406 buildup

I'm currently in the process of building a 406 SBC on a budget.  I need help in picking the parts to acheive the 450-500 horse power mark with tons of torque ie:  piston, rods, cam, heads and intake manifold.  The block is a 2 bolt main and I would like to reuse the stock crankshaft.  Any advice on this matter would greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Tony

What, another gibby also with a 406 small block, this is weird, but it is nice to meet you, and may i just ask since our nicks are the same how did you get yours/why did you pick your name the way you did

if you already havent seen the "Impersonator" SBC 406 that CHP did, take a good look at it here, and that will point you in the right direction, it all really depends on what kinda cam your going to choose, some common sense and slight research on your own part is all it takes to pick a cam for your setup, once thats done, everything else can be built around it but ill try to give a few facts to jumpstart your decision

Duration: duration takes from the buttom end and gives to the top end, simple as that, once duration over 236@.050 has been reached no more peak torque will be gained, it will just be pushed to a higher RPM point so in other words more Horsepower

Lift: More valve lift gives more valve opening area and thus more cylinder fill and more torque, the more lift for the amount of duration or more lifter acceleration and velocity the better to give the most available valve opening area

Lope Seperation Angle: The wider the angle the more is smoothes the powerband out by decreasing overlap (the most important term in consideration with mileage and idle quality), also the wider the LSA (commonly called LDA, LCA) the more it holds the valve open past buttom dead center on the intake stroke and thus more upper RPM power, for a race engine it has to have a balance of opening area on the front half and last half of the intake stroke or in other words a balanced choice of LDA, it's said for the most possible torque to look at LCA in terms of cylinder head breathing per cubic inch of displacement, so with stock heads actually LDA's as narrow as 104 for a 406 will give the most peak torque but this wont be good for a street engine as it will make the engine "peaky" and reduce mileage and idle quality and thus overall driveability so stick with a off the shelf cam with a fairly wide LDA such as Comp Cams and Crane, if it's more weekend warrior and can take a more narrow power band, Isky and other brands have grinds that are on narrower LDA's

Hope This Helps Some, dont be afraid to ask about anything else and ill do my best to help

I have two 406 sbc s one in the vette, one in the truck.

The block , stock crank, quality machine work.

Rods : I beam trickflow, 5.7" , no longer made but Eagle rotating components makes a good rod at a good price. SummitRacing.

Pistons: Keith Black, KB-126, 30cc D shaped dish. ( I would probably use the  KB-147 next time for a shade more compression ).

Cam Hydrualic roller!: CompCams 12-408-8, Lifters 853-16, link bar type retro fit. ( I would like to have used the 12-422-8 but when I bought mine they were out of that grind, this would probably your best bet). Run straight up (on the 106 degree intake centerline).

Heads: TrickFlow specialties 23degree streethead, 64cc chambers, single springs w/ damper. ( switch to the new behive design when time/funds permit ). 1.5 roller rockers and appropriate  lenght pushrods.

Intake: Edelbrock RPM air-gap. port matched.

Carb: Edel-1904, edelbrock Q-jet. I could use a bigger carb since I can measure about 5" of vaccum at wide open throttle. plus there isn't quite enough accelerator pump shot for my taste.

Ign: HEI w/ msd 6al,coil,cap,rotor,wires.

Headers : 1 5/8" primary tube 3" collector. Hedman HTC coated.

I have run 1 3/4"s but I like the torque of the others.

Trans: 700r4 with a B&M rebuild kit and Traveler converter. This converter has a stall around 1700 verses the stock 1100 rpm. otherwise all simple stuff.

Results, last night from a rolling start i nailed the throttle and all four back tires were spinning.

Plenty of torque,lotso HP.

Just thought I'd offer my current combo as a suggestion also:

SBC406 4 Bolt Main

I did not reuse the stock crank but went after an Eagle 4340 crank

Eagle 4340 H-beam 5.7 rods

Speed Pro Power Forged Pistons

Dart Iron Eagle Heads 23 degree 64cc fully ported

Comp Cam K-kit hydraulic roller setup cam specs; 224/230 duration .502/.510 lift corrected to roughly .532/.540 with Comp Cam 1.6 Pro Magnum Roller rockers

Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake with a Holley 750 dbl pumper

Should easily be in the 450-500+ hp range

-Mark