64' Fairlane street car w/ 557

I have a 64' Fairlane 500 that I have been seriously considering puttin a 557 stroker in. I have a D1VE block itching for a something to be done with. As of late, I've been wondering if a 557 stroker kit may be a tad to much. This will be a street car, no drag car. I'm getting ready to start striping the car down now for restomodifstoration...I plan to back half the car to put some bigger meat back there. MY end goal is just a bitching street machine. I want the motor to be streetable, and run on pump gas, no crazy 13:1 comp or anything like that. Should I be thinking something in the 520-540 range instead or say piss on it and go for the 557? Looking for opinions and your .02

Thanks all,

Skidmark

Personally, I'd build a 501 at 10./1 compression with all the power-makin', good lookin' stuff on the outside and enjoy the longevity along with all the torque & horsepower you could ever use in a street machine; (without a full tubing chassis).

You guys are probably right, but a 64' Fairlane with a 557 sure has a nice ring to it.

If its strickly a toy, and not your daily driver... why not go big? you can have a big inch motor, make unecessary power, and run it on pump gasoline...

heres my street motor

https://www.429-460.com/proven-builds-f4/572-p-51-pump-gas-street-engine-t5821.htm

Shane

I'm with TorinoGT. A 572 will fit in the same space as a 429 . For a street machine, that OMG factor is tough to beat and besides....The throttle isn't exactly a toggle switch. You get to CHOOSE how much you USE .

maverick wrote:I'm with TorinoGT. A 572 will fit in the same space as a 429 . For a street machine, that OMG factor is tough to beat and besides....The throttle isn't exactly a toggle switch. You get to CHOOSE how much you USE .

You must be "Superman" if you can see the difference between a 501 and a 557 by lookin' at the outside, lol.
A 572 is pretty improbable with a production block.

TorinoGT wrote:If its strickly a toy, and not your daily driver... why not go big? you can have a big inch motor, make unecessary power, and run it on pump gasoline...

heres my street motor

https://www.429-460.com/proven-builds-f4/572-p-51-pump-gas-street-engine-t5821.htm

Shane

Shane, thats kinda what I was thinking. The Fairlane wont end up as a daily driver so why not go big....

Maverick, it would be a 557 not a 572. But, no matter 557 or 572, your still right. The OMG factor is tough to beat!

rmcomprandy wrote:

maverick wrote:I'm with TorinoGT. A 572 will fit in the same space as a 429 . For a street machine, that OMG factor is tough to beat and besides....The throttle isn't exactly a toggle switch. You get to CHOOSE how much you USE .

You must be "Superman" if you can see the difference between a 501 and a 557 by lookin' at the outside, lol.
A 572 is pretty improbable with a production block.

Just taking a little "license" there to make a point, Randy.

IMO,I would stay away from the .080 bore on a street deal. Go w/a .030 deal so it will have plenty cyl. to play with. You won't know the difference w/street tires anyhoo. Just tell us it's a 557 we'll believe you

... granted your cubic inches are going to be limited on a production block... and *I* wouldnt go to the ragged edge just for the sake of saying I have XXX cubic inches... but a 4.39 or 4.42 x 4.5 stroker motor, for a PURLEY weekend cruiser seems do-able... im sure its longevity isnt going to be nearly what a 4.3 or 4.15 stroke would be... but again... if its a weekend only car, how many miles are you honestly putting on it per summer? I cruise ALOT here in michigan (im on woodward virtiually every weekend) and I bet I dont put more than 1000? *maybe* 1500 miles a year... 1000 miles would be 50 miles for 20 weekends... how many seasons do you think it will take to wear out parts with a 4.5 inch stroke on the street at that rate?

I guess it boils down to your individual wallet. I say enjoy life...

Shane

TorinoGT wrote:... granted your cubic inches are going to be limited on a production block... and *I* wouldnt go to the ragged edge just for the sake of saying I have XXX cubic inches... but a 4.39 or 4.42 x 4.5 stroker motor, for a PURLEY weekend cruiser seems do-able... im sure its longevity isnt going to be nearly what a 4.3 or 4.15 stroke would be... but again... if its a weekend only car, how many miles are you honestly putting on it per summer? I cruise ALOT here in michigan (im on woodward virtiually every weekend) and I bet I dont put more than 1000? *maybe* 1500 miles a year... 1000 miles would be 50 miles for 20 weekends... how many seasons do you think it will take to wear out parts with a 4.5 inch stroke on the street at that rate?

