Originally posted by Bob Parmenter
Before you spend any dough just an observation. And no, I don't give a rip about the usual Ford vs Chevy arguments.

I don't know the European market as well as the U.S. market, but your rationale about building a better engine cheaper with the Chev has one big hole in it. In the world of Cobra replicas, the penalty in value for having a Chev engine in the car is higher than your $3-4K engine cost. Or in other words, every penny you put into the Chev engine you're throwing away. If you can afford to do that it's your call, though not a good econimic choice. Lots of people will tell you to do what you want, it's your car. Though superficially true, they can easily say that because it YOUR money they're throwing away, not theirs.

You may think you'll never sell the car so resale value is of no consequence. Rarely does that happen. Either tastes change, or unexpected circumstances come along, and some day you will likely have to sell the car. In the end you'd get a better return with a Ford engine.
Thanks for the reply ... I know what you are getting at, and that is what I thought exactly, the thought of putting a chebby in a Cobra horrified me, seeming like not doing the job properly. However in the UK around 75% of replicas have chevy engines in them and the resale value is equal, if not greater than with a ford engine. I will not be keeping the car forever, but don't think that the resale value would be a cent difference. I didn't choose this engine to save money ... just mainly because it seem to be what people want and expect here in Europe. If I was doing an absolute *exact* copy of a Cobra ... yes I would obviously use a ford of the correct age, but this is a replica which is fun to drive and has Jaguar front and back axles, a BMW steering column and a few parts from other cars too .ak sports cars .. so IMHO the engine is no big deal. Anyhow I have never done a Chevy engine before so I hope to learn a lot from the experience. At the end of the day I want a car that is faster than my mate's 454 Corvette (really quick ) and I'm sure that I can do it due to the power to weight ratio of my project. What I am looking for is like I said, parts that will work together ... and work together well. Another point is that machining is very difficult over here in Spain ... the last block I had bored to +30 I had to convert to metric with a formula which I got of the internet ... give them the measurements and keep my fingers crossed. That's Spain for you !! All my parts will have to come from the States which gets a bit expensive with carriage and import taxes.