We all know chevy motors are the cheapest to rebuild and are put into about everything. So why fight it, build a ford but don't let it die with a ford motor, put a chevy motor in it and live forever. Like they say old fords never die they just get chevy motors put into them. Chevy rules everything else sucks.  

There are some cool chevy engines, but although the 350 is a good engine and parts are cheap, they're pretty boring I think..  and I own one!  (it's in my 72 Chevelle SS)  I'm a chevy guy, but I'm also a BOP guy, a ford guy an AMC guy and a mopar guy..

I think what would be bitchin is if you were going to put a Chevy mill in an old rod like a model A, do a 348 or a 409...  yeah!!!  something different!

Why put a chevy in anything other than a chevy?    old hotrod fords are cool to see at the car show, but I think its pretty lame to see a generic chevy 350 'plant (yawn)  where a hot flathead or other trick ford mill should be in a model A or a model T.     I don't know what's up with you chevy guys and how you think that there is nothing other than SBC?   There are many awesome v8 engines to build and all of them can be very kickass when built right.  There's nothing more weak than some guy's old pontiac with a chevy engine where the 400 or 455 should be.   It makes the car instantly uncool.   I say, if you have a Buick, run a bu' in it.   455's are gnarly, but nailheads are just flat out cool.  Olds:  rocket v8's kickass and the 455's are easy to find and make sick torque.  Ponchos:  389, 400, 421, 428,or 455 or even a hot OHC-6 is the way to go..  Fords or mercs should not have anything but a ford.  Ford makes so many great engines like the 289, 302, 351, 400, 427, 429, and the flatheads which are cool and timeless..  AMC even makes some kickass mills, the 343, 360, 390 and 401 are all worth building!!   Oh yeah, and what about the Cadillac 500???  sick torque, enuf said.  And last but not least, why the hell would you want to put a chevy in a mopar??  You would be the laughing stock of wherever you went???   Both small and bigblock mopars rule and there is a very good reason why top fuelers and funny cars run Hemi blocks instead of BBC blocks..  

Maybe you should surf over to the SuperChevy site if your so closed-minded

CAR CRAFT:  ALL BRANDS MUSCLE

yeah of course 350's are probably the most versatile engine ever developed, light, doesnt overheat, has no problem in power, cheap parts, and very common, but i also think there very boring, im not saying im off small block chevy's but if i put a small block in anything it has to be a 400 small block or maybe a hopped up 327, but 427 stroke big blocks are huge power makers and are easy to get your hands on, im a strong GM believer and i always will be, its the only way to go, hands down

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "when an engine is built right." You see a chevy motor is built right from the beginning. You don't have to spend a lot of money to make it handle the horsepower. But take an Olds 403 put in the old Trans Ams and watch the crank fly out if you make any serious horsepower. Or look at the ford motors where they have big long snouts on the crank shaft, all I have to say is bye bye balancer. and don't let me even get into the nopar crap.

I have taken a stock 350 short block from a junk yard put a set of stock double hump 202 heads that where ported and a crane 278 cam, with Weiand Team-G intake , and a 750 double pumper holley , a 300 horse nos kit, and some hooker cheapy headers.

And put this motor in a 78 monte and ran it for over a year before I burnt a hole in the piston from the nos use. back to the junk yard for another $150 short block. Lets see you do that to a ford, nopower, amc, or any other junk motor out there and see what they would do. Fail I would say. I have proof that a stock small block chevy will live up to years of abuse, and I'm talking about 7-8 grand and juicing it at least once a day.

But back to building the motor right. I would say to build a ford, mopar,or other motor would cost a lot more than a chevy rebuild and the extra money spent on them would just get you that much more out of your chevy rebuild.

Also it looks like you have a pretty good start on a "Top 10 worst American motors ever built" list for the next months issue.

Build a Ford but make it live with a chevy motor.

 

I have to agree with you, if your going to build a small block build a 400, That is what I built for my '71 camaro, a 13:1 406 with with a fat Crower solid roller cam that is making about 650 hp and that doesn't even include the big shot system.  

I've owned several Chevies, I currently have a 350 SBC in my '72 Chevelle SS.  Its a fresh rebuild with a mild cam and a few other goodies.  A great, solid reliable streeter, and that's exactly what I wanted.  The smallblock chevy is an excellent motor and I agree that it is a versatile block to use from a hot-rodding point of view... although my chevelle would be alot more exciting if it had a BBC.. big blocks just cost more, whatever brand they are.

That is impressive, and very cool the way you have fed sick huge nitrous hits to a junkyard SBC!!!   I think a realtively stock Pontiac 400 would be able to take that kind of abuse too.  Poncho's are what I know.. and yeah the parts are a little more expensive than for a SBC, but I don't really mind.  I like being different, and I love the massive low-end grunt torque of the Pontiac.  A 350 chevy is a great engine to put in a Chevy car, but I think its really lame to see a cool old GTO or TA with a chevy engine.  Seems like a sucker cop-out to me.   It'd be cool to see how well the poncho 400 would hold up to nitrous hits like you've done.  Seems like a good and fun challenge!   I think, like your chevy, the stock cast pistons would be the limiting factor. 

Oh, and I certainly agree that the olds 403 is complete junk... and is hardly worth conversing about.   Real pontiacs are powered by a Pontiac v8.. 

