Was at a small local outdoor show years ago, a guy had a beautiful black 64 Fairlane, the hood was always up with more people around it than I can handle, made a swing around to see the cars and just got back nearly to the car and he was asked to start it, now, I figured just a garden variety 289, nope, based on what the owner said and my visual assessment, it was a 2/4 ?medium riser? FE 427, no, it wasn't a Thunderbolt, had a stock hood and no racy scoop, it had a full exhaust system, that start up bark and solid lifter cam at high idle gave this Chevy guy goose bumps, never had such a visceral reaction from an engine before. The thing sounded angry!
The engine in my track T / Special I am currently building. It is connected to a 700r transmission. It should sound good
This engine would be cool to have in a rod, just to confuse people..... Anyone recognise it? Its an early Rover V8
Rows and rows of pre-war cars at shows with the same old same old under the hood. Generally with old men on lawn chairs in a circle telling stories of how the sbc swap kit was back ordered. Not my scene and never will be.
I had to be different so I went with a Caddy flattie. IMG_20250419_180523-EDIT-EDIT by orbitup posted Sep 17, 2025 at 3:03 PM
One simple question as I am not going to take the time to look at your old posts to see what you are running for an engine or if you even have a hot rod. Have you ever run one of these "other" engine and put the time, effort and money in it as the guys showed their "other engines" on the past three pages? I've got a 56 Desoto Hemi out in the shed that now probably needs a full rebuild and the engine kit if falcon global still lists one runs 2K JUST for a kit to rebuild it as a basic restored 56 Desoto 2 barrel engine. That doesn't include several hundred dollars for a 4 or or dual quad intake. It doesn't include a trip to a custom exhaust shop for a custom built set of headers, It doesn't include machine work. Plus if I were on a road trip from here in the valley to Roundup in Austin were my wife and I can also see her family in the area as my sister in law lives out about 15 miles SW of Ryan and the other one lives in Waco. If the car with that engine in it does something like loose a starter or loose a water pump we are dead in the water for more time than it would normally take to do the entire trip waiting for the brown truck to show up at a motel we were towed to with the part. Since I was first on hot rod groups on the net I have spent a good number of hours searching for parts for those "cool and not belly button " engines on the net to help someone who is stuck on the side of the road get going as quick as possible. More often than not it comes down to having one next day aired in to where they are and hoping it actually shows up the next day. The other thing is just the $$$$ cost. As much as haters hate 350 Chevys the cost to put a reliable runner together is within most budgets if you don't get carried away a Master rebuild kit for a 350 from Northern auto parts starts at 399.99 and includes pistons and cam and lifters . Stock but you can have a fresh engine that is all new inside for 400 bucks and the cost of machine work. To get that Desoto 330 to that same level is going to take 1600 and probably more than that more. If you can't find a performer aluminum intake for a 3fiddy for under 70 dollars you aren't looking, Headers's not too spendy on Ebay. It's not that we don't want a cool engine many of us just don't have the money sitting around to build one right.
Bellybutton You know In a way I get what you are saying and in way I do not. I think your statements are dated, like relevant a couple of decades ago when Street Rodder was on the shelf….when the supermarket actually had a magazine rack instead of plastic flowers, very decorative crack pipes and I phone chargers. Ahhhh paper sacks, a sacker and a cashier with a pulse. Dose were da days Edit. Mr. We could use a man like Gary Baskerville again! Speaking of Mr. Baskerville, he had a SBC powered ‘32 Roadster that uhhhh…. Every person on here would be proud to give a testicle for, bellybuttons and all. That car went everywhere. Those days are Gone with the Wind. Hey I’m not talking 1956 either. It’s been close to 50 years since a car rolled off the assembly line with a carburetor. The SBC, BBC, BBF, were last offered in factory vehicles 30 years ago. 25 years since the SBF was offered. What’s Bellybutton in 2025? I’ll be honest I get excited when I see anything with round sealed beam headlights.
