Finally got through the year and started to pull together parts for a 462". Engine will go in a '63 Marauder, TKO500, 4.10 rear. Manual steering, manual brakes.
I cruise the car, and it will see up to 250mi (each way) road trips, so it needs to be pretty tractable. That said, I will take it to the strip. Current combo is a 390 with 750dp/Performer RPM/BBM heads/9.2:1/FPA Tri-Ys/224/232 hydro roller. Love the combo, it pulls down to 1600rpm in Overdrive just fine, pulls well to 5800rpm or so. It ran 103mph the one time I took it to the track with a fuel delivery issue, great little motor but want something a bit "more".
Parts I have on hand are standard bore 428 block, Blue Thunder 2x4 MR intake, dual carbs from Drew, Mahle pistons, Molnar 6.700" rods, SCAT 4.25" crank on order should be here after first of year. Looking to build something very similar to the one Ross just put together, will be something around 235* hydraulic roller, still want the tractability down to 1800rpm or so, can't be too snotty. Contemplating whether I should step up from the FPAs? They're 1 3/4", on the small side but they do fit and are a known item versus putting racier full lengths on it. Will go to 3" exhaust.
Fairly set on TFS heads, they've proven to run well on this type of combo and can't beat the price for the flow, and they're a fairly small runner (the dimensions of the port opening are smaller than BBMs) so they should make for a torquey combo with the long stroke. Thinking this engine could be even more docile than the 390, I'd use progressive linkage so running a single vacuum secondary carb while cruising, with the big cubes should make it work very well. I hit a lot of hilly secondary roads doing 50-55mph, it's nice to have the torque to just leave it in O/D and pull hills easily at 1600-1800. Compression should come in around 10.3ish, I run 93oct here so I don't think it'll be an issue, worst case I will have to be careful lugging it in O/D. Topend and cam should make it peak around 5500-5600, bottom end should be overkill as I'll spin it maybe 6200rpm if I'm really leaning on it.
There's a lot of these type combos out there so I know basically what to expect, any feedback on the headers is the last real question mark.
