blackhat620
You Had to be There
Thanks for the info...that did help clear some things up. As for the 400/460 debate, everyone has their preference and likes to be different in their own little ways. Everyone goes 460...and I prefer a realm of sticking what came in these trucks. And the more I got to thinking about it, somebody not willing to offer more info on a product, just didn't endear me to them. Thanks again for the technical assistance.
I understand wanting to stick with "what came in your truck", but once you get past a 434 in a 351M/400, the engine block is not going to resemble the OEM block in very many ways, and a 496 is going to be a highly modified custom block. Not to mention the costs start become astronomical and the benefits minimal.
If you are building a full race engine, then you take everything to the max limit of the rule book and cost is no object, because the only object is winning. But longevity of the engine decreases and costs increase.
For an engine you do not need to rebuild after every race then you need to start looking at the realistic design limits of the engine. IMO for the 351M/400 max bore for a DD that you can tow and play with, without spending a lot of time rebuilding or fight heating issues, max bore of 4.030 and keep the stroke at 4.10. Yes there are several builds with 4.17, 4.2 & now TMI's 4.25 but remember as stroke length increases you have more piston instability do to BDC distance in relation to bore length (ie how far the piston hangs out of the cylinder), lower rod ratio which increases cylinder wall loading, shorter piston compression height and you also need to clearance the rod bolts and use a "small base cam". All of these things can be done but as you increase the modifications the durability of the engine goes down.
Bottom line building a performance engine is a series of tradeoffs to achieve the end use goal and stay within the budget of your wallet.