the last hot rod I built was a 34 chevy coupe, I had a blown 526 Cadillac in it. The front mounted dist confused a lot of people.LOL FYI that would be my next go to engine for any project, caddy very under rated TONS of torque
The why is easy... My 1st choice for my coupe was a Pontiac 389 with dual quads and a 4spd (among all the other build parts) and just an adapter for running a 4spd was a mega frustration. First, the company making an adapter wasn't doing so at the time and every guy I found with the appropriate parts just wanted to talk Pontiac and not sell me what they had listed. This happened about a half-dozen times... almost every time I over-offered just to secure the parts. No dice. Then build parts... for the build parts alone I could build a couple small blocks with neat old parts. They're cool, I won't deny it... I just wanted what I wanted and when I saw it could mean more suffering in the future beyond a "buy once cry once" mentality, I walked. I think, too, what would happen when I blew the motor up and had to search for parts in several years? I love the hunt for parts, truly, but I had to be realistic with myself. I could have a blown 327 built and dressed with old parts (they're less expensive comparatively and easier to find) for less money... and I will still be able to have the same amount of fun.
Here's my 57' Olds 371" built by Ross Racing Engines. Ross aluminum heads,roller rockers, Isky roller cam. w/ T350 trans., Holley 800 double pumper carb.
Luv the 348/409s and the nailheads, flatties and hemis but for everyday driver make mine a 383 SBC...absolutely RIPS in an 1800 lb car...and I can get pert near any part in any town I'm passin' thru...had a flattie in a roadster a few years ago and lost a water pump in Fredonia Ariz....had to call a friend to bring a trailer all the way from Fresno, Ca. for the ride home...coulda got an SBC water pump from just about any 7-11...
Incidentally...talking about the cost of vintage engines, I bought a boat to get this motor as you see it. The motor will cost about $1500 total once I get rid of the boat. I already sold a nos Italian prop that was an extra for near $500. Will I rebuild this engine? Nope. If it runs like they say it did..itll be just fine. If it runs 75%-85% the way it should..that'd be great. I don't need to dump thousands of dollars to chase the last percentages so that it runs 100% as intended. Itll be for around town use. The joke around here with my friends is I've had a dozen boats or more and not one has made the water. What they did have is LS6s, L72s, this motor, L88s and more.
Almost bought a boat to get the smoothed and chromed! Nailhead that was in it,but alas I couldn't afford it
My preference would be a raised deck big block mopar, that’s 413, 426, 440 I saw a 33 Ford on the Drag Week YouTube live feed that would look much better with a bbm in it than a disguised LS motor. I would have easily matched the hp level the owner claimed the LS was making with the 12 lbs of boost it had. Here’s the 33 it ran mid tens…
Any American V8 with a distributor is cool in my book. My favorites in order: Flat head Ford v8 Early Hemi Nail heads Y Blocks Then FEs and SBC Let’s face it if the LS engines would’ve been available in the 50s everyone would’ve had one. Hot Rodding has always been about HP. My grandfathers race boat started with a flat head but the final version years later had a SBC. Grandpa had blue ford blood, however he was competitive. Someday I’ll have a Flat head. I doubt it will have the power of my stock Chrysler LA small block. All the vintage engines can make power with$$$$s So build what you can afford, enjoy, burn rubber, smash bugs and have fun. Dan
Sbc WHY? Likely The best HP to weight combo, The best HP to cost Combo. The best HP / race parts avaliablity. The best parts interchangeablity The best stock parts avaliablity. Other than maybe a early Hemi there one of the best looking engines. They just look good and if they were rare they would be the most sought after choice. There is a reason the SBC has dominated sprint car racing for the last 50 years or more . Its no secret why people choose them to swap into everything with wheels for the last 65 years or so. It's about as iconic as a flathead in a early hot rod . In the early days the SBC was a bit sought after over other junk yard engines because it was a great option . ( especially corvette mills) I suspect many 0f the rods built woth other engines by kids and those on a tight budget were becuase they found a engine cheap or free in the tradition of hot rodding. Seems today guys want the differant factor over the arguably more traditional choice of the past . Im not gaining ANYTHING performance wise by putting my 331 Hemi in my 30 model A PU . I guess if I stuck around $5000 into a engine that weighs a lot more and is bigger it will out perform a 327 SBC I have about $900 in built with EASY tk find used and some new parts and it will spin 8500 RPM and not much normally aspirated sounds better than a SBC at high RPM. I fully respect other dresses up engine choices hell im looking a a Studabaker engine tommorow with some speed and dressed up parts. Asking why a SBC is asking why everyone had a Flathead Ford before say 1950.
Here is one from Rod Run a couple weeks back. I told the owner it should have had Fire Flight wire covers with those dual quads. Love me those Desotos!
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