A mild big block with a 100 shot of NOS will do it. Or a warmed over small block with a bigger shot of NOS will also work.

You can have a streetable engine and the nitrous will get you the rest of the way. You do need forged pistons, a good fuel system, and some decent heads. Rear gears at least 3.50s are also necessary.  

Didn't he say he want's to get solidly into the 12's, not 12 flat? You don't need any more than 500hp to pull a mid 12 (with crappy launch and some wheelspin). A 4000lb truck isn't that heavy, and 12's are easy enough to pull off. An actual challenge would be getting one of the 8000lb new chevy pickups (thinkin 2500HD) into 12's. Haha but this combo would make a great sleeper. And you don't need a blown BBC to get 500hp either....a simple 383 would do it, and that's quite streetable. Well, for me it is. And just put those sandbags in the rear if you want traction...and slapper bars :-D  

500 real world horsepower from a 383 isn't that easy to come, ESPECIALLY if you need to drive it everyday or have it last more than a season at the dragstrip. Reliable parts are expensive and you need increased reliablilty if you push an engine. That's why the suggestions have been leaning towards larger cubes.  

Maybe this will help, I had a 72' 2wd blazer that I dragged at the hometown strip. With me in it weighed 3970lbs, power combo was a .030 over 400sbc with a edelbrock rpm total powerpackage(heads,cam,intake&etc) & 9:5:1 compression.Engine cost including machine work & edelbrock kit just shy of $6000.00. When tested at the college dyno it pushed 392 horses @ rear wheels. My drivetrain consisted of a th400 & 4.10 gears. My slips at the drags recorded 12.7 fairly consistantly. I use to daily drive this suv but at $3.10 a gal and about 9 to 12 mpg I gave it up.Hope this helped.  

392 rwhp gets you 490 crank hp @ 20% loss (+/-). Close on the estimates for 11's. 400 cubes helps.  

If you're going crate style,4 the $ the World Products Merlin 454 or 509 are good choice's and have a 2yr warranty. They are dyno run and broke in befor shipping,have all the goodies,and come with the dyno sheet's.If I didnt build all my own engines,they would b my choice.  

slamrabbit:
Maybe this will help, I had a 72' 2wd blazer that I dragged at the hometown strip. With me in it weighed 3970lbs, power combo was a .030 over 400sbc with a edelbrock rpm total powerpackage(heads,cam,intake&etc) & 9:5:1 compression.Engine cost including machine work & edelbrock kit just shy of $6000.00. When tested at the college dyno it pushed 392 horses @ rear wheels. My drivetrain consisted of a th400 & 4.10 gears. My slips at the drags recorded 12.7 fairly consistantly. I use to daily drive this suv but at $3.10 a gal and about 9 to 12 mpg I gave it up.Hope this helped.

Thanks a bunch. I was wondering though, with those 4.10's and that kind of time, what did you do for traction? You must have been revving pretty good by the end of the quarter. I like to hear about these real world combinations. I'm gonna do some research on this power package. That rig must have been a lot of fun. Sleeper or slightly modified look?  

CLYDE1LS7:
If you're going crate style,4 the $ the World Products Merlin 454 or 509 are good choice's and have a 2yr warranty. They are dyno run and broke in befor shipping,have all the goodies,and come with the dyno sheet's.If I didnt build all my own engines,they would b my choice.

It'll probably be something where I buy a block and put the rest of the combo together. It has always been more enjoyable for me to spend evenings reading mags & online looking stuff up. There is something to be said for drop in and go but not for me this time. This is all part of the car/truck-crafting fun. Thanks for your posts.  

The traction problem was managed through lakewood universal traction bars & a good set of mickey thompson ET street radials. 6200rpms at the end of the quarter, you are at the tail end of your powerband with the Edelbrock rpm cam. Very good combo & the gears get your heavy trucks momentum going with less effort than if you used a smaller ratio. By the way I used a B&M 2400 holeshot converter, worked very well on launch. Hope this helped.  

If you have any Q's bout BBC's,just ask! B glad 2 help!!!  

Look, as great as a big block is, with today's gas prices giving us nosebleeds, a big block just isn't a viable option for someone who's gonna drive said vehicle more than once a week.

A well built, power adder equipped small block will get his truck into the 12s, but still be driveable every day. My own personal preference is for N/A power, but you can't deny what the turbo and blower motors are doing these days.

Darryl Bassani once gave me the perfect description of a turbo motor. He compared it to Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk. Under part throttle (with no or little boost) you've got a mild mannered engine that drives like an everyday car. But stomp the throttle and kick the boost in, and that mild-mannered engine turns into a rampaging beast!

HULK SMASH!!!  

I have to agree with the 55 guy, if I was going to build another sleeper truck this would be sensible. You can build a mild sbc add the blower/supercharger & get close to the 400horses @ rearwheels that you are going to need to get solid into the 12's, & the bonus is better reliability & gas mileage compared to the gas guzzler edelbrock package I went with. If it was me the new inclosed carb kit from vortech looks tempting with no hood clearance problems so you can retain that sleeper image. The cost through Summit is $3200.00 for this package & buy the time you do the required prep on your block it will be about the price I payed for all my upgrades & RPM package combined. Looks like you got a ton of picks to choose from but remember the more you can save on gas the more you can burn rubber on the streets.