Raylar

Nothing wrong with the Merc or others 496 8.1L engine. Just about 40,000-50,000 of them out there runnin great many with over 1000HRS! Absolutely nothing wrong with the 502MPI/efi either quite a few thousand out there doing the same!

When a not so knowledgable "drunkish" person gives you advice like that -forget you ever met him!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

BillK

z,
I would have to disagree. Against my better judgement, I put head gaslets on one of a pair for a good friend of mine last summer. His have over 800 hrs on the clock and although he takes good care of them, he also is not afraid to push them. From what I could see with the heads off, they are ready for another 800 hrs

Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

Hopefully you understood what I meant by saying the 502/454 magnum engines are OVERBUILT with there steel cranks, forged pistons, premium rods, when compared to a 496. Did not mean that 496's are junk, just that they are closer to the hp limit of their parts combination stock-ie a guy can change head gaskets on a 502 and run enough boost to double the factory hp without parts failure, Smitty

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

Exactly what I meant when I said the 502 is overbuilt compared to a 496, Smitty

pqjack

i wrote to ray a while ago,and he told me the 496 crankshaft is not really weak,and is good for 7-800hp...maybe he can chime in and confirm this...

4bus

iTrader: (4)

Is any engine "upgrade friendly" ? Seems any engine is at risk when it is messed with. Stories of grenedes of all types on this site, not just 496's

BTW, whipple makes a 496 blower kit that runs the same amount of boost as my stock 575scis....very conservative. With the proper ECU flash and this blower those engines have many more sucess stories than horror.

To make a statement like that is simply not fair. That engine is everywhere and running strong.

And to answer the next rebultal of "why did Merc drop that engine then" simple, merc didn't....gm did because they no longer offer a BBC in anything. Merc switched back to the most common BBC platform on the market for tooling reasons.

pqjack

agreed...i have the 496/whipple combo and im extremely satisfied with it...running eagle rods and wiseco blower pistons,tho....

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

I think that explains it. Probably one of those guys that had issues with one(it does happen) and now thinks they are all junk.

Same guy that blew up his 1980 Cavalier from ragging the hell out of it and blamed it on Valvoline oil. He now swears Valvoline is junk. LOL

CrownHawg

My apologies, I never meant to say the 496 was anything other than a very FINE powerplant. I only was repeating much of what I have read and heard (monkies like me do that). Like Ray said, there are more of these motors being used today than any other BB with no more failures than one could expect. I meant to say, that the upgrade methods recommended for the 496 are slightly more involved than the 502 or 454. (crank, rods, pistons, etc) With that said, I have no doubt Raylar's whipple applications on these motors are just as stout as any other BB. The reason I say my HOs are just fine like they are is I simply could not afford to replace one or both so I will stay as close to stock as possible.

cigrocket

iTrader: (3)

I have seen numerous 502 mpi/efi with 600-850 hours without a problem. Changing the oil is important, and watching the oil level. They do tend to start burning some oil with 400+ hours on them. Solid powerplant as stock!