Thread: Your First Car!

I had many 283 Chevy small blocks that would run circles around a bigger 318. When we were young gear heads,NOBODY,wasted their money or time trying to get a 318 to break 15.00 et at the 1/4 mile strip. But it was a good dependable,long running,engine.

Originally Posted by nessmuck

I had many 283 Chevy small blocks that would run circles around a bigger 318. When we were young gear heads,NOBODY,wasted their money or time trying to get a 318 to break 15.00 et at the 1/4 mile strip. But it was a good dependable,long running,engine.

Well sure, a lot of that has to do with available choices - and available talent. Show me 50 Chivvy mechanics and I'll show you 49 that hate Motocraft and Mopar, who I wouldn't want anywhere near my car. Show me a Ford mechanic and I'll show you somebody who at least knows that you can't just pull a battery cable to check an alternator, and must know something about vacuum and fuel pressure, even though they'll still grouse about Mopar and screw up about one out of every seven Mopars they ever have occasion to touch. When you can find a true Mopar-trained mechanic, you've probably also found somebody who has turned wrenches on twice as many Fords, GM's and even weirder foreign designs than they have on Mopars themselves, because that's the nature of the business. (Then again, he'll also be the first guy to tell you that Thermoquads are junk and not worth a rebuild!)

As for engines and parts themselves, small-block Chivvy applications are a dime a dozen. They've been dropped into just about everything, including motorcycle frames and (sacrilegiously) Cobra bodies. Every time Chip Foose does one on his show, I roll my eyes and change the channel, which means I can only watch about one out of every five episodes. Every performance parts catalog I get in the mail has the first 60% of the pages devoted to small-block Chivvys, then 30% to Fords and 10% to Mopar. They've enjoyed the most money for R&D through favored status in NASCAR for decades, while NASCAR changes the rules any time a Dodge wins. Bill France & friends tried to use GM and then Toyota to run Dodge out of the sport - and largely succeeded. Small-block Chivvys have been done SO many times and are so statistically over-represented in the marketplace that all the performance options can pretty much be bought pre-machined in bolt-on form off the same shelf in any auto parts store, so, of course it's more economical and time-saving to do that than try to trick out a workhorse engine that is already a mid-packer in terms of factory performance within it's own pedigree.

For instance, the guy who just pulls out 318's and drops in 440's: For sheer performance vs. economy, it makes perfect sense. The best small-block Mopar choice for a stroker is the 340, but for constrained bracket rules that only allow 350ci, however, a 318 with a 4" stroker crank has a higher cam centerline than any other Mopar design, including the 426 Hemi. Greater strength there and thicker Cometic gaskets under ported heads can take a supercharger that will scream in that bracket without blowing heads or eating up rings. So sure, it's more of a challenge to work with a 318 due to available performance options and technical expertise, but there's no significant lack of performance potential within a reasonable range of the original design.

[QUOTE=Furcifer;1088040]Well sure, a lot of that has to do with available choices - and available talent. Show me 50 Chivvy mechanics and I'll show you 49 that hate Motocraft and Mopar, who I wouldn't want anywhere near my car. Show me a Ford mechanic and I'll show you somebody who at least knows that you can't just pull a battery cable to check an alternator, and must know something about vacuum and




fuel pressure, even though they'll still grouse about Mopar and screw up about one out of every seven Mopars they ever have occasion to touch. When you can find a true Mopar-trained mechanic, you've probably also found somebody who has turned wrenches on twice as many Fords, GM's and even weirder foreign designs than they have on Mopars themselves, because that's the nature of the business. (Then again,

he'll also be the first guy to tell you that Thermoquads are junk and not worth a

rebuild!)

As for engines and parts themselves, small-block Chivvy applications are a dime a dozen. They've been dropped into just about everything, including motorcycle frames and (sacrilegiously) Cobra bodies. Every time Chip Foose does one on his show, I roll my eyes and change the channel, which means I can only watch about one out of every five episodes. Every performance parts catalog I get in the mail has the first 60% of the pages devoted to small-block Chivvys, then 30% to Fords and 10% to Mopar. They've enjoyed the most money for R&D through favored status in NASCAR for decades, while NASCAR changes the rules any time a Dodge wins. Bill France & friends tried to use GM and then Toyota to run Dodge out of the sport - and largely succeeded. Small-block Chivvys have been done SO many times and are so statistically over-represented in the marketplace that all the performance options can pretty much be bought pre-machined in bolt-on form off the same shelf in any auto parts store, so, of course it's more economical and time-saving to do that than try to trick out a workhorse engine that is already a mid-packer in terms of factory performance within it's own pedigree.

