for a streeter,IMO, time slips mean as good as nothing.
A streeter probably spends 98% of it's life below 4000 rpm, so I can't see a good reason to saddle it with a big cam.
And a streeter will spend most of it's life below 65/70 mph, so I can't see a good reason for big-number gears or 4000 hi-stall TCs.
If your build is too far oriented towards 1/4M drag-racing, I might bet 90% of us will be unhappy about it.
And If your build is too far oriented towards making torque, you will just have so much tirespin that you can never really open the throttle very far on take-off.
So, IMO, you should think about where you want the power, and then build the ENTIRE combo around that point.
If your VP gets to be too high, first gear will get to be a throw away gear, no matter what gears you run. So you end up boiling the treads off the tires to get to second gear. And then second gear gets to be where the fun is, so you might as well build the engine around that fact.
But if your cam gets to be too big, then the bottom-end, with iron heads, goes soft, and it gets to be embarrassing until the rpm gets up into the 3500/4000 zone. So now, to get around that, you end up with a hi-stall and 4 series rear gears, and that puts and end to a lot of a streeter's activities.
With just a $3500 dollar budget, there is not much you can do. Oh sure you can build an engine, but that is only a part of the project.
And if you mess up on the parts choices, then you get nothing but disappointment from the rest of the project.
but honestly, there is NO good reason for 400 hp in a zero to 60 application; except if you just want to excessively burn rubber. From zero to 60mph, on the street, 340hp with the right chassis, can be every bit as quick, without all the smokeshow.
My rule of thumb for fun is 10 pounds per cubic inch, and 1hp per cubic inch. So a 3600 pound package, car and driver, will require 360 cubes and 360 hp.
more cubes will allow less power, but will be harder to marry to the tires without wheelspin.
More hp, will usually soften the bottom end too much for street gears and a regular stall TC. And with a budget of just $3500, a good hi-stall TC is just not there.
But your rear gears should be chosen first. Cuz if your budget eats up the whole of the 3500, then the rear gears may never get done, and all the days of the 360HO will be spent in disappointment.
Next, your transmission should be chosen, because a wide-ratio trans, requires a different cam from a close ratio. If you only have $3500 to spend, then you only have whatever you got for a trans, and when you go to pick your cam, you have to keep that trans in mind.
Next you have to marry whatever gear you chose, to the engines operating rpm.
If you chose 4.10s, then 60 mph, is about 7800rpm in first/4600 in second... so you won't be in first gear,lol, with a 3500 budget, and that means there is no point in having a 6000 rpm cam in an engine that is rarely gonna do more than 4600.
But if you choose 3.55s, then 60mph will be about 6800 in first/4000 in second so you need a cam that makes good power at 4000, not 5000 nor 6000. It doesn't have to make PEAK power at 4000, but it shouldn't be too much higher, because every 200 rpm higher ( about 1 cam size) will steal about half that much operating rpm off the bottom, and so about every second cam size, you end up needing a new TC, to maintain low-rpm performance.
If your combo has 2.45 rear gears or 2.76s, then part of your $3500 has to be set aside for gears. If 360 cubes is all you got,there is no getting around that.
If you have to buy gears, AND you intend on some hiway miles, more than just occasionally, then 3.23s should be your first go-to; not 3.55s. And then you build your engine to like those 3.23s.
I like 2.94s because you can hit 60 mph at the top of first gear with those, and 28" tires , at ~5400. And that requires a cam with a power peak of about 5100 which can be done with a 224*Cam and good heads, or a 230* and any old heads. I really like the 224*FTH cam.
To cinch the deal, and to get some bottom end back, you will need a lotta cylinder pressure, and that means closed-chamber alloy heads. And not fancy big-valve heads, either, cuz we're only going to 5400.
Ok so now, with closed chamber heads, you can install those KB107s and get a deck clearance of about .012. And you add a gasket of .028 for a Quench of .040 and now you have an engine that is very pumpgas friendly.
What you don't do is any other machining than boring to fit the new pistons.
So what you end up with is about a 10.7 Scr engine With 63cc chambers, this is where it falls together at.
Now with a fast rate HFT cam that 223* cam could be a 268/276 and because we don't care about powerband, this being a one gear to 60 combo, I chose an LSA of 108 installed at 102, this gets you overlap of 56* pretty good; and
Static compression ratio of 10.7:1.
In at 102, and 760 ft elevation
Effective stroke is 2.88 inches.
Your dynamic compression ratio is 8.80:1 .
Your dynamic cranking pressure is 181PSI.
V/P (Volume to Pressure Index) is 160
Oh Lordy getaload of that VP, 440s barely make that. So now you have a real low-rpm powerhouse, to work with those 2.94s and very likely even with a 2000TC. Yes you will get tirespin, just the right amount, not frying the tires tho. I can predict 280 ftlbs at 2000rpm.
If that is true and your TC can muster 1.7 ratio TM, then
280x1.7x2.45x2.94=3430 ftlbs at zero mph, far in access to get the tires spinning. Then,you immediately get the revs to 3000, and pick up the torque to say 340, and the TC has dropped to 1.2, and so
340x1.2x2.45x2.94=2940 so still spinning the tires, you are gonna have to back off and let the tires catch pavement.
At 35 mph, you will be cruising at 1800(zero-slip) in second gear. When the trans kicks into first, the Rs will rise to 3200 , closing in on peak torque which might come as early as 3400. And it might be pushing 400ftlbs; so
400x1.2x2.45x2.94=3460, so when the secondaries kick in, your tires will again be screaming.
This is what makes a streeter fun for me, always having the right amount of torque.
How much power will that combo make?
IDK and I don't care because it has fun written all over it, and the bonus is 65=2300(zero-slip)
But notice, it all started with the gears, then the trans, then the cam and heads. The Scr took care of itself....But can you fit it all into $3500USd, IDK.
I ran this engine combo with 3.23s and 3.55s but with a clutch, so no help from the TC. For 4 years I hammered on that engine, until one day it started dropping lobes. I replaced that 223 with a 230, and was immediately sorry. To get the bottom-end back cost me a lotta lotta money. Yes, I could have swapped to more rear gear, but those 3.55s were already murder on the hiway.
I even ran this engine with 2.76s; but that didn't turn out as acceptable as I had thought it would.
This engine got the 68 Barracuda just into the 12s at 3650 pounds and 930 ft elevation, on the only successful run (of 4) it ever made; she hit 106 and change at 12.9 seconds, which, if I recall worked out to ~340 hp.