Engines, oh boy, my buddy built a 348 scruby for his 58 and experienced the same higher cost as the Ys, but when it's right what can you do.

Ted, Redding, CA

I'm assuming easily is synonymous with cost-effectively in this context.  If that is an incorrect assumption, then it really is pretty easy to get 500hp out of a Y-block.  I give Ted or John or Tim money and a 500hp Y arrives at my door.  Pretty easy.
Once you get to a certain power level, there just isn't anything cheap about it and the cost/hp levels out, SBC or not, if you want it to be reliable.  If the goal was a budget FED, then 500hp anything is not in the equation.




Lawrenceville, GA

Babor, you are not nostalgic and also not very interesting also! Sure ANYONE can make 500 HP out of an engine that has had all the engineering done for them through the aftermarket industry!!! It is just like building a cookie cutter camaro, WHO CARES!  If you have seen one, you have seen them all!

In my opinion, I have more respect for a true Craftsman that can build something with his OWN brain and talents! People Like John Mummert, Ted Eaton, Jerry Christianson, etc., etc.! They have built 500 HP Y-Blocks, by simply using their own brains and talent! NO ONE helped them, they figured it out by themselves using 50 + year technology, not auto cad designed, computer tested parts by big budget companies!
 Now this is not just scrub bashing! Friends of mine are GM fans and have built high HP 292 stove bolt six engines and 350 Olds Rocket motors. Now those I have respect for, for they are not just the BOARING old small block scrub that you can find in any grandmother's car! So go ahead and build a 500 HP sbc and I can guarantee you that NO ONE will even glance under your hood at a car show or cruise night!!!!   

 

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

Easy come easy go!
Considering that the engine was for sale last night this is not exactly a surprise.  I just hope he finds a nice scrub garage queen to put his 500 hp scrub in.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

I think this guy is from the dark side

Considering that I can make 500hp EASILY with an SBC, this baby is going bye bye....lol! I am not quite that nostalgic. Seems to me as these are boat anchors...

The other thing worth mentioning is who's dyno it is, and how they "correct" it. My 320cid, 9:1, 4lb boost motor made 400 "uncorrected" hp on a Mustang chassis dyno, and 211hp "corrected". That's a big difference. My OT car made 424 on an engine dyno, and 320 on the chasis dyno. Seems like a lot of loss for the water pump, PS, exhaust, A/T, etc. Looking at Ted's numbers, all under his control, seems to give good relative results. Beyond that, I'm not so sure how they compare. We use the chassis dyno to get a good fuel curve, and ignition curve, without detonation. But even then, driving the car seems to lead to some changes for drivability that are hard to duplicate on the dyno.

I don't race the cars, so making a couple of peak numbers based on gearing, shift points, and traction, isn't the whole story.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

60 over, G heads, small cam, B intake, 1.43 rockers, numerous carbs tested, made right at 250. B intake has the bores opened up.

Kenny  Onalaska, Texas

Paul brings up a good point.  Having dyno tested a majority of different stock rebuilt engines from the different manufacturers, most of these come short of the advertised HP ratings.  The factory high performance engines on the other hand are typically in the ballpark of the factory ratings and sometimes even exceed those ratings when the tuneup is on the money.  On the flip side of this, just performing simple modifications as improved carburetion, intakes, head porting, camming, and headers makes for significant gains over the factory combinations.

As far as Y Block engine combinations go, the Y-Block Magazine has years of dyno testing on the various Y combinations.  Some of the Y combinations I’ve done can be found on my own website.  Here’s the link to the index of articles which can get you started.
http://www.eatonbalancing.com/blog/2014/06/25/quick-index-for-eaton-balancing-articles/ 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

We need to keep in mind that prior to about 1972, Detroit was using gross brake horsepower figures, not net BHP figures. In other words the figures they were publishing were neglecting the drag created by generators, street exhaust systems, water pumps etc. Further it has been said that the marketing people often tended to inflate those figures for sales reasons. As an example; Even one of the major Hot Rodding magazines, possibly Hot Rod?..when they tested the supposedly one horse per cu.in Fuely, Duntov cammed 10.5 to 1 compression 1957 scrub engine, couldn't  get one horse per cubic in out of it. Close but even with extensive tuning, it was about 12 horses short.  


Paul