[408foureye]

Stock bearing clearances, rod bolts and factory cast pistons are the issue IMO. If you aren't going to touch the bottom end, I would keep it under 6200 to be safe. I ran a rebuilt mostly stock bottom 351w in a road race car for a few years and regularly spun it up to 6700 with the occasional missed shift bouncing off the 7k limiter.

It was a fairly basic build. Stock 28oz crank mains @.003" and rods @.0025" w/ clevite p series bearings, stock rods w/ upgraded arp bolts, KB hyper pistons in stock bore flex honed cylinders, stock style massaged melling oil pump, afr 185 heads w/8019 springs, modified stock lifters, anderson n71 cam, vic jr intake, 700 holley dp, large oil cooler to keep oil temps down and t sump canton pan which probably helped it survive. Car ran great and had lots of midrange grunt. Powerband carried well past the shift point. Never dynoed it but I would say it easily had close to 400 at the wheels. i recently pulled the engine for a stroker build and was suprised to find the bearings looking like new.

 

[408foureye]

My brother has a 418W in a stock block that sees 7000rpm every single time he drives it. Last time it was apart for refresh/rebuild (mo powah!!) it had only the slightest evidence of cap walk. Nothing to even get concerned about.

Internal or 28 oz balance?

 

[408foureye]

FWIW, my 351w didn't show any signs of cap walk running it up to 6700 regularly. That was with ARP main studs and 28 oz crank.

 

[408foureye]

Oh, and I’m pissed because the engine was NOT a runner as it was called. There was tar in it, not oil, the oil pan is rusted out and leaking after sitting on the floor over night. It is so rusty I broke 3 exh stds off and one bellhousing bolt! Valve covers are rusted almost through as well. Alt is seized, pulled the tranny off and there was a nest in the bellhousing. Just...****!

That sucks. Sorry to hear that. You should be able to buy a bone stock 351w from a truck or van. They're really cheap and plentiful. You can make 300 easy with stock heads, springs and cam change.

 

[408foureye]

Lol, no, just need 250-260hp to run in my class of brackets for the next year or two. After that it’s probably going to be 460...but....450-500hp wouldn’t be too hard I suppose with a 351...

A stock block 408W will easily get you 500/500 at the crank with small-ish heads and mindful cam selection, all at under a safe 6200 rpm limit, at a smaller format and less weight than a 460. Parts are more plentiful and somewhat cheaper too, plus a Windsor has better oiling than a stock 460. F4 351w blocks support stock style roller lifters and you can run a 302 base circle cam without linkbars. Yes, there is the drawback of that annoying cam bore cracking issue, but you can still get an older block with the one piece rear main that don't have this issue.

If you go with a dart shp windsor block, internal balance steel crank and decent rods/pistons you will have enough bottom end to comfortably support 1200 hp, plus you wouldn't have to worry about the stock block 2 bolt main cap walk either, limiting you to less than 7000 rpms.

 

[408foureye]

500hp sure sounds simple with the cams, etc available today. We’ll see, but did I mention I’m a cheap bastard? Lol!

You are definitely smarter than most of us.

I have to admit I had more fun racing the basic stuff with bolt on mods than being worried about breaking something expensive and not having the money to fix it.

 

[408foureye]

The broken bolts are the least of your concerns. That is one of the dirtiest sludged up engines I've ever seen. Thats going to take forever to clean up. I admire your ambition and attitude.

 

[408foureye]

That's what your arteries will look like if you eat a big bucket of KFC every day.

 

[408foureye]

Why does everyone avoid changing cam bearings? I've watched a friend change cam bearings a couple times.

If you have the right tools its not that hard, but there's a lot that can go wrong regarding bearing bore alignment. Sometimes the bores aren't straight (even from the factory) and the bearings will need trimming to get the bores to line up enough so the cam will turn freely. Most of the common cam bearing tools for a SBF don't work well, mainly due to the staggered cam journal sizes.