Hey all, I currently have a 327 in my 3400# Chevelle. I really like the way it looks and fits in the engine bay and I would like to keep it due to the fact that I'm trying to keep my car under 3400 lbs. Therefore I'm trying to stay away from building a BBC. The car will be a street car/weekend car so it will see some street duties. I was hoping you guys could tell me what you think about the combo I have in mind, or should I just save up and wait to build a Big Block...
327 short block, Freshened up Crank and Rods with ARP Rod bolts, and Good Rod and Main Bearings
Forged Pistons yeilding a 11.0:1 CR
Dart heads 200cc with 2.02/1.60 Valves 64cc Cham.
1.6 Roller Rockers
Schneider Cam #22004 Solid Roller @.050 Int. 244 Exh. 252 with a 110 lobe separation.
Victor JR. Intake Manifold
Holley 850 Carb
Mallory Distributor
3000 Stall with a TH400 Transmission
Stock 10 bolt rebuilt with a Posi unit and 3.90 Gears
Will this motor be too radical for the street, How will it idle, and how high will I be able to spin this thing to? How much Power should I be expecting from this? Please help me in making up my mind. I would really like to build this motor and be able to say it's just a 327, that still holds its own down at the track, but if it's going to put out the same amount of power as a 468 with oval port heads and all the goodies that puts out about 500 hp and 525 torque, which I dont think the 327 will get that much, then I'll just build a BBC, which will probably have better steet manners than the nasty cammed 327. Also, if I were to be selling my Chevelle later on, which motor would make the car more appealing to the buyer a nasty 327 or a 468? I have the feeling everyone will lean towards the Big Block, but I thought I'd throw the question out here anyways cuz of all the knowledge thats on this Forum.

The 327 will love the RPMs, but I'd stay away from the single plane intake for the street. THe holley 850 seems a little excessive as well, would be good for 9000 rpm though.

Yeah, thats not exactly a streetable combo. As far as your drivetrain, youd probably want about a 3800 converter and 4.30 gears, cause that will be a 4000-7500rpm motor there. Not real condusive to street driving. Now, you could stuff a 383 crank in there, still go with a roller camshaft, but something along the lines of 236/242 at .050, a 750 double pumper on top of a performer rpm intake, 10:1 compression and have a really stout engine that would be great for your drivetrain in mind. The motor would be good for over 6000rpm, but a cam of that spec would peak right around 6000, so you could spin over 6K, but its not necessary to go much over. Also, if you can plant the power, youve got so much of a torque curve to go off of, along with good horsepower than this motor should do the same work as the radical 327, but witout all the headaches of a nasty cammed, high compression, high rpm setup.

As far as your cylinder head choice, the darts arent bad, but I wouldnt run em as is, out of the box. The casting can definitely benefit from some bowl work and such. Some other options for a set of good heads would be canfield 195 aluminum(a little weight savings), AFR 195cc aluminum, or Brodix race rite 200cc heads. All heads that definitely outperform the darts as is and like I said, they are lighter. But.....they cost more. If you dont want to spend the money, look at a set of pro topline 200cc iron heads. They run more like the other heads I mentioned, yet they cost about the same as a dart. Definitely a good cylinder head. They too can benefit a bit with port work, but if you dont wanna spend the time/money on it, it isnt as bad in this case cause they are definitely a better "out of the box" cylinder head than the darts.

Last, about your big block question. The big block defiitely has the best resale. You could advertise the same car twice, only once with a well built small block powered chevelle. Then advertise it again at the same price as a chevelle with say a 454 big block that needs freshened up a bit, and people will usually be more apt to pay the dollar for the big block car, even though their is nothing fancy about the big block. Now if you did build a big block, stuff in a .030 over 454 with a factory style head(say an 049) with some port work and a rebuild and a hydro camshaft(like an isky 280 mega) with 10.2:1 compression, a dual plane rpm intake and a 750-850 double pumper carb and easily have a motor that competes with or beats that high dollar 383. Best part, the big block can often be cheaper. Many guys will tell you that big blocks always cost more, but that isnt always the case. If your building a street bound motor where you arent investing in a high dollar bottom end, you can get descent factory heads for cheap and port them still at less the cost than a good aftermarket aluminum head for a small block. And oh yeah, the hydraulic valve train in the big block is definitely cheaper than the roller valvetrain in the small block. As far as the rest of the stuff, the pricing is about the same. The carb doesnt care which motor it goes on, so its the same price for either motor...same with ignition......you get the idea. Unless your investing in aftermarket heads for the big block and a fully forged bottom end, the cost for building a 450+ horsepower big block can easily be the same price or cheaper than building the same power out of a small block chevy. And, in most cases youve got more torque, and definitely a more valuable car when your done. No matter how you slice it, I would stay away from that 327 build if you want to do any degree of street driving.

Scott, thanks for the response. So, you think this motor will spin to 9000 easily! Wow, that sounds fun. I'm prolly gonna play around with intake manifolds and carbs once I get this motor put together so I'm not certain for sure that I'm gonna go with the Victor, I think it's over kill as well. But we'll see. Anyone have an idea of what power it will make out there?

Thanks for all the info. I knew the BBC would be a better choice, I've been researching alot and have all these combos building up in my head. That's why I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask about the 327 because I wasn't too sure about it. I think I'll just wait and build something with a longer stroke anyways, whether it be BBC or SBC, To make torque. I just thought it would be fun to build a high winding high hp SBC, but I guess it's not the smartest thing to do for my application. Anyways thanks, you guys rock!!!

sounds alot like my old 327 that ran low 12`s and was a daily driver.

327+.040
KB.100 dome pistons
schnider solid 248/254, .530
ported and polished 041 casting heads
port matched edelbrock scorpion intake with a 750 dp.

with 4.56 gear,26" slicks and a automatic in a 65 chevelle, it ran a best of 12.18@114mph.

it was my daily driver when it had 3.08 gears and only ran 13.03@105mph.

327`s are great motors but they need compression and rpms to make them run. if it`s for your 72, I would run the bbc.

You can make the 327 work but like others I agree you will need compression and rpms with matching gears to go like you want. It's cheaper to build a stock 454 bottom, spend a little on the rods/bolts, then spend your money on the top end.

Flat top cast or hyper pistons with early heads with big valves, nice matched dual plane, the right cam and I think a plain jane 750 is all you need for the street. Then your rear end is good for the street.

Make sure your your TH400 is stout.