I’m looking for the old school opinions.
What is the most dependable, pre computer Big Block…
Dependable depends on how you build it! Stone stock, Ford’s FE, Chevy or Mopar 440’s are all pretty darn good as is the 500 inch Cadillac V8. Ford’s 460, Pontiac, Olds and Buick all have easily fixed flaws but parts availability is getting weak.
The first 3 will take lots of power adders like cam, compression and displacement, without breaking in half. The Chevy is cheapest to build, then Mopar and then the Ford.
You can take a modern Chevy LS and make it “old school” by buying one of these from Chevy and putting a carb on it. It will make more power, make it longer and be lighter than the old school stuff.
https://www.chevrolet.com/performance/crate-engines/lsx-454
You are going to want electronic ignitions on anything you build, anyway, so the lack of a distributor and independent coils should not be a problem. MSD makes a stand-alone ignition for this.
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413 or 383 Mopar
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Are you going to buy a crate engine, or an original? And what do you want to do with it?
Well it would help to know what you want to put this big block in because some might not fit easily . Also we all have a preference as to brand . Besides why does it have to be a big block ? We have a person in our area and he builds resto-mod street vehicles and uses crate Chevrolet crate motors.