titanrednissan

that is pretty much the set up i have. the eng was built 30 years ago .it sat in garage for 30 years .we fired it up 6 years ago when we built the mustang.the car was shop build from parts laying around shop. it was never reliable .i am tearing down the car rebuilding it with my 16 year old son . i am having him do research on project .it was built in new smyrna beach fl at tootone customs . it is custom rat rod shop.

titanrednissan

my son is the one you have been talking with. i was a fabricator at tootone customs .the eng only needed to be honed and new rings. before fired up.

stevegoodwin

I have a dove-a 429 with dove heads, the mild porting is important. You have to grind the smog bump out of the exhaust ports. It is by no means MILD ! The intakes are huge and draw in more than the exhaust can dump out. I ground mine all the way down to the valve stem and make sure you have the cj valves and not the 2.04 & 1.65 stock valves. with 2.24 intakes and 1.72 exhaust you need at least 1 3/4" headers to 3 1/2" collectors. The engine needs to breath !!
I am using a Lunati cam with a 276 - 284 duration that works good with our high comp heads ( 10.1 - 10.5). A 850 cfm carb is also a good match for your desired HP. Make sure you have the rite lifters and valve springs for the cam. A C-6 may rob some hp from your engine but its strong and reliable.

musnicki

I have a 428pi in the machine shop right and the target for me was around 500 hp. I didn't want to go over 500 because, well, it's going in my 46 year old car. For my build, the main parts limiting parts was my heads. I went the Cobra Jet size Edlebrock Performer RPM heads for a 428. I matched it with the performer RPM cam as well. I will top it with the Air Gap intake and an 850 Quick Fuel or Holley carb. I guess that I wasn't really shooting for a horsepower number, really I just want a bad *** power block that has drivability. I know that I could have went with a more radical cam profile and maybe some better heads than RPMs and possibly a harder crank or even a stroker crank.

My heads I bought for $1800. I bought them in October of 2012 and I just got them last week. The manufacture date was Dec 2012, I guess they don't take orders for too many 428s. Anyways....you could probably have a better chance at building a 500hp 351 for $3k than building a rareish 429 500hp for $3k, although it would be easier to get 500hp out of a 429. Like previously stated on this thread, new heads and cam should do the trick for you. My budget for my motor is around $12k and I'm a working man just like you, I've been just saving my pennies and eating noodles for supper.

Keep us updated, I want to see what you do with this.

James