Engine Building - V-8 Power Trends And Best-Selling Engine Combos

This would look great under the hood of our '67 Mustang.

Small-Block Ford 302 CI
Guys with Ford musclecars who want to replace their tired small-block and get a good deal in the process should check out the combinations offered by Engine Factory. One of its hottest-selling engine packages is the 350hp 302. This combination begins with a roller-cam block, into which goes a balanced-and-blueprinted reciprocating assembly consisting of a nodular-iron crank, shot-peened rods, and hypereutectic pistons. Edelbrock RPM heads and a custom-ground steel hydraulic-roller cam round out the long-block. Engine Factory will sell this as a long-block package, but since it specializes in turnkey engines, you can also have it ready-to-run, complete with carburetor, air cleaner, water pump, oil pan, distributor, ignition coil, spark plugs, and even the pulleys to fit your application. All Engine Factory turnkey engines are delivered already hot-tested and broken in on the shop's dynamometer. Engine Factory's Christian Nelson says this 9.5:1 engine will replace any 289 or 302, and will run great with the factory exhaust and torque converter, but headers, a higher stall converter, and a steeper final drive will really make this engine come alive. Want more cubes? He recommends the 331-inch stroker that comes with a steel crank, forged rods and 4.030-inch pistons, 3.25-inch stroke, 10.0:1 compression ratio, and an even longer list of go-fast goodies than the 302. This combination is good for 410 hp.

Coast sells a ton of these engines to guys who drag race Fox-body Mustangs.

Small-Block Windsor 408 Ci
Next up the food chain is the 351 Windsor. We called Coast High Performance to see what the hot Windsor formula is, which, to no one's surprise, turned out to be the company's 408. The marriage of a 0.030-inch-over 351 block with a 4.00-inch crank adds up to this small-Ford's big displacement number, and Coast's best-seller is what it calls the Street Fighter-Pro Street combo. This is a mixture of parts from its hot street and full-race engine packages, and comes with a forged reciprocating assembly with your choice of dished or flattop pistons and a custom-ground hydraulic-roller cam. The short-block is balanced and blueprinted as it is assembled. The long-block package adds Edelbrock Victor Jr. heads, and a carb-to-oil-pan version of this engine is also available with a variety of oil pans and intake manifolds to suit your application. Look to make close to 500 hp with this setup for less than $10,000 for the package.