Pretty happy with my 331. If I did it over again, it's still the way I would go. Couple of reasons for my choices:
- 8.2 deck 302-based block is compact and will more easily fit in anything
- Keeping the bore size down leaves plenty of room for future rebuilds and potential issues, and if I have it my way, I'm going to keep this block and this car for another 30+ years.
- the extra cubes are great, but with a turbo/ boost application, the real limit is the power adder. i.e. the GT42-76 on my car would be good to close to 1200 crank hp on a 331 or a 427.
- The biggest considerations for heavily boosted motors always regards the prevention of detonation, and component strength. Overboring and/or overstroking a motor compromises those. For me, the HUGE investment in building a dart-block billet internaled short block put me on the more conservative path with an eye towards protecting my investment as opposed to picking up a little extra power, which I rationalize by saying that if I want more, I'll get a bigger turbo.
To those of you already starting to draft a response to this in your mind, yes... the extra cubes would allow a bit quicker spool on a bigger power adder. Never the less, we're talking about a fractional difference in spool time, and a car that will already make 1200hp with good spooling characteristics as is. If I want to make it 2000hp, I could go solid roller, buy twin 88s, spin the hell out of it, and still get there even though I've only got a 331. I could do it with the shortblock I've built. So, unless you're trying to set some kind of class record, or are restricting yourself to pump gas while trying to break the texas mile record or something, I just can't see how that extra 32 cubes is going to matter.
- 8.2 deck 302-based block is compact and will more easily fit in anything
- Keeping the bore size down leaves plenty of room for future rebuilds and potential issues, and if I have it my way, I'm going to keep this block and this car for another 30+ years.
- the extra cubes are great, but with a turbo/ boost application, the real limit is the power adder. i.e. the GT42-76 on my car would be good to close to 1200 crank hp on a 331 or a 427.
- The biggest considerations for heavily boosted motors always regards the prevention of detonation, and component strength. Overboring and/or overstroking a motor compromises those. For me, the HUGE investment in building a dart-block billet internaled short block put me on the more conservative path with an eye towards protecting my investment as opposed to picking up a little extra power, which I rationalize by saying that if I want more, I'll get a bigger turbo.
To those of you already starting to draft a response to this in your mind, yes... the extra cubes would allow a bit quicker spool on a bigger power adder. Never the less, we're talking about a fractional difference in spool time, and a car that will already make 1200hp with good spooling characteristics as is. If I want to make it 2000hp, I could go solid roller, buy twin 88s, spin the hell out of it, and still get there even though I've only got a 331. I could do it with the shortblock I've built. So, unless you're trying to set some kind of class record, or are restricting yourself to pump gas while trying to break the texas mile record or something, I just can't see how that extra 32 cubes is going to matter.