I guess it boils down to your individual wallet. I say enjoy life...

Shane

X2

I really appreciate everyones opinons, which is what i was looking for. I agree with you TorinoGT that I would be able to get many seasons out of even a 557 with mainly weekend street thrashings. I have every intention on building this car for me and the way I like it and not for someone elses satisfaction, after all, it is my coin and I have to be happy with it in the end. After all things considered, I am going to go ahead with the 557 stroker build in my 64' Fairlane and then enjoy beating the snot out of the import kids out on the street...even if it is just on the weekends!
Thanks again for everyones input.

You're asking the same question I asked myself when starting my current build.

In the end, I guess I was less concerned about engine durability and more concerned with reaching my goals without getting excessive. I hope to run 10.0x on pump gas and drive two hours to/from the race track. Bigger cubes makes more torque, but that additional torque would make chassis tuning more difficult at the track. Bigger cubes also requires a larger camshaft for a similar power. A larger camshaft (lift and lobe aggressiveness) can certainly affect engine longevity (notice a circle of chain events here?). I don't race competitively...just t-n-t nights to make people curious and to have fun with my family .

Have a good day!
Michael

96Mustang460cid wrote:You're asking the same question I asked myself when starting my current build.

In the end, I guess I was less concerned about engine durability and more concerned with reaching my goals without getting excessive. I hope to run 10.0x on pump gas and drive two hours to/from the race track. Bigger cubes makes more torque, but that additional torque would make chassis tuning more difficult at the track. Bigger cubes also requires a larger camshaft for a similar power. A larger camshaft (lift and lobe aggressiveness) can certainly affect engine longevity (notice a circle of chain events here?). I don't race competitively...just t-n-t nights to make people curious and to have fun with my family .

Have a good day!
Michael

Michael,
You make a good point about bigger cubes = bigger cam = effects on engine longevity. Since this is soley a street car, I am looking for durability and longevity(as much as can be had with a 557 stroker anyway). This will be a fun build, as things progress I'll post updates and pics for those interested.

The Torino is using an A460 block which has longer cylinders, allowing more of the piston to stay inside at the bottom of the stroke. Listen to rmcomprandy. He has been there and done that. I was originally going to build a 4.5 stroke, but decided to go with 4.3, because I want to put it together once, and beat on it for 27 years like a rental car. Yeah, I'm that guy........I also want to run 10.0 on 87 octane for 50 bucks total investment.




And 30 mpg.......

Skidmark wrote:
Michael,
You make a good point about bigger cubes = bigger cam = effects on engine longevity. Since this is soley a street car, I am looking for durability and longevity(as much as can be had with a 557 stroker anyway). This will be a fun build, as things progress I'll post updates and pics for those interested.

cletus66 wrote:The Torino is using an A460 block which has longer cylinders, allowing more of the piston to stay inside at the bottom of the stroke. Listen to rmcomprandy. He has been there and done that. I was originally going to build a 4.5 stroke, but decided to go with 4.3, because I want to put it together once, and beat on it for 27 years like a rental car. Yeah, I'm that guy........I also want to run 10.0 on 87 octane for 50 bucks total investment.

For me, knowing when to say when was a big part of spec'ing out a street engine. Pistons cost the same weather they are flat tops and will make 13:1 or dishes that will make 10:1... a cam costs the same weather its .700 lift or .900 lift... the cost difference between A460 heads and P51 heads is not alot... so it took alot of thinking about, to opt for the "lesser" horse power producing items when I had my engine built. It would cost nearly the same to have a 900+ horse engine built as it cost me for my 749 horse engine.
But then all those other factors come into play, such as custom headers if you use A460 heads, having to use race fuel, longevity in the valve train with extreme lifts etc etc... so while I think my 572 pump gas engine is on the radical side, I also feel its conservative in a lot of respects.

