[Purple72]

Everyone always says too never build a 366 for car use beings they are dump truck engines all torque and low horsepower. Or not to use a ht502 crate engine even though its rated at 515 ftlbs. No one has ever given me a solid reason as to why these make terrible car engines if a guy just wanted to build a driver?

 

[136379G]

I can't see any reason to not use a ht 502 but, the I think the 366 is tall "truck" block that may cause clearance issues for exhaust manifolds or headers. It would be a Big Heavy Turd of an engine that ony looks like a Big Block Chevy. JMHO..

 

[mfret1970]

366 has a very small bore, hard to get them to breathe. Also, harder to find tall deck parts.


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[jackie schmidt]

The 366, which is a .400 tall deck truck engine, is not a "torque monster" at all. That is, unless you consider about 350 ft lbs to be monstrous. I doubt the HP topped 250.

The tall deck was used to facilitate extra piston rings for high mileage use at lower speeds, such as school buses and medium trucks.
The 366 has the same stroke as a 396-427 at 3.76 inches.
Now, a 502 crate engine is an entirely different animal. It's torque is a product of big cubic inches and high velocity ports. But it's all done at about 3800, hense the HP is pretty low.

We have a 100 KW standby generator at our shop that has a ht502 for power. On natural gas, I think it is rated at about 290 HP.

 

[handy7rick]

Im not positive but it's possible these engines have a Long Stroke.That makes a lot of Torque if so,but long stroke engines Generally dont like High RPMS .Unless you spend lots of money in Professional Balancing Everything.

 

[handy7rick]

If you want Torque and RPMs ,Build a 383 but make sure it's Balanced by a Notable and Reputable Balancing Shop.I have a somewhat mild 383 with a 410 gear 300 horse old school heads (.202 intake added,160 exhaust valves),an Iskenderian small base Circle cam :.505 lift intake and exhaust and 244 Degrees duration intake and exhaust and 108 lobe center that will turn up to 7000 RPM with an edlebrock 750 carb and air gap intake and that's through the exhaust pipes.Although I wouldn't keep it at 7000 long.It still has 1971 year model stock rods with Hypertunic(You Know What I Mean) half dish Pistons

 

[CoolBlueGlow]

One good thing about 366 BBC are their four bolt main caps. You can harvest them in the scrapyard for a song, and re-task them into your two bolt main 454 block.

just takes a bit of drill press and then line honing work. Works great, not expensive.

Best use for a 366 IMO, unless you are restoring a dump truck or school bus.

 

[buenymayor]

I wouldn't go to the trouble of putting a tall deck block in a car... especially for 366 cu in. Like mentioned, though, you can always grab the main caps from it to retrofit onto a 2 bolt block, but you don't really need 4 bolt mains on 99% of the engines out there. A truck block should also have a forged crankshaft in it, but make sure you get it magnafluxed before using it.

 

[Busted Knuckles]

Only 16 cubes more than a 350, extra weight of a big block and the pain of messing with tall deck intake, headers, hood clearance, etc., all reasons NOT to mess with 'em.

 

[novaderrik]

i once swapped a 454 with peanut port heads and a really torquey cam into a 67 Chevelle with a T10 trans and 3.08 gears.. it idled Caddy smooth at 500 rpm with 23" of vacuum and was an absolute blast to drive. it probably wasn't the fastest thing in the world, but it was plenty good as a long distance cruiser for the guy i did it for and he was very pleased with it..
after i got it running and all tuned up, i tried stalling it by side stepping the clutch in 3rd gear at idle and the car just started moving and the motor didn't lug at all..