396 in a 79 malibu?

[79elcaminoo]

im just woundering i have allways been a small block guy and i got a hold of this 396 i think im going to run. what kind of power can i get with pump gas? what kind of cool stuff should i do to make the most power? and feedback would be great thank you. my small block made 425hp and if i go to this big block i want it to be worth it

 

[patmckinneyracing]

The cool thing about the 396 is that it will be both unique and powerful. Most people will go with a 454 because there are generations of them around unlike the 396.

Easy things you can do to notice considerable power from a 396 is basic stuff such as headers, intake, carb, and cam. By simply adding an intake and headers, you can easily make near 400hp no problem. Then going with even a slightly larger camshaft will give you the extra punch your looking for. With the heads, depending on the year and what your application is, all those should need is a little massaging unless you have the coin for aluminum.

I thought about going with a 396 for my car cause I know I'm not gonna find a non-truck 427. But I like the high winding small blocks and I've got my Roadrunner for the big block. The same things for big block mopars applies to big blocks all around. They make stupid torque and respond quick to basic bolts ons.

 

[79elcaminoo]

but like how wild do you think i would need to get to make say 475hp and 500ft lb. what kind of rpms do you think i could turn with a stock bottom end?

 

[patmckinneyracing]

It should be quite easy to make a 475hp/500lb 396. If you go with an eddy rpm performer intake, a 750cfm carb, massage the heads, and put headers on that motor, then you will only need to choose a decent camshaft. But it depends mainly on what heads you use, what year the engine is, and what camshaft you choose.

As for bottom end, if it is an older 396, then it should have a forged crank and pistons. If it does, then it will last up to about 600hp if rebuilt and checked correctly.

 

[Tuggy24g]

I have a 402 big block in my EL Camino and love the thing. Not many people put them in g bodies. They either go with 427 or 454 or 502. I would love any of those engines, but this one I bought bc the owner told me it had 500 HP plus I got it for 3200. If it does I will be happy as hell. If it has 450 HP I will be happy as hell. So Go for it with the 396!

 

[CutlassStocker]

I will be putting in my 84 Olds Cutlass a 396/325HP engine built to NHRA Stock Eliminator specs. I previously ran this motor in a 1968 Impala Stock Eliminator car. Basically it is a stock 396 motor with stock oval port heads (290 castings), a Stock Eliminator cam (which is stock lift cam .398/.398 with 250 degree duration with a LSA of 108, (lots of overlap), Forged pistons aftermaket "stock replacement", steel stock rods, stock forged crank, compession ratio around 10 to 1, 2 bolt main bottom end. I would regularly take this motor to 6500, sometimes 7000 RPM, but at that RPM the car would slow down. I made over 100 passes on this motor with breaking nothing except 1 rocker arm (which are stocki stamp steel) Using a MPH/ET caculator and weight this motor pushed 475 HP ,shoul propel my Olds to high 10;s low 11's

check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_SyTvAYeGU to see motor run in my Imp

 

[Tuggy24g]

Gives me hope I could have one fast El Camino with my 402 big block 🙂