BBC CHEVY 496-505 ENGINE, DART BIG M BLOCK, CRATE MOTOR 674 hp BASE ENGINE

The engine shown above is an actual representation of the engine you will receive with the exception of the polished intake. This engine includes a satin finish intake.

Our engines can also be built for use in marine applications. Pictured below is one of our bbc engines in a customer's boat.

4.310" BORE X 4.250" STROKE

- NEW DART BIG M BLOCK WITH SPLAYED MAIN CAPS.

- BRAVO 335 ALUMINUM ALLOY HEADS.

- COMP HYD. ROLLER CAM AND HOWARDS TIE BAR STREET STRIP ROLLER LIFTERS.

- SA GEAR BILLET TIMING SET WITH TORRINGTON BEARING AND ROLON CHAIN 9 KEYWAY. TOP OF THE LINE.

- COMP ULTRA PRO MAGNUM ALUMINUM ROCKERS 1.7 RATIO.

- SCAT CRANKSHAFT, CLEVITE BEARINGS. BALANCED ON OUR CWT BALANCER TO BELOW 2 GRAMS.

- SCAT COMPETITION RODS WITH ARP 8740 CAP SCREWS.

- WISECO PREMIUM FORGED PISTONS. 800+HP RATED.

- MELLING M-SELECT SERIES OIL PUMP WITH M-SELECT DRIVE ROD.

- CHAMP CUSTOM OIL PAN WITH OIL CONTROL SYSTEM.

- PRO-RACE BRAND DAMPER.

- TWO YEAR WARRANTY .

Pump gas friendly.

Our 496/505 Hydraulic Roller cam engine will produce 635 horse power at approx. 5900 rpm. The build sheet is at the lower part of this listing. This engine is an excellent choice for use in classic street rods, sport trucks, 4x4 trucks, and can be used as a daily driver. High mileage use is not a problem with this engine. This is engine may also be setup for use in larger work trucks, or motor homes. We can also set any of our engines up for marine use.

This engine will produce more than double the horse power of the original bbc  396, 427 and 454's and much greater torque. Pump gas friendly. For those wanting to put this engine in a classic car or sport truck, select cam choice # 1 or # 2 with the Hurricane intake. This engine will deliver very impressive power in the lower rpm range, and have a very high degree of drivability and long life.

See our other listings for the fully dressed out turn-key version.

Two year warranty, see details below.

This engine is designed to have a high level of drivability, or street manners. Cams #3 and #4 are our favorites for offering exceptional low end and mid range performance plus max drivability without needing to deepen final gearing or the need for a high stall speed torque converter.

If you choose to go with the Hurricane single plane intake and the first choice cam, it will bring the hp numbers up to approx. 674 . We do not recommend the single plane intake combined with cam choice 1 on any car that is over approx 3,200 lbs and/or cars with a steep (tall) final gear.

Please read the cam info provided below on the four cam choices before purchasing this engine. It is very important that you choose the correct cam and intake for your car and its intended purpose.

Here are a few good reasons why we think the 496/505 engine is a better choice than the stock GM bbc engine.

1. The 496/505 will accelerate any heavy car much better than any of the underpowered original GM bbc engines.

2. The exhaust note from this big block engine is much deeper than that of the typical stock GM big block engines.

3. Installing this engine in heavy cars or trucks without killing acceleration, or having to deepen the final gear, and needing a huge stall converter is a real plus. This engine will accelerate a 7500 lb vehicle much better than any stock bbc engine.

4. Low maintenance and high drivability even in very heavy cars and trucks, while generating up to 674 hp at the same cost as building a 454 stock engine.

5. Longevity and reliability. You don't have to turn the engine to a critical rpm range to produce its max hp output. There's nothing unsafe about running an engine that's well built like this up to 5,800 rpm. The hydraulic roller cam is very reliable and will not require a bronze distributor gear, as it has a normal cast gear. Our aluminum heads use very high quality hardware. All of our valves are from PBM, and are considered to be very high quality valves.

