My 4000 pound 56 Nomad ran a 408 Dart Little M based SBC... with peanut Dart 180 CC heads. Made 550 ft lbs of torque at 4600 RPM and 524 HP at 5600 RPMs (all out of air with the little heads). The thing rattled windows and set off alarms. Pulled like a freight train with a 2800 stall convertor.
Having said that - there's no way I'd invest fresh money into an old skool SBC build these days. The LS platform is just so much better in so many ways. You can get the torque and HP with such minor mods - or just buy the 525 HP LS3 and be leak free... lighter weight on the front end... and be reliable with no stress and less cost. You're under 10K with the controller and DBW throttle... I think Pace sells the motor for under 8K and the controller package is around 1200 bucks. You can't build a bad ass 400 cubic incher for that if you have to buy heads and crank and rods etc.
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