, so bascally posturing,
Yes, I'm sure thats why a lot of these guys were selling their high hp ac cobra builds after the first drive - they thought it sounded fun and cool until they saw how unprepared they were for the extra performance.
I think if you're going to have a very high hp car you have to gradually move up in power levels to that sort of thing to have any comfort level in driving it. Its been 20 years since I drove my 325-350 hp 70 Torino with the equivalent of a 5.00 rear gear with regular blasts to 100 mph and the 6000 rpm red line. Back then I thought it was huge fun and it didn't scare me but its been 20 years since I've driven like that so the last time I had my stock 79 L82 out on the highway at full throttle and hit 80 mph it made me nervous because I'm not used to any sort of performance driving.
I would say that as HP goes up, so should driving skills. I grew up driving muscle cars with bias tires on snow and ice in the northland. You get a feel for what the back end of your car is doing, which was usually the back end trying to pass the front.
You can watch hours of video on Youtube of people crashing their cars doing burnouts because they have no feel for when they are getting out of shape. If you can't feel when the back end starts kicking out in time to correct, it's all over.
I've had my hot rod cars lose traction and try going sideways at inopportune times, and it's always an eye opener, but I was ready and corrected. Of course after riding a Top Fuel motorcycle for years where things happen very quickly, street cars are almost like slow motion to me.
So anyway, since the OP was racing Superbike, I think he would be fine with 600 horse, as he probably has good feel and reaction times. For others, 600 horse may be way beyond their driving skills. 600 horse may feel very slow to others used to faster machines.
And seeing as how the OP is posting up about wanting a Blueprint engine with stock rods, cast pistons and other ching ching parts in it, I'm guessing he isn't real concerned about each part in it. He likely just wants a good reliable street motor.
Yep. That's true. I'm not racing this. I want to have a fun reliable streetable motor.
I am going to check out the other link for the engines. Blueprint was the best I had found so far. I'm not married to it. And since I won't order the motor until Marsh-ish, I appreciate the help and experience from the team here!!!!
600-650 hp is perfect. Just know going into it that the stock drivetrain will NOT hold up, especially with a manual trans.
Also you have to think about hood clearance, if you are sticking with the stock BB hood, you are severely limited on intake manifold choices and thus how much HP you can support.
The VP 650hp 496 is a great engine, very good manners, plenty of vacuum for the headlights/brakes....Could easily be a daily driver. I have 24k miles on mine. Outstanding street engine and WELL proven to perform. It costs less then the BluePrint 496 you posted the link to, and this one has forged pistons, forged Scat rods and crank....Just a lot better components all the way around, machined and built by one man. Not to mention it will make 60hp more and about 100lbs tq more.
I took a look at that page. It definitely looks interesting. I will give him a call. Thanks for the info.
I am concerned about the hood. Good point. I love the hood that is on it, but is there even a good alternative manifold out there that will keep it under the stock hood? It seems like even the Performer is a lot higher than the stock 4.5 inch rise from my previous 454.
I took a look at that page. It definitely looks interesting. I will give him a call. Thanks for the info.
I am concerned about the hood. Good point. I love the hood that is on it, but is there even a good alternative manifold out there that will keep it under the stock hood? It seems like even the Performer is a lot higher than the stock 4.5 inch rise from my previous 454.
Really the only decent option that I KNOW fits under the B.B. hood is a repro 1970 LS6, 454 intake. It’s a pancake, the runners actually almost look upside down. However, they have a decent port size and easily support 500+ HP. The only other option is an old Holley Street Dominator intake. I have read that it will clear a B.B. hood, and is a very capable intake...however I have never test fit one personally.
All of the other B.B. intake options suck.. (Torquer II, stock LS5 etc)
Here is what the old Holley Street Dominator looks like. You can see it’s pretty damn short, but still has a decent plenum volume and runner size. Good luck finding one tho.
I have a Backdraft Cobra with a Pace Performance LS3, 525 HP. I actually start out in second gear alot because its easy to spin the tires in 1st but once it gets going it is very fast. 600 HP might be too much for that car unless you make some modifications to it.
I personally like 600 hp in a street car. That's plenty of power to be fun and occasionally scare yourself. Any more than 600 and it becomes an issue of traction management. The car actually becomes less fun, more scary, and its much harder to drive fast. And as others have said, putting serious power into a C3 chassis requires upgrading everything. Just my .02.
What kind of upgrading would you recommend?
I haven't done the rear suspension yet so I will be back there playing around anyway.
12-20-2017, 01:35 PM
