Thread: tin-man has some questions, it begins.....

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Visually and performance wise it’s hard to beat a big block in a Hot Rod. The down side is; possible fitment issues, the added weight on the front end, additional cooling system requirements (especially if AC is added) and fuel mileage. Either a big block or small block when properly fitted and accessorized can be visually appealing and made to work well in a Hot Rod.

As you’re buying rather than building you are going to be limited to what is out there for sale. I would concentrate more on the overall quality of the work and component selection than locking myself into a particular engine size. The mean elevation in Phoenix is about 1100 feet, depending on where you drive to from there you can end up at almost sea level to over 10,000 feet and still stay within the state. Depending on the time of the year it’s easy to start driving in the morning at almost freezing temperature and by afternoon be somewhere that’s in the mid 90s. Then you have the stop and go traffic in Phoenix, (which you will most assuredly get stuck in sometime in the summer) and the long stretches of 75 MPH Interstate.

In my mind it will boil down to how much weight you give to those things you consider important; performance, visual appeal, reliability, handling, mileage etc. Either a big block or small block can be tailored to fit your requirements but one or the other may be better suited to a certain task. For instance does the visual appeal of a 406 Tri-Power FE outweigh the mileage of a fuel injected 302 to you?

Another example, a GOOD fuel injection setup can probably more easy compensate for the extremes you will find here, but properly tuned carburator(s) can also handle the job.... just not quite as precisely (I can’t believe I just admitted that LOL). As above, it boils down to what is more appealing to the owner. The real key is having someone who knows what he’s doing setting the system up and maintaining it. Properly set up either can be a joy to drive .....not properly done it’s not going to be much fun or useable. Of course the same applies to every other system on the car.

In the picture of the car you posted, it really doesn’t matter to me if that is a big or small block. At a glance I have a real problem with the angle the engine is sitting at regardless of what displacement is. Visually it’s not appealing but more importantly why is it at that angle (what did they have to clear) and what do the driveline and U Joint angles look like? What other corners did they cut for expediency?

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