What should I expect to spend building a 408 stroker?

I have a 351c 2v that I would like to make a 408 stroker that makes 450+HP. I have an experienced engine builder that is willing to help me put it together free of charge. My question is: about how much should I expect to spend to build a good quality motor?

I had looked at this awhile back and started pricing things. A good quality 408 stroker kit is going to be around $2k. Then keep in mind any machine work. Also cam (flat tappet or roller), intake, headers, carb, etc. Also what are you planning on using for heads? All in for the parts and doing all assembly yourself your prob north of $5k plus what ever you plan on doing for heads and another decent chunk of cash for good quality gaskets.

By the time you are done it will be around 8K to 10K or more depending on what you decide to go with head wise.

It's the old "how long is a piece of string" isn't it. Best thing to do is price up ALL the parts you are going to need. Then price up machine work for the block including stuff that may not be needed, lifter bore correction, line hone main tunnel, etc. Then comes heads, standard 2V's will struggle to give that power without major port work, then only someone that knows these heads well will get them to work properly. On top of that will guides, seats, milling rocker posts for screw in studs and guide plates, machining Spring pads and so on. 4V heads will get you those numbers, but machine work will still need to be done. Other option is good quality alloy heads (not pro comp/Speedmaster or any other cheap crap heads) either complete or buy them bare and build them to the specs you need. A stroker kit isn't needed to get the numbers your chasing either, but for the price, they're great value and decent engine needs to be balanced any way. One thing most people forget when building a new engine is all the small stuff, eg: belts, plugs, leads, fuel pumps, etc. On top of this is the rest of the driveline. Seen it way too many times where people build engines, hook it up to old driveline, break stuff including engine parts at times.

Whatever you decide just make sure you do it right with quality parts and great machining and most of all, never assume, always check, then check again. A few tenth of a thou can be the difference between well built and disaster. There's plenty of people on here willing to help you with your build, so don't be afraid to ask questions, no such thing as a dumb question as we're all learning every day. Good luck with your decision and hope this helps.

I have north of $10K in mine. You could spend less or you could spend more depending on what you want out of it. My engine is in the 550-600 hp range. All the little things add up for these builds. If you go roller cam.... thats easy $1200 for cam and GOOD set of lifters. Stroker kit $2000. My heads after I had them built with high quality components were over $3,000. List goes on. Do what 4V said and start making a list of what you want and start adding it up. Here is a link to my build.... http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-my-408-build-its-alive Good luck and keep us posted.

Lol, love it. I saw an interview years ago with a top Motorsport team owner and he said the best way to describe Motorsport investment, is like standing in the shower and ripping up $100 notes and watch them go down the drain. Or another, how do you make a million in Motorsport, start with two million. Too true.

After I ran the numbers I landed on this, who are just down the road. I have toured their shop. Top notch with an azzload of completed engines shipping out world wide. Hoping to pull the trigger this year, latest next.

http://www.smedingperformance.com/ford/427+Windsor+460+Horsepower.html

But it is all worth it in the end

One thing I have learned over the years. When you want to do a performance engine build, it will always cost WAY MORE than you think it will. If you think it will cost $7000, it will end up costing at least 10k. If you think 10k will do it, it will end up around 12-14k. Its just the nature of things. Alot of that is the cascade effect. Where once you get the engine out and off to the builder, you decide, hey, I might as well do this, or upgrade this while the engine is out. So making a good plan before you start is always a good thing. Price many different options. Add a minimum of 25% to whatever you think it will cost, and have that money budgeted and ready to spend if you need to. Theres nothing worse than a half built project sitting in the garage for 3 or 4 years because you didnt do your homework and were 50% off with your cost estimate.

Also, never forget about the most annoying thing of all, THE UNEXPECTED! This one will bit you in the ass no matter how hard you try to avoid it. So always remember this one thing, SHIT HAPPENS! and it happens alot more frequently in High Performance Builds. I have friends who laid out 15k for an engine from Engine Factory, only to have it blow up within the first 100 miles. Then Engine Factory, being a bunch of low life douche bags, did not do anything to help him. Then he went to another builder, spent another 5k fixing it, only to have more problems, causing him to pull the engine again because the fasteners they used on the rockers were shit and 2 broke, sending debris and a push rod southward. He finally got fed up with the whole project and called Proformance and got them to build him a Dart Block 427 using his AFR heads from the engine factory build. That thing is a total BEAST now. But even that engine came with one big surprise. The distributor was new from MSD and installed by Proformance. Something was wrong with the Distributor gear and it turned to metal shavings in the first 10 miles. After a call to proformance and dropping in a new MSD Distributor with the Proper gear, its been doing great. Total Engine money budget was 16k, total actually spent was almost 30k.

This is a prime example of SHIT HAPPENS. Nothing he did wrong, One bad engine builder, 2 poor vendors, and one manufacturing defect made him spend twice as much as he anticipated.

Also this is a great article on the distributor gear subject.

http://www.stangtv.com/tech-stories/...t-the-details/

This doesnt even consider what the ramifications of all that extra power will do to the rest of the vehicle. A unibody car will Twist with enough rotational force. Also, the transmission will explode with too much power and torque going to it. So will the rear end. Its all a system. A motor with big power will find the weakest link one at a time until there are none. So keep that in mind. Extra bracing may be required, upgraded transmission may be required, and rear end upgrades and gearing will very likely be required. Dont forget BRAKES! Brakes will need upgrading. I would go with 6 piston Wilwoods.

From all of the people I know, I can give you 2 companies I would trust to build for me.

http://fordstrokers.com/fordstrokers-long-blocks/dart-351-long-blocks/dart-408-427-Longblock



http://proformanceunlimited.com/

dont forget that after you finally finish that 450+HP work of art and drop it in the car...you will find that the trans will never hold up...and the factory brakes are not up to the job anymore...or the springs/shocks for that matter...etc. So the answer to yer question is "around $30k over a 5year period depending on the paint....not including annual registration and insurance fees for a non running vehicle.