It looks from the poll results in the previous post that the high cost is the major barrier to entry, although that may not be the only barrier. So here's a question: What if you could buy ALL the parts necessary to build an SOHC for $15K? Still too expensive, or getting to the point where it may be do-able?
Here is what I'm thinking. Start with a run of the mill 390 block, bored .030 or .040 over. Cross bolt it if you want to make more than 600 HP. Add a stroker crank kit, like the ones available from Barry or Doug, but with SOHC pistons. Probably adds $300 to $400 to the price of the kit. The 390 cylinder bores would have to be notched for the intake valve to clear, but if you ran 2.25" intakes it would be less problematic than with the 2.300" intakes. By the way, a good friend of mine is running an SOHC with a 390 block right now, so I know it can be done. Then, the trick is just to get the SOHC specific parts down to a reasonable price.
I'm asking about this because one of the manufacturers of SOHC parts has offered to sell me the tooling to build them. Not exactly a project I was looking to take on, but I wanted to at least gauge some interest from the FE community. Having some experience under my belt now with casting up the intake adapters and the timing covers, doing all the SOHC stuff doesn't look that far out of reach. I have a pretty good local casting outfit, and an excellent local pattern maker that I could use to modify the patterns if necessary. I could do the machining myself, at least for the most part, to bring the price of the parts down. For example, I think I could sell a pair of the heads for $3000, not $5500 like they are going for now. Probably sell the intake manifold for $750, the front cover for $500, etc. I would want to cast non-adjustable ductile iron rockers like the original factory ones to keep the cost down, which would be something new but definitely do-able. I'd go with Comp billet cams and a good timing chain set with a .250" pin roller chain.
I've added up all the parts required to build such a motor, from carbs to pan, and including gaskets, rings, and bearings, and I think the total parts cost would come in right around $15K. About $10K of that is SOHC specific, and the remaining $5K is the short block and dual carbs. Additional expenses would be any machining costs and assembly costs if you had someone else build it for you.
This may never happen (and probably won't), but if it did, would the reduced price make building one of these engines substantially more attractive?
