nah, you don't need a 4link to do 8's. ladder bars. 4links take to long to dial in, i'm impatient
. i don't have anything in the 8's right now, but i know some people that do, and they all swear by the ladder bars.
the 409 impala was a BBC. it actually comes from my project car (as lame as that is), my iroc that i'm dropping in a 409 SBC. but, actually it might end up being a 406. or, i've toyed with 415, but i kinda want to keep the revs up.
going to go 406, 6-speed trans, 12-bolt rear. and actually, i'm toying with the idea of keeping the 10-bolt. prior to common belief, you CAN make a 10-bolt survive power. my block is actually a 2-bolt, but i think i will leave it that way. the mains aren't as strong themselves with a 2-bolt, but the block is. gm put a lot of extra material in the bottom end of the 2-bolt sbc so it would hold up. worse comes to worse, i'll install splayed caps and have basically the strongest reused block style available. but, gm rates the 2-bolt to 650hp, and they always rate hp #'s low.
the car is going to be a driver mainly, with weekend trips to the strip and curvies, so i'm keeping the iroc suspension (but modded), and the motor will be around 500hp n/a. not bad for a driver.
it's a slow project, because my car's been sitting in my garage too much. our shop's kinda small, and it's usually full. i think i'm going to just buy some land outside town and build me a big, nice shop for my projects. i've got 1 triumph, 2 old 40-50 trucks, and a 40's delivery van i want to turn into a sweet show van for events. the big shop would be nice.
my "racecar" project i've been thinking about doing someday for some real fun... a 97-ish cavalier 2-door with a blown, nitrous 696. yeah.