I grew up watching my dad race a 55 Chevy Gasser with a 327 with a M22 Muncie 4spd. He made 500hp and never had an issue with a 2 bolt block. He turned 7,500rpm all the time. He had some special things he did with the oiling system on the cranks and cams. He opened the oil passages and ran a high volume oil pump. Back in the day having a high volume oil pump was a big deal. But back in the 1970’s dad had very few engine failures. The key to shifting at 7,500rpm was keeping the engine well oiled. Dad’s little 327’s would gap the Big Block Mopar’s back then. They could not believe the little 327 would turn those RPM’s and say together. Dad never had the hood up at the track. He always said races was won in the shop. We pulled the 55 Chevy two door post Gasser on a two rail trailer. Our tow vehicle was a 55 Nomad with a built 327, 4spd. We always had parts. I remember going to the Nationals in Indy one year. And this was a rare time he had engine problems. We pulled the 327 out of the Nomad and put the two 4 barrels on the tow rigs engine. We finished the race week with the 327 out of the Nomad. People could not understand how we was winning races with the tow rig engine. These 2 327’s was built exactly the same except the gasser ran two 4 barrels. Dad already had a high volume pump in the tow rig. He only needed to change the single 4 barrel on the Nomad to the Twin 4 barrels. I was only like 10yrs old, but I remember the tow rig engine was 2-3 tenths faster than the Gassers race motor. He had been playing with match porting on the heads and intake, but it was untested. So he just used it for a backup in the tow rig. After that week of racing and everyone was leaving, we was in the pits putting the race engine in the tow rig to drive home. Thats when drag racing was super fun. 🇺🇸🦅🏁🔧💸

We always used 500hp as the deciding point.. Below 500 a 2bolt was fine, above 500 we went 4bolt. If I couldn’t find a factory fourbolt I went splayed on the center 3 caps with a two bolt block. Splayed two bolt to me is better than factory 4 only because the outside bolts are angled. At 8k I have seen the crank rods and pistons take the pan out n put everything on the track.. at 6 k and 500 Hp a stock two bolt will live forever.👍🏻 Tighter quench decreases detonation and increases mixture motion. Both good things..We run em tight enough they just leave a shine on the heads... Keeps the rods from stretching lol 😂 Great Video Allen!

The 2 bolt 400 is stronger because of the increased bolt spacing versus 350/400 4 bolt main, bolt spacing is increased w/ 2 bolt 400 to accommodate larger stock 2.65 journals.

I got my old square body stuck in a river and sent the connecting rod through the oil pan. I got pulled out but I had to cross the river because I was on the wrong side. I drove the truck across the river because it still ran. My help abandoned me, so I drove that truck home 10 kilometers with a horrible knock and no oil. I'm impressed with the small block Chevy.

Hey AG, Tim here, my Pontiac has 2 bolt mains.....i've made a documented 590 hp/625 lb ft with it......yes its a drag application, but 2 bolt mains WONT be a deciding factor if catastrophic engine failure happens, it wud be in tune/valvetrain......if ur using a GOOD rod, i DONT see any issue, i walked over my stock rods yrs ago on my Poncho.....LOTS of damage, NOW i got Eagle H-beams, my man Jeff at Kauffman racing assured me i'm fine.....all i'm saying is a proper rod for the abuse shud be employed.....i think ur just fine.....and i wish you and ur son GREAT luck, wud LOVE to hear about a great season!!!.... GREAT vid, i enjoyed!!!.....PEACE to you sir!!

With the 400 block, I think the 2 bolts are stronger than the 4.

Great video! I can’t wait to assemble it with you.

Brings back memories Mr G. Late 70's tech college built 400 with fuelie heads. BUT, 6000 RPM for an extended run with the stock valvetrain resulted in a misfire. Engine death came weeks later when the misfire said the bent valve that caused the misfire ( which was missed in the troubleshooting) decided to leave the engine. Catastrophic failure indeed! Keep up the good work.

Another fine video AG! Look forward to your next one..👍👍👍

Thanks for another informative video! I would like to see , if possible, a video on quench = piston height, cylinder head volume ( cc's) and head gasket thickness, etc. Thank you for what you are doing!!!!

Excellent video! I especially liked your explanation of the forces the connecting rods endure. I genuinely wish that I could sit in on the class you're teaching later this month. I am also very interested in seeing Michael's engine come together and the follow up on his success this racing season. All good stuff, Allan. Thanks again for another interesting and informative video. I'm learning a lot! Cheers!

I gotta admit, you are one of my favorite engine building channels on KZfaq! I like your no nonsense presentation.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us!