6. Should you ever decide to sell your car, or truck with this engine, the resale value would be much greater.

We do a full test run on every engine we build on a test mule. The engine is run for two intervals of 15 minutes each, and every possible issue is addressed. When you install the engine, you must verify that the timing is set at the correct value, and the fuel to air ratio must be verified. We also include an engine stand like the one pictured, wheels included, and an engine lift plate.

As of 10/25/2016, we completed installation of our second brand new Super Flow 902S dyno. This dyno is dedicated for dyno testing and tuning on our bbc engine line only.

De-tuned engines with different cam and intake combos will move the torque into the low rpm range, and is very desirable if you're sporting around on the street, rather than all-out racing. The de-tuned version of this engine will also allow you to set the car up closer to stock and increase drivability to a very high degree. Throttle response is also noticeably better. We can help you with a cam and intake selection that best suits your needs.

The build sheet is as follows:

The block is bored to size with our new Centroid touch probe machine. Few machine shops have a machine of this accuracy.

We also deck the blocks to an RA finish of approx. 15 or better. The decking procedure is also done by our Centroid CNC machine.

We often find many brand new blocks to have a sloping deck of up to 4 thous. When we're finished decking the block, it is within approx. .001 accuracy from end to end. Many machine shops fail to catch this as the machinery they use does not allow for such accuracy.

We then plate hone the block with our new Sunnen SV10 diamond hone machine. This is also a very advanced machine that hones the block with a finish unlike conventional machines.

The final step is to clean the block in our high pressure block washer.

Pictured below is the rotating assembly that comes in this engine.

(file photo, actual parts may vary, see details below)

The photos above and below are file photos. Actual appearance may vary. This picture is to give you an idea of parts used in the rotating assembly portion of this engine. All parts are brand new, first line, unblemished, and balanced in house.

READ THIS LISTING COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU BUY ELSEWHERE!

Crankshaft Specs.

• Pistons: Wiseco Fully Forged. High Performance for street/strip use.
• Piston Size: 4.310"
• Dome Volume: Dome Top
• Compression Height: 1.655
• Piston Material: Forged 2618 Aircraft Alloy
• Piston Rings: Hastings High Performance, Moly, Standard Tension.
• Ring Size and Fit: 5/64 5/64 3/16.
• Ring Material: Cast/Stainless/Moly

• Main Bearings: Clevite
• Rod Bearings:  Clevite
• Balance: In House on CWT balancer.
• Damper: Pro-Race brand 7.0"
• Flexplate: Heavy Duty SFI 168 tooth or 153 tooth. Manual Trans. flywheels available.

HASTINGS 2M SERIES MOLY RINGS

Scat Crankshaft

The picture below is a generic file photo of a Scat crankshaft.

Some of the benefits of the Scat crankshaft:

The material used in this crankshaft is manufactured from an exclusive Space Age material that was designed for high strength and fatigue resistance. The Scat cranks are the best value you will ever find. The Scat crankshafts are the best way to build a strong bottom end for, street rods, dirt and circle track racing, and drag strip racing.

Our choice of rods are the SCAT COMPETITION SERIES rods with ARP-8740 cap screws.

The Scat Pro-Comp extreme duty I-beam rods should not be mistaken for ProComp rods. These rods are made exclusively by Scat, and have nothing to do with the ProComp company. The critical sizing and installation of the ARP cap screws is performed on a Sunnen machine in the USA by Scat Industries. These rods are excellent for those wanting the extra security offered by a rod with 7/16 ARP cap screws.

Take notice of the design of these rods. They are far superior to conventional style I-beam rods. We are now using this rod in all of our Stage 4 and up SBC engines. We also use this rod in our big block 540/496/555 engines, making approx. 700+hp.

If you do a search on the Scat Pro-Comp rods, you will find a vast amount of info on many car forums. All of the info is 100% positive. These rods are run in engines that not only produce high horsepower levels, but also run at continuous RPM. Notice the general appearance in the pictures. These rods do look impressive. The style is reminiscent of a steel billet rod.

