Crate SB or BB?

I have a 70 Nova with a 6 Cyl and powerglide. I'm gonna put in a V-8 but now I'm not sure if I should go SB or BB? What are your thoughts? Which will have a bigger payoff and be more fun?

I have a 70 Nova with a 6 Cyl and powerglide. I'm gonna put in a V-8 but now I'm not sure if I should go SB or BB? What are your thoughts? Which will have a bigger payoff and be more fun?


I believe a stroker motor (small block) would be your best bet. big blocks unless your gonna by a straight up race motor are to big and bulky and small blocks are about to get just as many horses out of them. but i have a 327 with 20,000 miles on the rebuild for sale , its a quick little motor but i dont know wht your intending to with your car ill sell it cheap to like 600$ let me know good luck
DAN

From my experience, the SB is the way to go. The BB puts too much weight up front and impacts handling. Plus it's a tight squeeze if you want to run AC with it.

Bob

It all depends on how you want to drive it. I have to agree with the weight difference... if you want handling and enjoy taking corners hard, good acceleration, good suspension and a small block is the way to go. If you just want grab you by the butt and throw you in the back seat when you drop your foot to the floor, there is no substitue for Cubic Inches.. Big Blocks will always have more torque. Personally I will keep with SBC 350's in my 70. If I want to drag race, I'll build another light weight car with a BBC

Good points by all. A decent small block can also be done for a LOT less money.

A SB with some good performance parts should keep you happy in a light weight Nova. :jump3:

I agree, Small Block is the answer for Novas

350 with fun:
http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?Ntt=crate+engine&searchinresults=false&Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&N=115&target=egnsearch.asp

350 with A LOT of fun:
http://www.masperformance.com/420_350.htm

Cheers

For me, it is big block all the way. There is a reason I went from a 355 smallblock to a 454 BBC, and I have never regretted it. I had roughly 2500-3k in m smallblock including machine work, and near the same amount in my big block, and thereis no comparison.. big block all the way is my vote.

Rob

BIG BLOCK!!!!!! There is nothing like having four hundred and fifty four cubic inchs of get the hell out of my way under the hood. The 70 came from the factory with a big block so parts are out there. Its true that small blocks are cheaper but in my opinion not as much fun. There is nothing like firing up that big block next to one of those dorks in the dropped honda accord and watching him take a dump in his underpants when he starts to realize that a 4 inch fart pipe on his muffler is not a performance mod

they do that when they hear my built 327 smallblock wind up tp 9 grand. I would go smallblock build a stroker

I think it comes to money. How much is the fun worth to you?
Establish a budget for this project and do some planning.
Obviously a BB has more potential and requires more money. If you cheap out and go for a SB now, will you regret it in the future?
You have to answer these questions for yourself before you decide.

BTW you mention 'crate' engines. It's often cheaper to go for a quality rebuild from a local performance shop instead of a crate engine. Some careful research and shopping around can get you a killer engine at a reasonable price.

Thanks for everyone's input. Obviously I want to spend as little but get the most bang and reliability for the buck. I'm not sure what my budget was going to be but I figure $3k at the very most. I was looking at the GM performance crate motors but I was just turned onto an in state builder that had much bigger hp numbers for the buck and I will start researching that.