Thannk you for the video Always look forward to yourvideos

That engine is going to run great!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience, Alan- would you mind sharing more details on the build- head specs, cam specs? This sounds almost exactly like the specs of my 400 that I’m building. I look forward to your videos, so keep them coming.👍🏻

Here's an idea for you, build a 377(400 block with a 350 crank)so you can run a 6.125" rod with pistons that have a 1.150" compression distance. The longer rod shorter stroke will be less detonation prone because of the extra dwell ATDC. And engines with a shorter stroke make more power per cubic inch. Look up the HRM article from June 1997, "The 350 Engine Chevrolet Should Have Built" is a great example of that. With anything longer than a sbc 400 rod with a high lift cam you're going to need a reduced base circle cam with the 3.75" stroke. Not the case when running a 350 crank. Plus you would be able to rev to 6,500 all day long and up to 7,000 on occasional short bursts.(As long as you run at least studs in the 2 bolt block, a halo girdle would help too) With the right heads, cam and compression ratio your HP goal should be no problem. Although it will be slightly down on max torque compared to a 406 but not enough to notice in a light race car. Probably would be better with a little less torque and a bit more high RPM HP?🤔😎👍

I love this channel

I'm no fastener expert, but I've read from various sources that an up grade to a two main would be studs. So that's what I do on both my big and small blocks for what it's worth.

Love the budget build series of videos… but it seems on quite a few videos (from various presenters) there is a point in the build where it goes “sideways” and the builder uses some “unobtainium” head or valve train, rather than off-the-shelf items. “I had these expensive heads in the back and this high end valve and rocker setup leftover that I’m putting in at a discounted price”. I have a ‘76 Vette that has 110k miles on the engine and want to do a performance rebuild, but certainly don’t have heads and other performance parts sitting on the shelf. (Nor does my local engine builder - and I don’t want Marketplace crap to gamble on). Perhaps discussing what heads, that are affordable, (AFR 195’s etc) with reasonable rockers would be useful alternatives. (Obviously affordable is a relative term). Otherwise, interesting videos which address the theory.

Hey Mr. Gold I'm building a 2 bolt chevy 454 with very wide caps the engine will be show will run a blower can you take about that sometime thank you love the videos keep them coming

The reactions I get when I tell people that a friend has a 55 Chevy that runs 10.teens with a 355 2 bolt engine are always amusing, with most saying that engine will never last. Then I tell them that engine has many hundreds of passes on it, with no main cap movement. And as it is burning Methanol, it never detonates!

Michigan modifieds run more than 500hp here in Michigan. There upwards of 600-700hp now, and upwards of 8500 rpm. You better be upping your game.

Thanks for your thoughts on sbc , for what it is worth I think you need to up your compression ratio. With the cam or static I would go static first,depending on weather you want to be in the middle of the pack and reliable or closer to the front of the pack and little less reliable , that is if the class lets you run race gas.as I am sure you know that lower compression ratio will cost you torque. Thanks Dwayne newzealand.

I don't have to watch thr video to tell you "YES". I've built my fair share of 600+ 2 bolt main SBC. I use SCAT 9000 cast cranks and the longest rod I can depending on piston and the budget.

I'm building a 2 bolt 010 with splayed caps (not cheap to machine).

Heavy H-beam rods built for high compressive force are becoming popular because of high boost turbo applications.

I swear I heard this was a race motor. 0.042" to 0.045" quench isn't bad, but my mother's daily driver has less. How about putting a call in to Cometic for a 0.030" head gasket?

good stuff. do you ever build any old FE engines?

Great video. Im building a 406 for my Chevelle. My goals are the same as yours power and rpm wise. Can you share the cam specs? I was thinking about using a speedway oval track cam. It's 229 @ 50 and 106lsa.

Alan, did the shop sonic check the cylinder wall thickness before boring 0.030”

Great video, it's very hard to find a 400 sbc that is std. bore, How much can the block be bored out safely? I find a lot that have been bored +.030 and are rusty, can the shop do+.010 more?

hey Alan, Jerry here down in Ky. People talk and ask, does it have a 4 bolt main block? I say why are you so worried about it? You are not making that much horse power. In the 70's we were turning 327's and 302 Z 28's to 8,000 RPM's all day long and not having any problems on a 2 bolt block. In 1976 we had a A/AA dragster with a 392 Hemi with a 3/8 stroker crank and turning it 8,000 RPM's on a factory 2 bolt main block and was National Record Holder at Beech Bend Park,,,,, For a little peace of mind on my 406 sbc 500 + HP, I like to use ARP main studs

I heard you talk about powered metal having good tensil strength.metal is partly your profession,yes?

If you dont beleive in when you lift an engine will break, then try open headers on stock engine and lift right off at end of 1/4 mile once .

Did I see just 2 bolt mains on the DZ 302 block ?

A 2 bolt block is fine for what your doing with it .

Dowl pin the caps.

Found a few 400 blocks on marketplace but don't know what you're getting and people lie 😢

I'm just curious. Is my cast factory GM crank ok for 500 hp. 2 bolt 400. 69 Camaro street car. No racing????

2 bolt is fine use it.

Frost plug Freeze plug Core plug Welch plugs All the same thing mate

How do I contact you

It's1969 Z 28 not Zards 28 😢

This video was really gutless and lots of rambling. Didnt really give us solid information that matches the title of the video