The fact that these rods are incredibly strong and well made, coupled with the fact they are light weight and offer better clearance than any H-Beam rod on the market, made it an easy decision to use them in all of our high horsepower street/strip engines.

Genuine ARP 8740 cap screws.

We have noticed some engine builders using low cost generic rods and crankshafts in their engines. These non-branded, (no-name) products are often poor quality in many ways. You will notice many of the low end engine builders fail to mention the actual brand of the rods or cranks used in their engines. Upon further investigation you will find such parts not to be a branded name product. They may label these parts with a name, but one that is totally unrecognizable in the industry. Our experience in years past with such rods and cranks has been disappointing to say the least. Besides the obvious issues such as incorrect sizing and machining that is difficult to correct, the questionable alloy these items may be produced from and the potentially incorrect heat treating methods used, could prove to be disastrous. Little can be done to verify this and nothing can be done to correct it. Failures of such critical parts will usually result in catastrophic damage to the engine. As you may have noticed, this is why we specify the brand name, and series of every part used in our engines.

Many of the inferior "no-name" rods on the market will also have "no-name" rod bolts in them. We have seen these bolts before, and they are very low quality. They don't have ARP's rolled thread design, and they don't torque down with the same characteristics as a genuine ARP bolt. It's not just a matter of having a different brand bolt in the rods; these bolts are low quality in many ways. They have been known to fail in engines to a much greater degree than a high quality rod bolt, and this failure usually causes catastrophic damage in the engine. Beware of rods that don't mention the rod bolt brand. As far as we're concerned, ARP bolts are the only brand we would ever use or accept in a set of rods.

PRO RACE BRAND HARMONIC DAMPER, 6.75 DIAMETER, INCLUDED.

Pro-Race brand damper is used on all of our engines.

INTERNALLY BALANCED, 7.0 " DIAMETER REDUCED ROTATIONAL MASS, OFFERS EXCELLENT CLEARANCE.

1.52" THICKNESS, 2.38" THICKNESS WITH HUB

HEAVY DUTY SFI RATED FLEXPLATE MADE IN THE USA INCLUDED.

This SFI flexplate is made in the USA and will resist cracking and warpage to a very high degree. One good telltale in identifying a low quality flexplate is the lack of welding on each side where the plate mates to the ring gear. They usually have a pale grey color to them, as they are not coated, and will rust quickly. Ours are welded on both sides, and are much thicker than an OE plate, and are zinc dichromate coated.

We do offer this engine with a manual flywheel. In most cases we do have both sizes, 153 and 168 tooth, available.

Our CWT 5500 Balancer.

We do our own balancing with our new state of the art CWT 5500 Series balancers . The CWT 5500 is the ultimate for precision balancing. We now have three of these in our machine shop. We consider this machine to be highly advanced compared to the Hines balancer we once used. We balance every rotating assembly we sell within 2 grams or less at no extra charge. A balance sheet is included with your engine.

Three new CWT balance machines under one roof is a rare sight.

Our crew wrapping up for the day. Pardon the mess.

Our Bravo 335 aluminum heads with 335cc runners, 124cc combustion chambers, 2.250/1.88 stainless PBM valves, 1.46 diameter Comp dual roller springs. We use our own hardware and do our own assembly.

PBM Competition Series Stainless Valves.

NON MAGNETIC stainless steel PBM Competition Series valves, swirl finished one piece, undercut and backcut. We have used the same valve for years, with zero failures. Non magnetic is very important. Our cost on these valves is around double the price of some low cost valves on the market. We sell these valves for just under $200 in our other listings. They are the only grade of valves we use in our bbc heads. Many head builders use the low cost valves, but we do not use them and never will. If the valves pull a magnet, they are not high temp stainless. They may be stainless, but they have very low nickel content in them.