Obviously my wallet dictated alot of things. but at the same time I had to consider what I was doing with the car (which is 100% street duty), and would I *really* enjoy a 900+ horse 13:1 engine on the street? prob not as much as I will my current set up.

longevity means different things to different people, if you want your engine to be built once and last 20+ years, then you need to go more conservative as stated by the experts (rmcomprandy) and maybe go with the shorter stroke like Cletus66 did. Im not against freshing my engine in 10 years or less if need be... again.. all in what your wallet will support and or what your goals are.

Shane

TorinoGT wrote:

Skidmark wrote:
Michael,
You make a good point about bigger cubes = bigger cam = effects on engine longevity. Since this is soley a street car, I am looking for durability and longevity(as much as can be had with a 557 stroker anyway). This will be a fun build, as things progress I'll post updates and pics for those interested.

For me, knowing when to say when was a big part of spec'ing out a street engine. Pistons cost the same weather they are flat tops and will make 13:1 or dishes that will make 10:1... a cam costs the same weather its .700 lift or .900 lift... the cost difference between A460 heads and P51 heads is not alot... so it took alot of thinking about, to opt for the "lesser" horse power producing items when I had my engine built. It would cost nearly the same to have a 900+ horse engine built as it cost me for my 749 horse engine.
But then all those other factors come into play, such as custom headers if you use A460 heads, having to use race fuel, longevity in the valve train with extreme lifts etc etc... so while I think my 572 pump gas engine is on the radical side, I also feel its conservative in a lot of respects.

Obviously my wallet dictated alot of things. but at the same time I had to consider what I was doing with the car (which is 100% street duty), and would I *really* enjoy a 900+ horse 13:1 engine on the street? prob not as much as I will my current set up.

Shane

That is right along my line of thinking. I like to go to the track, but if I can't drive it around on pump gas, I don't want it. Different strokes for different folks. Pun intended.

Well, an A460 block isnt an option for me, outta my price range for sure. I'll be useing the D1VE block I have now. Now, with that said, and knowing the A460 block has the longer cylinder bores to accomidate the 4.5" stroke, I may be better off going with the 4.3" stroke vs the 4.5". So I may be recanting my earlier statement about going ahead with the 557. Someday I'll get this all figured out and get on track...

My advice to you, spend more time on here reading posts... posting questions... searching for engine builds that are similar to what you want to do. That will help you learn some of the pros and cons of different setups. Theres a wealth of info on here. Im no mechanic, but I feel like my time spend on these forums made it easier for me to make an informed decision about what I wanted, and what to expect.

Shane

I have 10.2 to 1 545 in my 63 fairlane and it runs fine on 92 octane but it has more cam than it should have for a street car. Here is one recomendation. Put a mustang II front suspention in it for ease of header fitment and lots more room. I did mine the hard way by cutting down an original must II to work but now the street rod folks make a weld in crossmember that most likely make it easier to do it. Even doing it the way I did wasn't bad.

Since its $.02 time, I'll say that more cubes, to a point, is best in a street car since you can make a bunch of torque without the big cam/RPM needed for a big HP number. Interesting article in the September Muscle Mustangs regarding a 306 vs 347 build with otherwise identical parts, cam, heads etc. where they saw about what you would expect, each made around 1.3 HP per cubic inch and even more torque, and multiplied by the increased cubic inches the 347 was a 40-50 number increase. With a similarly efficient 460 vs 545 (with a longer lasting, more stable, smaller overbore vs the 557) that would be 110 HP+ and similar torque with the same cam, heads, and compression. I know my choice.

The other aspect is pump gas and I'd agree, I wouldn't build it any other way, I'm running 11:1 with the A460 heads all day everywhere on Chevron Cali 91. My particular build isn't cheap with an aftermarket block 582" (see post in proven builds) at around 900 HP, but the relevant factors are the same.

I'd do what Randy M. suggested . can always lie and say you got 598 cubes , when the tires just go up in smoke , they will believe its BIG cubes

One thing not mentioned here is the added stress on the cooling system between a 557 and a 501. 56 more cubes will require a larger or more efficient cooling system,depending on where you live and how hot it is. There's nothing worse than watching that temp gauge creep in traffic.
I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it will tax your cooling system more.