If you want to be like everybody else go SBC.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> I vote for the 2.3.<o></o> If you change your mind you can always put something else in it.
When I drive this "oh-hum" SBC HotRod at night, blue flames shoot out about 18". It's so fucken bad ass. And the sound is all that. And, the header kit cost $150 from speedway.
Didn't The Shay Reproduction Model A's run a 2.3 Pinto 4? Great engine, but folks might think you cut up a Shay instead of the work you're doing to built a Hot Rod! OK fire away! KK
If everyone stuck to this type of thinking, No Ford body would ever win at drag racing.. All kidding and ribbing aside..If it were me, I'd run the engine I want to, not one someone told me to, and I'd run the one I know is going to get the job done, for the Money I have to spend on it..thats the engine your going to use no matter what anyone tells you.. also familiarity plays a big role, as it should.(there in lies the reason so many SBC's most people into cars know how to work on an SBC).And,because if you dont know shit about the engine in your Hot Rod , than who's gonna fix it when it needs fixin?
If you want my opinion I would go with a 305 over a 2.3. Forget what everyone says about a belly button engine. The SBC is used more than other engines because they are good engines and inexpensive to build and easy to get parts for. Not trashing the 2.3 just saying a sbc is a good engine. But you need more than opinions to figure out which engine to run in your A. There are a lot of variables to figure which motor would give you the best advantage. Sound choices should be based on the importance of advantages. You need to figure out what is important to you for your car. The first thing I would recommend is figure out what the end goal of the car is. Are you wanting to race around Boise and use it on short trips or are you taking it to Speed Week or long distances? I would recommend google-ing "choosing by advantage tabular method" and try that out and see what you come up with.
anything is cooler than a SBC, ........ go with a Flattie if you want a v8, that 2.3 looks really cool all tricked out.......
If you are shooting 18" Blue Flames while you are driving around at night, you might want to learn to tune that thing - as i blast past you in the 2.3 powered 29 RPU. But at least you supported our company by buying a header kit we make
No V8 rumble for sure. But mine in my rail with 4 into one and a supertrapp really did not sound like a tuner. Bottom line is if you drove in with it, obviously it would sound like a banger, but a pretty badass one.
Why the 2.3 in the 28rpu? Is it because you dont want to modify the cab or you like the motor that much? I'm stuck on the power plant myself with my 28rpu. Mine's totally stock unboxed but set up for 2.3/stick. And where the MC is, it gives little space for a trans. The 2.3/stick must be a nice small package to fit in just about anything.
To all the SBC haters, and there are alot of you, I would like to refer to Bass' roadster. Yes they're overwhelmingly popular. But hardly anyone EVER dresses them right. So I don't get what's cookie cutter about em. Also JJ's 35 (which won best of show at the Revolution)
Now go easy on white bread Wonder bread is a delicacy now. I have half a loaf and don't make peanut butter and jelly unless I am with someone who really appreciates a good Napa Valley Bordeaux I have a healthy resprect for the little cammer myself. With a little tweeking they can be made repsectable enough and can be well dressed besides. They are real sensative to cam timing so even with a stock cam and a little lead they can be made to run out real well and a banger that is angry sounds way better than the ever popular wheezer inline 6. All that said in stock trim one just screams '60s resto-rod so it really needs to be well dressed. A brace of SUs and a ribbed rocker cover, a tunned length 4 into one is a good starting place. All that said I like the lowley 305 as well. it is just a matter of what one is after I suppose. Oh Don, Doesn't that thing soot up the windshield a bit?
I'm so disappointed - Bordeaux's can ONLY come from the Bordeaux region of France. A Concord Grape Wine should go better with PB&J, Manischewitz Concord Grape Wine
Well, seeing as how the car did originally have a 4 cyl. FORD engine it, I fail to see how it could be wrong to replace it with another 4 cyl FORD engine. I love my SBC and BBC but seeing as how the 2.3 is a better fit, has more performance in a stock configuration than the original did and will get good fuel mileage, how could this be a bad thing?
Well Said. Prior to 1955, Ford flathead V8s were "cookie cutter engines". Those mouse motor haters are just jealous. As for the choice of motor. Those little 4 bangers are o.k. but it's the type of motor you see in "Rice Mobiles" and there's a good chance you will be wishing you had went with the V8. Bottom line, there is really no right or wrong answer, it's what you want.
Funny, I wonder how many of the guys pushing that Pinto mill, are using one? I guess you could use the 4cyl. and drop some money in it to ACT like a V8, but why not just start out with one? Also, if you're too ashamed to run an open hood with a 4, well...... I love people calling the SBC a cookie cutter motor. All that does is validate using one. You don't become poular by leaving people stranded.
Well, I am for one, and a Hood? We don't need no stinkin hood. And we aren't looking for it to ACT anything like a V8 - It will rev faster and higher, and sound much more unique (and no not like some tuner fart car) I got nothing against SBC's (like I said there's a 327 in my 37) but they do get their fare share of abuse on here, and everyone preaches using alternative engines, but when someone steps up and does it or suggests it, all of a sudden SBC's are the greatest thing since sliced beard (Wonder bread for P & B) I don't really care what you want to run, but don't bag on this choice either.
If you are talking to me - No I don't. The new 29 is not done yet, but you'll be able to hear it at the Grand National Roadster Show in January. I don't have any sound clips of my Race Truck. And "Nice Sounding" is in the ear of the beholder, so I'm sure it would just become a Bitch Fest like all the rest of this anyway
I asked an open question and made a general statement. I wasn't singling one person. Sometimes, people will post or comment just to follow the herd. Those were the folks I was referring to. By modifying a 4cly to get the same HP/torque as a V8, isn't that making it ACT like a V8? Yea, they rev higher and sound unique. It's just not the unique sound most hot rodders seem to relish. If it was, there'd be a lot more of them running around. There's nothing wrong with a 4cyl. It's a matter of choice. I chose a SBC because that's all I know how to work on. But if I knew how to work on a 4cyl. as well, I'd still chose a V8. Mainly, for the image factor. Hell, I like my SBC, but if I could afford it, I'd want a BBC. A V8 says hot rod without even starting up. That's just the way "I" am. To each his own.
Welp, how do you plan to use your model A? If it's gonna be a dual purpose hotrod, cruising around town and an occasional drive to B'ville or maybe take part in that cool Teton cruise, it would lead to another question...how heavy do you plan to build it? Is it gonna be a stripper with no interior, minimal body panels with no fenders, hood, etc? If you're gonna build it really lightweight with no plans to drive it long distance, I say use the nervous, high winding 2.3. If, however, you plan to build the car with whistles, bells, all the sheetmetal, full interior etc etc, meaning it's gonna come in over 3000 lbs, I'd want the added low end torque of a V/8 and I personally do NOT share the distain others have shown to the SBC. But then, when I started playing with hotrods, we couldn't WAIT to remove those cracked,overheating flatheads and any 4 banger engine in favor of the new, powerful [and lightweight] small block chev engine. Personally, the way I use a hotrod, I'd have to save the 2.3 for a "short trip" lighweight model T or a totally stripped down model A..just my personal perferences.
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