The backcut feature reduces valve weight by an average of 12.5 grams per valve. This weight reduction of approx. 208 grams off the complete set of valves has a monumental effect on acceleration, deceleration, and valve train life. It may be difficult to understand how this works, but rest assured, this is a huge reduction. The valve spring compression and rebound action will remain stable for a much longer time running lighter weight valves, as well as reducing valve float.

The backcut feature is not be mistaken for undercut. These valves have both features. Backcutting is an additional radius, but located on the head of the valve to increase the flow numbers and reduce valve weight. The flow increase is approx. 3-6 points on the flow bench, and possibly more, depending on the initial flow rate of the heads.

We use Melling brand dual springs that have a 1.46 diameter, with an internal damper. These are made in the USA. Others are using springs that are much smaller in diameter. Smaller diameter springs may be in the correct spring pressure zone, but they are usually very short lived.

We use only Comp Cams Super 10 degree machined locks. Our head builder noticed the low grade locks on the market fit looser than he felt they should, not to mention the possibility that they are made of inferior metal. He envisioned the engine being much more prone to dropping a valve at high rpm. We have yet to have an engine drop a valve due to a valve lock failure.

We hone every guide in the heads with a ball berry flex hone to establish not only perfect clearance, but also a semi cross hatch finish for oil retention. We finish off with a natural bristle brush. The heads are then placed in our parts washer and cleaned with high pressure hot water, then pressure dried. This procedure is not performed at the factory due to the fact some engine/head builders prefer to establish the valve to guide clearance and finish in different ranges. Before installing the valves, we apply a heavy coat of engine assembly lube to the valve stems.

Our next step is to set the spring pressure to a predetermined pressure using a spring height checking device, most suitable for street rod use. The springs we are using allow for a near perfect seat to nose ratio. Be warned that some sellers of aftermarket heads may not be checking the installed height when assembling the heads, and may not be setting them up to the correct pressures. We have a full scale machine shop with several very knowledgeable engine builders that know and fully understand how to properly assemble a set of heads. Combine the possibility of poor assembly methods with incorrect or low grade hardware, and it is easy to see how failures can result.

We have dynoed many engines with the Bravo 335 heads and they performed faultlessly. We have never experienced failure of any kind with these heads.

Fel Pro 1017 premium race grade series head gaskets, ARP head bolts, and rocker studs.

ARP HEAD BOLTS AND WASHERS.

Pictured below is our Speedmaster single plane intake.

We now offer the BLACK POWDER COATED FINISH Single Plane Intake as a $49.00 upgrade.

We also offer the Edelbrock satin RPM Air Gap intake as an alternate choice at no extra charge.

We have several different options in valve covers. Here are our most common choices:

We also offer this engine in a higher compression version with a solid roller cam option. See our other listings for the full line of our engi nes.

We did not offer this billet timing pointer in the past. However, we noticed that there was a birds-eye view of the timing pointer from the driver side of the engine, so we decided to use these on all of our engines.

304 STAINLESS ALLEN HEAD INTAKE BOLTS ARE USED ON ALL OUR ENGINE S.

Timing components: SA Gear 8999T billet double roller timing set.

Polished Aluminum Timing Cover.

We use the top of the line SA Gear timing set with a torrington bearing and rolon chain. The difference in quality is dramatic compared to the common low-cost timing set. The upper sprocket is made from billet steel and the lower is induction hardened with nine keyways. These sets are hand matched for selective sizing.

The cost on this high end timing set is approx $97.50, more than double the cost of the low level budget timing set used by many other engine builders. Should you ever want to confirm that this is what is actually in your engine, you can remove the timing cover, and you will see that this timing set is very different in appearance to the run of the mill low cost sets often used by others.

This timing set is offered in three different chain tension setups, allowing us to set it up perfectly every time. One more benefit is that timing accuracy is very precise and will remain that way. This timing set will likely last for the life of the engine. This is what you will find in most solid roller engines, as they have very high spring rates, and create an enormous load on the chain and gears, compared to non solid roller setups. It may seem like a bit of overkill to use such a high end timing set, but the versatility and extreme quality outweigh the cost, in our opinion.

