Re: [Chevelle-List] Building a big Rat

[Clint Hooper]

Thanks for the input,Mikey. In actuality,a 502" would probably be all I would want. I agree with you about oval port heads. My last El Camino had a nice 468" with GMP Bowtie alum.oval port heads with 310cc runners and 2.25/1.88 valve combo. However,a crate 502" can probably be bought for around $5K,if one shops around. Anyone on this List running one in their car? I just bought a nice pro street 69 El Camino and want a big BB to go in it. Since the base 502" comes with rect.port heads,another idea might be to buy just the short block and add a pair of Bowtie alum.heads & matching GMP cnc dual plane intake. What I want is a torque monster that will spin to 5,500+rpm. I've got some photos of my new car but since we can't post attachments,I'll just have to email the photos to anyone interested. Clint Hooper LT5 Registry Director Wichita Falls,Tx (940) 855-6636 '91 ZR-1 Callaway Aerobody TX TAGS: USA ZR1 http://www.LT5Registry.net/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Capt Crunch   Hi Clint,   I guess I will chime in on this one. I have a 496 that I have been building and am about ready to drop in my velle. In the case of a 496... the machine will cost ya a bit more then just prepping a block so it may be worth wild to run a 502 if you are going from scratch. I have a pretty decent hook-up at a local machine shop so I decided to just build up what I have for now and save for 550 block. You may want to check around cause occasionally you will find people (like me in a few years) who have a nice 468 or 496 and are upgrading.   How much I have into it? Ahhh too much :P Crower bottom end Wiseco pistons, Crower roller cam, Brodix heads... You do the math cause I don't want to LOL.   In reality it depends what you want to do with it and how much you do your research. For a street motor... well IMO for a heavy car I would go with some worked oval port heads and the stock bottom end with either hyper or forged pistons depending on your budget and needs. You can get the oval ports at ridiculous prices (I have scored 2 pairs for about 20 bucks at the end off swaps that people didn't want to haul back to their truck). I dunno... a lot of people may laugh or chuckle when they read this but the results don't lie. There are a large number of people out there running oval ports and I have seen ET's as high as 9's! A buddy and I recently built a 468 and used a set of modified ovals and it yielded very impressive track times and dyno numbers. The funny thing is he changed heads after one season (Bolted on some World heads... not sure which ones) and ran slower in the quarter! You can't beat oval ports for torque and low lift velocity. To get a bit more flow out of them up high you will need a good machine shop to do some work to them.   In reality what are you trying to build... a fun street bruiser on pump gas... a nasty strip terror... or something in-between?   Mikey