302 vs. 351
 

how badly would a stock 351 waste a stock 302 on the 1/4 mile? times? huge difference?

depends on which specific 351 and which 302. In general a with the same heads/cam/intake/exhaust as a 302 will build more tq and maybe (if the heads flow right) a little more hp but not much. You need the cam/head/intake/exhaust capacity to match the cubic inch count.

Time diff in a 1/4mile... hell that's all driver. Planting big tq from low RPM can be a bitch and identical cams make roughly identical power. Felt difference in driving is pretty big, launches are more exciting, 5th gear is useful again, etc... Tall deck strokers like the 5.4 and 351 make great hot street motors tend to be torque monsters and thus drive more like a big block car than a small block car.

so with the 351 when you put your foot down you feel it alot more? what do you mean drives more like a big block?

big block cars drive like they have 2 personalities. 1 is at part throttle where it's tough as nails and you have what seems like extra power on tap from idle on up to about 4000rpm. You'll add just a touch of throttle and the car will make a significant change in speed. This is the low end tq making itself useful. Where you used to shift to 4th gear, you'll now stay in 5th and just add a small amount of throttle angle for things like steep hill climbing and passing.

The 2nd personality only happens win then you mash the go pedal and that releases Mr. Hyde, the rampaging madman with superhuman strength and no idea of what moderation means.

so your saying big blocks rock small blocks in every way

nope... that's a drastic oversimplification. But thanks for playing.

I'm saying I like having a lot of power available. All else being equal more inches = more power available at a given rpm.

what are the up sides to a small block?

how much hp do you have with that 5.5?