My advice would be to take the best of both worlds. Take a SBC and punch that thing out to Big Block proportions. Ooooor, take a Big block and remove the iron intake/heads and swap for aluminum.. Big block and small block are all relative. If your going for "front end lifting power" Look for as much HP as you can get for as little weight as possible. If you want 600-someodd HP from an all aluminum engine, look into an OW-43. 700Hp @ 6800Rpms. Take that Ford and Chevy