I always favor the largest displacement. No substitute for cubic inches. With the increased torque from the extra inches you need less rear gear which will help on the highway. For the cam, high lift, moderate duration for a street engine, all done by 5000rpm.

Thanks guys. I figured there would be some wilder build thoughts!!

Found an Eagle assembly with steel crank (4.25) and forged pistons......6.70 Chevy/Ford rods   $1799.00  Summit
Ask the machine shop IF they can bore the lifter bores to .904 (Chrysler)  instead of stock .874(Ford) to enable you to use Chrysler lifters.  Since they are larger diameter they hold the valves open a little longer as they rotate over the cam lobe.  Would get more duration with the same cam you are using now. One reason why they use to kick Ford/Chevy butt in the stock classes especially when there was a cam duration limit.  Since you prolly need machine shop work anyway............may be a good bang-for-the-buck!?!  Can't hurt to ask.
6sal6

Hornman wrote:

I always favor the largest displacement. No substitute for cubic inches. With the increased torque from the extra inches you need less rear gear which will help on the highway. For the cam, high lift, moderate duration for a street engine, all done by 5000rpm.

I've gotta agree with Ron. ... and you'd get a better 1st gear.
Heck ... I'd tell myself it was more economical to go big!
 

Just get a crank that stays in one piece and you will be happy.  My choice woukd be one with longest rod length.

Your cam will be fine.  You won’t notice any detriment based on cubic inch change talked about here.

I agree that the longest rod practical is the best, excepting when it moves the wrist pin hole into the oil ring groove.  The biggest consideration for me is how much use is the engine going to see?  If you are only going to drive it 2,000 miles a year and the engine is only going to last 25,000 miles you'll get 12-13 years out of it.  If that's good enough for you then I worry less about the wrist pin position, the height of the ring pack, etc.  If you're going to drive 5,000 miles a year or more do you really want to revisit this in 5 years or less? 

IME intended use is the area where most guys are unrealistic and it causes them to build engines that are disappointing for the application and short lived.  I always look to temper power expectations with longevity and cost.  You are over 400 cubes with any combination you're looking at.  From extreme to extreme (416-445) and a target of 550HP you are asking for 1.3-1.2 HP per CID, which with the heads, cams, etc. available today is not a tall order for an NA engine. 

I cap the HP at 550, because an honest 550HP is a ton of power in an early Mustang.  Any more is unusable in the real world, and truthfully you may be happier with less.  If it were a drag car that maybe saw the street occasionally it would be a different story, but I find such cars to be at best wishful thinking.  Most guys don't get to the track as often as they want, so the car gets driven mostly on the street, either on street tires which can't hold big power, or on DOT slicks which are dangerous on anything but perfectly dry pavement. 

IMO do as much research as possible before buying anything.  I can't comment on the specifics of building a 351 based stroker, I've never built one, but I've built several SBC and SBF strokers in varying displacements and I can tell you where the pitfalls lie, and the things for which to look out.  Time spent now pays huge dividends for years to come when you've built an engine that achieves all of your goals and only requires regular maintenance for several decades worth of enjoyment. 

I too would choose Scat over Eagle given the choice.  I used an Eagle kit in my 347, because that's what the guy I bought it from (unassembled) had purchased.  I used an Eagle crank in my 383 in my Blazer.  Its okay stuff, but not overly impressive.  I think its mostly made overseas.  The Scat stuff always just looked cleaner.  Better QC maybe?

Interesting that your 331 had the pin in the oil ring.  Mine doesn't (DSS kit), though the 347 does.  In some combos you can avoid it with the right piston and ring package.  It used to be common on 6" rod 383s, but I bought a set of Mahle pistons for mine that worked without it (I didn't buy a kit for that engine I bought the individual components so I could get exactly what I wanted).  I think the ring package makes a huge difference by determining how close to the top of the piston they can put the compression ring and then the other ring locations follow from there, and obviously ring thickness plays a role.  Piston material may come into play as well.  The danger is that if the ring is too far up and the crown gets too hot it can pull the piston apart above the compression ring and horror ensues. 

In a nutshell the h beam rod has higher bending resistance

If its an FE, then I'd talk to Bary Rabotnick at Survival Motorsports.  When I researched FE builds his prices were about the best, plus you have a guy dedicated to building FEs for decades.  IIRC he had a 445 package that was good for an easy 550HP and would make a killer engine.  Using one of his stroker kits you're getting the parts he knows work.  Opinions on SBF strokers are easy to find; seemingly everyone has built one.  FEs are a different animal.  They were hugely successful with factory support in the '60s, then became basically DOA when the 385 series engines came out, and now they can be built with new parts.  BUT, they are costly to build which I think scares a lot of would be FE owners off, so there are far fewer of them out there than the cheaper to build mills. 

Check this out.  Tons of good info from maybe THE most knowledgeable guy when it comes to modern FE performance. 

http://survivalmotorsports.com/

Bolted to Floor wrote:

TKOPerformance wrote:

Check this out.  Tons of good info from maybe THE most knowledgeable guy when it comes to modern FE performance. 

http://survivalmotorsports.com/

Barry is a good guy. A few other worth mentioning are Brent Lykins with a bunch of builds and sumo time.

Jay Brown has developed parts for these things and won Drag Week in 3 different classes.

Blair Patrick has built super stock motors for years and he won Engine Masters Challenge this year with a 390!!

 

Brent Lykin posts a lot on Speedtalk.com
Good site for motorheads.
Lotsa knowledgeable fellas on there fer sure!

lowercasesteve wrote:

Try FE Specialties.  Tom is about 10 miles from here and has been very helpful to me.  A friend has a 331 from him and raves about him.

https://fespecialties.com/
 

 
Thanks for the link. I’ve seen him post on a FE Facebook page I visit. Don’t really know anything about him though.