496 ho bottem end strength
 

I was wondering if any one has broke a piston or crank, rods ect on stock 496 bottom end? I know they are cast internials But I have heard of 1000 hour service life in stock form and I have seen 400 hour supercharged motors. Is there some one that can prove they come apart with boost or top end mods or is that just old school guys that think cast will not hold up and gen 7 motor is stronger than old big blocks like LS small block has proven to be stronger than old small block? I would prefer forged bottom end but seams these gen 7 motors are holding up well with cast rotating assembly?? Also what about bravo x drive behind 496 motors. Who has tore them up? Are they stronger than standard bravo drive.

I just turned 405hrs on a stock 496 Mag (non-ho) and over 100 hours of it has been with a whipple stage II flash on the PCM. Sorry not really contributing much to your thread........ I think the Hyper pistons in the 496 are one of the major issues with boost. Any detonation at all can turn the pistons into pieces.... I think I read, somewhere on OSO, the earlier 496s had forged cranks.... Not sure what years... My 496 is runing a bravo one drive without issue.

Not many 496'shad the forged internals, but my buddy has one. However the pistons are still cast and we had to rebuild it because it couldn't handle the Whipple. He did have over 100 hours on it before the whipple took out a couple of pistons. We suspect low octain in gas, but if it had forged pistons it may have stayed together. Not sure how many hours he has since upgrading it with Raylar parts 4 years ago, but he hasn't had any problems with it. I think the x drive is what most 496 had and it is much stronger than the standard bravo. If you want to make a drive last, a good drive shower and changing oil on a regular bases is a must,