Torque and Frame

[Cozmolyne]

Hi everyone,



So, as you could tell I'm new here and I'm definitely going to be posting more as my father and I are just about to start work on his 68 Firebird convertible. I don't know to much about cars beyond the basics so I'll be coming to you guys a lot and working on this Bird will help fix that.

Anyways, enough introductions.

So right now my father has a rebuilt '77 400 Big Block that doesn't have but 30 miles on it. He's going to get some headers that he says will give the engine about 430hp. I asked him why not more and he says anything beyond that would bend the frame because it doesn't have a hardtop to reinforce it. Granted 430hp is plenty but I'm worried if 430hp would be too much. What are the limits of our Firebird's frame. Is 430hp too much, or can it handle more than that? If so, how much more can it handle?

P.S. Please forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. I checked 6 pages back and didn't see a similar thread.