My ultimate rod that I will build someday is a rat-rod style primered Model A roadster with a 409 and a 4 speed...   An old Ford with Chevy power, but something different and definitely cool!

I have to agree with you on the poncho 400, and a big block would do your chevelle right, and the 409 in a rod would be really cool.

But one thing in common is they are all GM motors, I guess I should of said building a V8 GM is the way to go.  

wow, 7-8000 rpm to make power? my pontiac gets it in by 6000. you can't brake this crank. there is no better oiling system and car craft prooved its cheaper to build then a chevy big block. yes i know you're talking about a small block chevy but i love big cubes. take a look at pontiac cams. not a lot of valve train busting lift. we don't need it. duration duration duration. torque? nothing beats a pontiac. again look at the BOP shoot out issue in carcraft. maybe mopar had more on paper but the dyno couldn't hold the big indian low enough to show the truth. i could build a 550 horse pontiac using d-port heads and a not so crazy cam and drive it everyday for years. in the mean time your small chevy is is winding out to 7000 to keep up. makes for great gas milage ay? and no, i won't be spending hundreds more. oh, my big pontiac only gets up to 190degrees in traffic on a 90degree day using a stock water pump and a $200 aluminum radiator. beat that with your chevy idling like a prostocker. why arn't more people building these engines? there originals are still running.

p.s. those arn't chevy heads in that pro stocker. long live the big chief!

The 350 junker I had made power through the hole power range, and with the juice I was able to spin it 7-8 grand which would give my car more of a top end than yours. Granted that we ran the same trans and gear ratio. So when your grabbing second and going into the bottom of your power curve, I'm still spinning first out at the top of my power curve. Then you say your poncho has 400 cubes so does the small block in my camaro and it still spins 8 grand, I may not be at the top of my power curve but it is still pulling. Look under project cars in the general discussion to see what I have in my motor. The poncho is a good motor but we all know it's not a chevy. At least your not saying the 403 in the Trans Am's are good. They were junk, boat anchors, should be melted down to make poncho motors, but they're not good enough for chevy motors.

P.S. look at a set of aftermarket chevy heads compared to a set

pontiac heads and you will spend more for the pontiac heads

Pontiac = poor old *** thinks its a cadillac  

If you are right , how come all the HONDA guys say Chevy is dead . Don't you know 120 cubes is better than a 350 dinosaur .

YEAH RIGHT

and really you can make that 350 short end stay together for a small price, its so easy to get a buttom end good on small chevy, cast cranks work fine around 7500 RPM i dont care what anyone says i know they do if the engine is built right, take out the stock rods, $50 in wave lock bolts and polish the beams yourself and they'll never die, get a set of forged pistons if its NOS and it will never break

your right, in stock cars chevy was the only AND THE ONLY! to have anything high performance, mopar and ford never even made a solid lifter engine, never cast high performance heads, you can run to the junkyard and build high perf chevy engines all day

Chevy is the only way to go may it be big block or small you can't loose.

And to all you guys that think you can rebuild your motor cheaper than a chevy rebuild that's fine, but lets see you build a motor like a have in my camaro and do it cheaper.

Just to say the only thing that is still a GM part is the block.

Also most fords and slowpars didn't have screw in rocker studs or adjustible rockers and to have that machine work done isn't cheap.

That is one of the reasons building a motor other than a chevy will cost you more.

Rice is for mice

muscle is for men  

no, my poncho has 470cubes. (.60 over 455)and if we had the same gears you would not always outrun me. i ran high 12's with a mostly stock engine and 3.23 rear gear. the only up grades are a performer intake (weak) and a lunati cam with only .490 lift. (forgot the duration) the cam was so small that i was able to idle the engine down to 700rpm. i bought this engine and rebuilt it for just $1000. yes i know you can get chevys for next to nothing. but a similiarly prepped small block chevy is not going to pull a 3.23 geared 3700lb brick to no high 12second run. i did this with a swapmeat quadrajet and 30" tall tires. the only thing chevy have going for them are a hugh aftermarket. that pretty much takes enginuity right out of the chevy engine build. and as for that "its no chevy" comment, chevy was always the "boss" at g.m. when pontiac came up with something chevy shut it down. chevy liked to grab up pontiacs gen. managers. chevy couldn't handle being out done by pontiac. thats why pontiac bashees don't exist.(g.m. shut the banshee project down in the early 60's when they believed it would out perform the king corvette). also in the early 60's the 421 pontiac ruled nascar and the nhra. they were the only thing to keep up with and often beat the hemi's. where are they now? chevy only knows. so my pontiac is no chevy? i believe its the other way around.

p.s. true poncho heads arn't cheap but they will always out flow your small block chevy heads and most big block chevy heads if not all.

Well said .

Tubbed,   Most all brands built some excellent iron. 

Look at some of the same build comparisons in car Craft and Hot Rod. I guess you haven't done enought investigation?  Look at the performance you can pack into a 302.  Poncho torque monsters.  Car Crafter, you said it best!

As this seems to be a little left out, here is some Mopar examples Great power from the high revving 340 to the torquey 440.  Mopar engines came with the larger 904 lifter bore enabling the builder to use a cam that would support a higher lift at any given duration.  Ford being second largest bore and chevy being the smallest!

Check out the benefits of a HEMI.  Incredible power with almost unlimited potential.  An unbeatable engine.  Expensive... You bet

Nothin wrong with a 350... I am sure glad you like it.