what would you call it and what can i get out of it with a propper build, what can i use, any suggestions?
What are you guys talking about ? I have a 351 that I just had done at 60 over and the engine builder laughed when I asked him if that was too much. Now maybe if you are saying it might need rebored more, that would be an issue, but if it just needs a clean up hone, 60 is ok. Don
Hmmm. 396... Made after the 1964 timeline for this board? It's prob junk, I'll be there to pick it up next week. While not a huge motor it should be easy to get 500 horse out of it. Depends on how much money you want to spend on it.
Depends, if it's a fresh 060" bore you could build a nice 408. If it's worn out, then it's probably junk. I put 100k miles or so on the 60 over 396 I had in my old pickup. 400 hp is easy, 500 hp not so easy.
They make fine baby big blocks. Boat anchor? Pull it up by hand. If it's wore out, make a display piece out of it.
Yes but you could hit 435-450 with modern heads. The bore size is not an issue if they are straight and within tolerance. The cylinders may not take as much pressure as a stocker so that is something to keep in mind if you decide to huff it. Maybe a sonic test prior to putting a lot of pressure in the cylinders would be in order and it could end up with a little concrete in the water jackets if it is not sound enough to take the pressure. Naturaly aspirated I would not have a problem owning it if it were built right. Squirrel isn't the 396 the same block as the 427? I believe it is.
The 396 has different cylinder wall castings than a 427/454. You can easily see the difference using a standard wood pencil...in the center freeze plug hole, try to poke a pencil between the cylinder walls of the two center cylinders. If the pencil goes thru, it's a 396/402 block. If it doesn't go thru, it's a 427/454.
Yeah, everything bolts on. The bore size and pistons (and crank balance?) are the only differences between a 396 and a 427. Both were offered in low perf and high perf versions. Low perf had hydraulic cam, cast pistons, small port small valve heads, iron intake, 67-69 had cast cranks, etc. The high perf versions had forged pistons, all had steel cranks, later ones had large bolt connecting rods, they had big valve rectangular port heads, and aluminum intakes. That's a quick summary, there were various hp levels and year engines that had specific features. Yeah, but the cost of the engine goes up quite a bit.
Depending on which 396 block it is .060 may not be a problem.IIRC the 396 325/350/360 horse blocks were different than the 375/425 horse block.What year is the block,what are the block numbers abd casting numbers?
The only way to know for sure whether it is usable is to have the bores checked for size, taper and maybe sonic tested for wall thickness.
the 396/402/427 are internally balanced. So for stick shift benefits, you could use smaller/lighter/cheaper flywheels. You could use a 454 block/bigger bore with the 396 crank & rods & have a 427, though pistons are expensive, but a 427 is real neat.
'65 396 blocks are cast on the same cores as 427's. I had one. The rest are not, and .060 is about as much as they will take. Unless its a first year block, or its a fresh .060 that doesnt require a re-bore, its probably done. I havent heard that the L-78/89 blocks are on 427 cores, but then I have never had one, guess its possible, I would proceed with caution on that one.
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