For instance, the guy who just pulls out 318's and drops in 440's: For sheer performance vs. economy, it makes perfect sense. The best small-block Mopar choice for a stroker is the 340, but for constrained bracket rules that only allow 350ci, however, a 318 with a 4" stroker crank has a higher cam centerline than any other Mopar design, including the 426 Hemi. Greater strength there and thicker Cometic gaskets under ported heads can take a supercharger that will scream in that bracket without blowing heads or eating up rings. So sure, it's more of a challenge to work with a 318 due to available performance options and technical , but there's no significant lack of performance potential within a reasonable range of the original design.[/QUOT
Well said .....the ease and available parts for Chevy motors make them # 1 for a reason ....THEY PERFORM. Dollar for Dollar you can beat them. My buddy tried like hell to beat me at the track with his 427 Ford Fairlane. he worked at a machine shop to boot. He had the best flowed heads,ported,polished,balanced,the best of the best,it was geared for the 1/4 mile like mine and I still beat him by 2 car lengths with my 1973 smog 454 out of a junkyard...and I was running a 1957 Chevy Station Wagon !!! Boy was he pissed....and he had a lot more money in his motor than mine.And if you know anything about racing short track..a guy named Dave Dion helped him with his head work, But it was still a FORD !!

[QUOTE=Furcifer;1088040]Well sure, a lot of that has to do with available choices - and available talent. Show me 50 Chivvy mechanics and I'll show you 49 that hate Motocraft and Mopar, who I wouldn't want anywhere near my car. Show me a Ford mechanic and I'll show you somebody who at least knows that you can't just pull a battery cable to check an alternator, and must know something about vacuum and




fuel pressure, even though they'll still grouse about Mopar and screw up about one out of every seven Mopars they ever have occasion to touch. When you can find a true Mopar-trained mechanic, you've probably also found somebody who has turned wrenches on twice as many Fords, GM's and even weirder foreign designs than they have on Mopars themselves, because that's the nature of the business. (Then again,

he'll also be the first guy to tell you that Thermoquads are junk and not worth a

rebuild!)

As for engines and parts themselves, small-block Chivvy applications are a dime a dozen. They've been dropped into just about everything, including motorcycle frames and (sacrilegiously) Cobra bodies. Every time Chip Foose does one on his show, I roll my eyes and change the channel, which means I can only watch about one out of every five episodes. Every performance parts catalog I get in the mail has the first 60% of the pages devoted to small-block Chivvys, then 30% to Fords and 10% to Mopar. They've enjoyed the most money for R&D through favored status in NASCAR for decades, while NASCAR changes the rules any time a Dodge wins. Bill France & friends tried to use GM and then Toyota to run Dodge out of the sport - and largely succeeded. Small-block Chivvys have been done SO many times and are so statistically over-represented in the marketplace that all the performance options can pretty much be bought pre-machined in bolt-on form off the same shelf in any auto parts store, so, of course it's more economical and time-saving to do that than try to trick out a workhorse engine that is already a mid-packer in terms of factory performance within it's own pedigree.

For instance, the guy who just pulls out 318's and drops in 440's: For sheer performance vs. economy, it makes perfect sense. The best small-block Mopar choice for a stroker is the 340, but for constrained bracket rules that only allow 350ci, however, a 318 with a 4" stroker crank has a higher cam centerline than any other Mopar design, including the 426 Hemi. Greater strength there and thicker Cometic gaskets under ported heads can take a supercharger that will scream in that bracket without blowing heads or eating up rings. So sure, it's more of a challenge to work with a 318 due to available performance options and technical , but there's no significant lack of performance potential within a reasonable range of the original design.[/QUOT
Well said .....the ease and available parts for Chevy motors make them # 1 for a reason ....THEY PERFORM. Dollar for Dollar you can beat them. My buddy tried like hell to beat me at the track with his 427 Ford Fairlane. he worked at a machine shop to boot. He had the best flowed heads,ported,polished,balanced,the best of the best,it was geared for the 1/4 mile like mine and I still beat him by 2 car lengths with my 1973 smog 454 out of a junkyard...and I was running a 1957 Chevy Station Wagon !!! Boy was he pissed....and he had a lot more money in his motor than mine.And if you know anything about racing short track..a guy named Dave Dion helped him with his head work, But it was still a FORD !!