I am a little surprised by the negative comments. I am a regular at a Chevy Nova site and have never seen negatives like this, they believe it is your car, do what makes you happy.
However, I believe it is your house, your rules and am not too thin skinned to read the posts.
The students WERE polled, they did not want it stock. I should not have writen "my thoughts" it should have been in third person. I'm a technician not an English teacher. I did forbid them from considering a Honda engine, so I guess that we be "one guy..only this way".
The school has a problem with the students posting freely when my Email is attached, thus I post for them. They see what is written. It is a fresh group every August but some decisions can't be reversed if the next group had different ideas.
Mr Adams, they are not too stupid to make decisions and perform the work, but they certainly do not have the skills (yet) or the time and finances to randomly experiment with suspension and brake designs or retrofits. Are they to try building something by guessing only to have it fail on the road with a fatality the result? I think not. They should be taught to do some research and use other's knowledge to guide to help them reach a goal. Don't rethink the wheel everytime but also look for improvements and solve problems that come up when doing the work. THAT is why we posted here. Isn't that part of why anyone posts here?
Assistance does not have to be funds, a small part that someone has 3-4 of and we have none can make a big deal to us.
It makes more sense from a driveability standpoint to have it more modern.
From a financial standpoint a SBC 350 is the cheapest route to take. Rebuild kits are far cheaper. Fewer raffle tickets need to be sold to buy the kit. When you explain to them that you can use a Mopar engine but you need to raise "X" amount more funds, they do not have the brand loyalty you all have and opt for the less expensive engine which equals less fundraising. Working on the car is the fun part, raising funds is not.
We got one SBC free, noone was stepping up with a Mopar or Ford. I had three 350's to give and we had four others offered by school employees. The engine machining shop is set up best for a SBC because they are the most common. Most agreed that once you move beyond the original engine, the brand of modern engine is not important.
We can incorporate the Performance class in flowing the heads and have only SBC plates for the flowbench. Even though flowing is not necassary we want to incorporate as many students as possible to give them all a piece of the action.
There will be no billet on it, unless someone gives us some,then it will be blasted and painted. I was surprised at how many thought billet was outdated, as do I.
Greg G, not sure about the ham fisted part, it will be some young ladies used to driving minivans !!! Unfortunately we have no choice but to make it accessable to others on campus. This is definately not my first choice.
Although I like street rods, even more I like to see original old cars. Make a street rod out of the "cookie cutter" Model A's that you already see in restored condition. Restore the "odd balls" you don't see everyday. I love history. We do not have the funds in my program to restore the car and keep it for our own use. Some school funds will be used which means they have to see some use out of it which brings us to the modern parts. If the program had the money and I or the students had the time to go to the high schools and fairs, it would be original.
The Auto Tech class was also not interested in working on an old flathead, they preferred an injected engine but we compromised on a carb engine.
They teach in units so if they are on the auto trans unit and we need engine work (tune up, engine miss, etc) they won't do it. So we would then have to take it to a local shop. I can imagine the local shops reaction when we bring in a flathead Dodge. Few have never worked on a SBC.
The school administration wanted us to pimp out a PT Cruiser for cripes sakes! This is way better than that regardless of the engine.
