Casey_SS

I'm still about a year or so away budget-wise but am toying with a couple different ideas for my 383 build. First, my budget and goals - planned budget for the motor is 10k, goal is a reliable motor (i.e. could reasonably expect100k+ street/strip miles without having to rebuild) for daily-driven street use (~15k miles a year), 10-15 drag outings a year (goal there is mid/low 11's), and 5-10 roadcourse events each year. Obviously, power is a prime consideration but gas mileage and emissions legality are factors as well. Lumpy cams don't bother me in the least but it has to pass TX emissions and knock down at least 15mpg on the freeway. That being said, here was my initial plan:

fully forged 383, ported stock heads, custom cam, ported intake, assorted bolt-ons, etc., expectation is 400 - 430rwhp - plan was to run this setup for awhile, get all the bugs worked out, upgrade other misc. things particularly some roadcourse-specific stuff, keep saving $$ and eventually slap on some ported Trick Flow heads to drop compression and add a P1SC pulleyed at around 8-10psi. This would obviously be in addition to the 10k budget I mentioned above. I would expect to spend another 6k or so on the blower, heads, porting, and incidentals.
I think this would be a REALLY fun street / drag setup but the more I learn about roadracing and what works / doesn't work there, I'm thinking the blower might necessitate a lot of compromises and introduce more risk to the reliability requirement when used roadracing in the Texas heat. Guess I could take the belt off for those events but that just seems lame...I'd rather build the best all-around solution and be done with it.

On paper, I'll be getting to the drag strip more often than the roadcourse but only because it's more convenient to go. I'm much more passionate about road racing and would rather make my compromises in favor of those events vs. drag racing. If I accept that with my unique set of goals, the money I would spend on the blower and related stuff could be better spent elsewhere in the engine build, where should it go? I've thought about the following options and would like more input:

* ported Trick Flows from the get-go - what are these worth power-wise over max-ported stockers i.e. LE3/4?
* solid-roller cam - I know this should be worth 15-20hp...any drawbacks aside from setting lash periodically? Do these necessitate ditching the knock sensor?
* nitrous - I'm just not a big nitrous fan...I'd rarely if ever use it on the street and never at the roadcourse, so it'd be a drag-only investment, which doesn't play to what I most like to do with the car
* Higher compression pistons - if I decided not to ever throw a blower on this motor, naturally I'd up the compression as high as possible for 93 octane - I'm guessing 11.5:1 or so, maybe more with some spot-on tuning

I guess the main question here is if I throw more money into an n/a 383 setup, how far can I realistically go with it and still achieve my goals? Seems like 420 - 450rwhp is about the limit before getting into race-only stuff that won't work well for most of what I want the car to do.
Given my stated project goals, can anyone think of a better combo or other ways to break 430-450rwhp n/a that make sense from a cost/benefit perspective?
Sorry for all the rambling....appreciate all constructive advice / criticism you guys care to offer.

ABA383

My build is N/A, but it may fit into what you are looking for...I have 12 years on my short block, 2 years on a heads/cam freshen (nothing broke just wanted to go faster..) I get 20 mpg on the highway and run the times in my sig with bolt on suspension stuff and stock springs/shocks...Its an 11.2:1 383 (pump gas) with ported stock castings with 2.00/1.56 valves and a 226/234 hyd roller cam...Dyno numbers don't impress me, but they are 400 on a Dynojet and 385on a Mustang...Trans is a built 4L60E with a Vig 3600 to a Strange 12 bolt with 3.73s...Nothing fancy but it all works very well...

How fast do you want to go?

--Alan

Casey_SS

Alan - thanks for the input. That sounds like a great combination and darn near exactly what I've had in mind. The short answer to your question of how fast is essentially as fast as possible within my budget
The real question I'm struggling with is that if I ditch the blower plans to support my road racing goals and spent that money trying to make more n/a power, how much more could I get and still meet my other goals?
Do you feel your combo is close to maxed out n/a power-wise? If not, what other options have you considered?