Alright, I'm curious here. I've got two options with the money I've got.. I have a fresh 355 that is in the car right now. I can either:

a) buy a 383 stroker kit for it
b) buy one of Skip White's Bowtie blocks machined and ready to assemble to the dimensions of my choice. I will most likely go with a 406.

My current 355 has Dart 200CC heads with an airgap and a Quickfuel 750 on it so those will all transfer over. The question comes down to this: is it worth the money for my goals? I'm trying to get low(er) 11's in the quarter... like 11.2-11.3's in a full suspension 88 Camaro. Would it be better to go with a 383 stroker kit (costwise), or would it be better to spend the extra and go with the 406 bowtie block? The problem is I'm still in college and I don't make a lot of money at all. I only work weekends because I go to school full time and I'm on my last semester. I know a 406 will make it EASIER for these goals, but it will also cost a lot more to do it because I'll need a block AND rotating assembly (with all additional hardware) whereas I will only need the rotating assembly for the current motor in the car.. so, which way should I go? Money is a huge factor here, but I also don't want to fall short of my goals either and waste money doing it twice.

 

Making a 383 stroker fit into a stock block requires grinding for clearance at several points in most cases (bottoms of the bores and at the pan rail). Also, depending on the rods you use you might have clearance issues with a few of the cam lobes. I've done my own clearance work on factory rods in several of my motors but in some cases the cam just isn't going to clear the rods without replacing it with a small base circle cam or using different rods (capscrew-style). Factor that into the cost if you're not comfortable doing that work yourself.

An aftermarket performance block will already have all the clearance you need, but the rod-to-cam clearance can still be an issue.

Given those choices what you're really asking is "should I buy an aftermarket block or not?" since you're going to have to buy the same parts in either motor (crank and pistons at a minimum). Here's my take:

Aftrmarket blocks are worth the money in the long run. And if you have to put any real money into a stock block, you might seriously consider going directly to an aftermarket one. I do my own clearancing work and mock-up so it's not really an issue for me. And my motors don't make enough power to seriously stress a stock block (typically less than 500HP, often less than 450HP). If you need to pay somebody to do that work for you, maybe what you really want is an aftermarket block, or better yet, an assembled shortblock built on an aftermarket block. And you will never worry about pushing an aftermarket block too hard. They are seriously strong castings.

There's also nothing wrong with "punting" on this whole idea and slapping a plate nitrous system on the car for the few times each year you hit the track. Guaranteed a $400 nitrous system will make you smile a lot wider while costing a lot less than either of those options!

 

I'm not against nitrous if that's your thing, but I also want power that is constant and not relying on an outside source (the bottle). Clearancing isn't a problem as it's not terribly difficult to do. I'm not worried about that. My goal for this car is to get close to 11 flat in the future naturally aspirated. Getting into the 10's takes more work than I can afford to do at this point (as well as doing it safely and reliably).