Skip White

The oil pans we use on all of our engines are made in the USA by Champ. The Champ oil pan has a full windage tray, crank scraper, and trap door. Threaded dipstick is included. Extreme duty pickup designed not to fail. The oil pan is made from a thicker than normal gauge material, and has embossed ribs in the body.

The 7.5 qt Champ oil pan has kickouts that swell outward approx. 3 inches on each side. If you think you will encounter clearance issues with the kickouts, we recommend opting for the stock appearing 6 qt. oil pan. The 6 qt. pan will still be a Champ pan and will have the windage tray and crank scraper. We strongly recommend reducing the amount of oil used in these oil pans by approx. 1/4th to 1/2 a quart. Doing this may greatly reduce the chance of oil leaks, and reduce oil temps. The larger counter weights used on stroker crankshafts are why we recommend reducing the oil capacity in these engines.

To be clear on what we're saying, we would like to see you add right at 7.0 to 7.5 quarts of oil grand total in your engine and oil filter when using the higher capacity oil pan that has the flat ribbed bottom with kickouts on the side. When using the stock appearing oil pan, we would like to see you add right at 5.5 to 5.75 quarts grand total in your engine and oil filter.

Our engines include a dipstick. It's very important that you re-calibrate the oil level marking on the dipstick. This is due to the fact that the dipstick, oil pan, and block are all made from various manufacturers and we often see great variances. Couple this with the fact that you may be running a reduced amount of oil, and the "full" mark on the dipstick will most likely not indicate correctly. Once you have put a predetermined amount of oil in your engine, and run it for a few minutes, let it sit for awhile on level ground, check the oil, and mark your dipstick with a flat file to re-establish the full mark.

The quality of these pans far exceed any of the lower priced oil pans used on many engines.

We do not use the knock off oil pan gaskets on the market. Felpro premium oil pan gaskets are used on all of our engines.

Pictured below is a file photo. The actual Felpro gasket used will be the correct model for this application.

Studded Mini Nut Set.

We use our premium studded mini nut set on all of our oil pans and valve covers. The nuts have a serrated face and built in washers. This is the ultimate set for securing the oil pan and valve covers to the engine and is far superior to the typical bolts used by most other engine builders. Our standard engine color is black. Custom paint work on engine blocks and oil pans is available as an optional upgrade. The pictures above and below are file photos to display the studded mini nuts. Other items seen in these pictures may not represent your actual engine.

The M-Select series oil pump by Melling has several important upgrades compared to the regular Melling M-55 Series. The gears are billet steel, and the body is stronger, coated with corrosion-resistant nitrite. This oil pump also includes the M-Select drive rod. Both components are far superior to the regular Melling oil pump and drive rods used by most other engine builders.

We include an engine lift plate and heavy duty engine stand with casters with every engine we build.

Our new 383 engine is premium pump gas friendly, with very good street manners. NEVER run regular 87 octane in this engine, premium only unless you have opted for our de-tuned version with a reduced compression ratio. Should you ever hear any sign of pinging or clatter in the engine when accelerating, reduce timing one or two degrees.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT DE-TUNING.

For those with very heavy vehicles, such as 4x4 quad cab trucks, 3/4 ton trucks, and crew cab/ex-cab trucks, Suburbans, plus trucks that may do light to medium trailer towing, we strongly recommend the de-tuned version of this engine.

For those wanting to run a supercharger, we recommend our extra deep dish pistons with the 75cc heads regardless of the vehicle.

Our machinists have many years of experience in building racing engines. This very critical work is done to exacting specs and with great care. Many vendors do not have machinists with the experience or the proper equipment that we are fortunate to have. We have built engines that cost upwards of $50,000. All of our engine builders have been in the engine machining and engine building line of work for their entire working lives. Their ages range from 38 to 65. We have a total of seven machinists/engine builders.

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