The V8 Owners Forum -

ive got a book on the ford, they changed the cam for a mild one and a 750 carb and a rebore and got 422bhp at 5000rpm and 483 torque at 4000rpm, the rest of the engine was stock. So youve got lots of potential and high bhp rich

Mike, I have a bbc tuning book I got from one of the Ians!

Stevie, it would be in a Jag XJS so not too short of room, could always be boxed in a little too...

I would like some reading material on the bbf's have been trying to swallow too much information lately so not sure what blocks are and arent FE ones! The only thing with reading up too much is it puts you off anything but a perfect thoroughbred block!

I think the amount of power a stroked big block can put out, maybe with some nitrous would eliminate the need for turbos thanks mike..!

Fe blocks are long skirt, 460 stop at the crank centre line. I know what you mean about only wanting the best aftermarket block, easily done, however a 460 with a big end brace and studs will take serious power (1100+) are you really going to make that much in your first three seasons?
Mike

Any idea how much it would cost to have a bbf line bored or honed? Just thinking about having some 4 bolt mains made up for a 2 bolt block- aparently the end caps aren't an issue just the middle 3, and I know someone who could cnc them out of billet- obviously they would have to be bored or honed afterwards though and by someone with a lot of experience as they would try to "persuade" the tooling to go off centre with the ends still standard... Mind you I suppose for the expense it would be cheaper to find a 4 bolt block from the States!

Aren't the long skirts supposed to make it more rigid?

Costs for line boring and rebores are roughly the same as for any V8, you really pay based on the quality of the job, the only aditional issue can be finding someone with the right torque plate for the block. From what I remember My SBC was about £600 including Vat about 2 1/2 years ago for a full job of hot dipped block, rebore, line hone and decking (at a very good company). I saved about £40 by fully stripping the block of all plugs etc and ground clearances for the 3.75" crank myself. You are correct it is the inner three main caps that are 4 bolt, the others are generally as standard. If you are having a set made consider how you might improve stability even further by fully intigrating them with any main cap brace you might use. You will need to have the block line bored and honed anyway as part of any prep job (dont understand your comment about not going down the middle of the block. You can buy 4 bolt the main caps from people like sumitt and northern autoparts, I wouldnt like to think of the cost of shipping a block, come to think of it if you are going to ship the block you may aswell ship a whole creat engine and take advantages of the cost of one of these against doing it youself.
Lond skirt blocks are in theory stiffer, however they are also heavier and if the block is being designed to a specific weight you end up with metal in the skirt that could be holding the lifter valley together , the skirt area can also limit the crank throw you can use and the FE oiling set up makes this worse (or you have to extensivly modify this with the asociated expense).
Mike