I have about 1500 and i am wanting to build a small block chevy my questions are what should I look for in buying a block, heads, intake..etc and what mods should i do to get the most out of this enginefor the money?

do you have any parts right now? What kind of HP are you looking for, just max that you can get?

Here's my two cents: People sell good stuff on ebay because they are willing to take a hit on it because they're broke and need the money (ha ha, not always, but my point is you can get some good deals). This means that you can get a good short-block all built and balanced for hundreds less than you can by gettin the stuff you yourself, tearing it down, machine work (there's the big price-tag right there, machine work) and parts. I got a 388 stroker balanced with scat crank and a damper for 690 all built on ebay. Has some nice slugs in it too.

You can get some budget parts at summit too. YOu might want to save some bills and get a summit cam. Weiand makes good intakes, I've done a lot of research lately and most people say for the price and the height of the RPM edelbrock (height meaning it doesn't fit under a lot of stock hoods) go with the stealth. THey perform about the same anyway. YOu could get a cheap set of headers from summit too, just coat them as best you can when you get them. HEI ignitions are good, if you have one use that. YOu can up the output for like 40 with an MSD module from summit. The big ticket item that is hard to get around are heads. Cheapest I've seen dart IE head for is 680 for the 180 cc.

You don't have to go nuts on bolts, but get good quality ones. I would say the same for gaskets, go felpro or mr. Gasket.

Hope this helps-

K

For $1500 I would recommend that you find one already built and some stuff to it. Summit has a full setup for right at that. You could also pick up rebilt one minus intake and carb from your neighbood parts store for around $1000. Your best bet, however, would be to find one that an individual is selling.

I have plenty of room under the hood it is a 57 chevy truck. I am looking to make a strong pulling engine not at high RPM. It is a primarly to pull my other cars, but i would like to be able to unhook the trailer and dirve it on the strip. I know 1500 is not a lot but i have several other prodjects going on at the moment. so that is close to my limit at this time. I have a 6al and distributar, headers, carbs and tons of stuff for big blocks but i want a little better milage that 4 that is what i am getting now with a 496 i would like to put this engine into into my wifes nova. I have tons of stuff to trade but only 1500 cash. Do you know the part numbers of a good block and heads. I have a friend at the machine shop that does most of my work for nothing as far as balancing and honing lineboring, etc.. I am not a small block man I know very little about them. I have found a 4 bolt main block with a steel crank but the crank is worn out are all 4 bolts good or are there better ones that others?

Well, if I were you I´d do it like this:
1) Lift the heads and look at the cylinders at least. Or tear the whole engine apart and check it out.
2) Don´t just spend money on hp. Make sure you start spending it on making things last.
3) If you´re going for high rpm's, balance it. It will be worth it.
4) Now you can start thinking on getting high comp pistons, kick-a** heads, roller cam etc etc.
The only problem is that doing it like this cost money. Much money. On the other hand you don´t have to make repairs as often.
Last but not least, do what you do now: Ask. And remeber no answer is an absolute truth (neither is this).