SC vs N/A

OK. Here is the chunk you are forgetting about, work.

A machine shop will charge about $500-600 for the over bore. then if you build it you still need atleast oversize pistons.

You will need new bolts and screws since you took the whole thing apart so that is another $130 for gaskets all around and another $2-300 for ford replacement bolts. $500-700 for arp pieces all around. Assuming you don't get all forged rotating assembly, which would be stupid but doable. You are looking at $600 for your pistons and maybe $100-200 for the pieces to put them on. Then you got to get it all balanced which i'm guessing will be $100-200 (not for sure on that one). So for your bottom end alone, your looking at $1400-2100 for the bottom end. Then you get the new heads which cost $2000 and cams for em for $400 and throw it all together your self.

Over all your looking at $2400 + $1400-2100 = $3800 - $4500 for your N/A set up that is only good to about 350 hp if your lucky. Throw in a worth while forged rotating assembly and new intake will bring you closer to 400 rwhp but bump your cost atleast $2000. So your looking at about 5800-6500 for a 400rwhp N/A car minus a tune.

Now your going to need a tune with the KB set up anyway so its really a wash to compare. The tune they give you is good enough to drive around with, but is really only to get you to the tuner without toasting your kit.

Of course if you get the K/B kit, you still don't have a built bottom end, so you can't put more than 450 rwhp out of it without worrying anyways. But, its still more power than you will get N/A, and it will cost less.

Of course you could get a Vortech kit if your into that for about $3000 all said and done and be at the same power rating (less bottom end torque tho)

you can easily out do a blower set up with a n/a nitrous set up..
its not about how much your no2 ur motor can handle its about how much ur willing to put in it.. with a forged rotating assembly, high compration ratio, good set of flowing heads, nice cam (for your specific setup), and a good gear in the rear id pick the no2 car over the blower car any day.. thats my opinion tho..

this is what was in my n/a 2v set up..

manley flat top platnium series pistons bored .020 over: 699.00
speed pro steel rings: 159.00
manley h beam rods stock stroke: 400.00
03 termi crank: 250.00
MMR stage 2 porting: 800.00
custom cams:700.00
machine work: 721.00
gears and install: 400.00
gaskets and all bolts rough estimate: 350.00
used no2 kit: 350.00

now all that came out too be 4830.00 a little less than a kenne bell 2.1 kit.

now with a blower set up you will need all internals, machine work, and bolts and maybe gears i stated above.. you dont have too go .020 over tho..

so with the blower being 5000 and the needed internal parts and machine work and bolts (maybe gears) youll be spening roughly 7500 bucks..
now thats not even including the tune..

and the fuel system youll be needing for both set ups (n/a and fi)

ths is just a rough summary of what youll be looking at spending with both fi and n/a.

If your gonna spend that much on a N/A 4.6L setup might as well go to a 5.4L set up.

My set up is costing me $6500 for a 5.4 swap.
5.4L forged small block
pp heads
hps manifold
tune
install
upgraded fuel system
other parts that are needed

This includes me selling my MAC LT headers and buying new JBA shorty headers and custom xpipe.

Reason its 6500 due to the hps manifold. since its like 500-600 bucks already not including shipping.

We also all glazed over what the goal for the car is. Do you want to be a street car, a drag car or what?

I would say that if you are going purely drag strip. A sprayed n/a car will be vastly cheaper and faster than a FI car. But if you are talking an always fun street car. The FI is better.

The reason FI vs NA is a big question, is on most other motors its a legitimate issue. The problem we have is the heads for these cars are sooooooooo bad that we can't make good n/a power. So normally a new sweet set of worked heads and nasty set of cams and high rpm's will make any chevy motor into a terror. And a supercharged engine may cost less at high power levels due to the n/a motor needing lots of machine work, but you need higher octane fuel to deal with the boost.

In hydroplane racing you start with a chevy 454 block and go from there. You can go super charged and keep it a 454, and use alcholhal which allows for the boost but you burn alot more of it in a run and the engine needs more maintenance, but is cheaper up front. The other option is to go N/A and stroke and bore to a 511 and rev it to 8k rpm with 15:1 compression. You get to use 113 octane gas, use less fuel and usually need less maintenance. But the up front cost is much higher.

Unfortunately our engine runs out of steam at 350 rwhp n/a, the aftermarket just isn't there for n/a on our cars. Its too easy to put a vortech or turbo on any motor under the sun to bother with specialized machine work and really high flow heads when you can make up for all of the issues with a forged set of internals and 20 psi of hair dryers under the hood.