Motorhome 454

I know some about BBC ,but unfortunatly i dont know about motorhomes.I had a deal come up on a 20,000 mile spotless clean ,carburated 454 from a wrecked late 80's early 90's motorhome.Would this motor be like a 200 horse peanut head 2 bolt motor ,or would it possibly be something worth getting?

 

It would be a 200 hp 2 bolt peanut port motor. Depending how early 90s it would be a Mark IV or a Gen V.

Of course you can wake up those engines with a cam, valve springs, mild porting, headers, etc.

 

Grab it as the 454's are drying up quickly >>>>.

 

it would be a penut port 4 bolt.... The 2 bolt 454 were in the smallish passenger cars not trucks. and 2 bolts were not made in the ninteys. Penut port motors can be HELLASHISH engines under 4000 RPM

 

That's interesting, all the 454s I have (except my LS-7) are truck 2 bolt motors. I have 4 of them, I think.

 

They may exist, but I've never noticed an aftermarket intake with ports that would match up to the small oval "peanut" ports. If that's the case, since you sure wouldn't want a ridge there, the port-matching hassles would make it worthwhile to just get some regular oval-port heads.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

Weiand does make a peanut port intake (formerly in the Action Plus line, now in the Street Warrior line) which is a dual plane, spread/square bore manifold. Edelbrock also makes one that is similar, but is specifically for a TBI system as used on the late 454 trucks. Those are the only two that I know about.

I probably would not use the peanut port heads on a "start-from-scratch" build, unless it was to be used in a later truck or heavy towing was intended... but they do have their uses & can actually make decent power with some effort...and if they are in good shape on a 20K engine, they are worth consideration. Lingenfelter got 600hp out of a set in the late '80s or early '90s, with fairly primitive cam lobe profiles.

 

Thanks guys,I forgot to mention this 454 is attached to a 58 apache and is expertly installed and mated to the factory 4 spd granny trans ,and has a camaro rear and ,speedway disc brakes and decent factory blue paint ,with new chrome reverse wheel vintique wheels on it and lowered all around.The chassis is totally 100% pro rebuilt and painted .Im going to go look at it this weekend .Thanks for the info on the motor...

 

Sounds good! except the trans....but swapping in a car 4 speed isn't too difficult.

 

The ones Ive dealt with are built on 1 ton chassis and usually consist of 4-bolt main/ peanut port heads. Not to say the two bolt isnt worth anything...

 

2 bolt or 4 bolt ...who gives a damn? unless You're going pro stocking, or towing around...a motor home, I can't see the definitive need for a 4 bolt main.

as far as head...buy it, run it, and save up for some good ones. Remember the difference the heads made on Your little motor? Imagine that difference on a much grander scale. Your only real problem is this....

Once You go Big Block, You NEVER go back to little motors.

 

"Back in the day", a lot of people preferred to start with a two-bolt block & convert it...#1, because you can use splayed caps (if done correctly), and #2, the four-bolt blocks generally have huge valve reliefs in the cylinder bore that can lead to issues given certain parts combinations....easier to start with a two-bolt block & relieve it as necessary.

A two-bolt block, given correct assembly & tuning, can handle 600+ hp without problems.

Nowadays many people just slide the credit card & use an aftermarket block.

 

I thought they stuck the famed 'rv cams' in them? I had one come out of a similar motorhome that was a screamer bone stock!

 

Yeah, I always wondered why the 2 vs 4 was such a big deal.... because I never hear of anyone saying they scattered their street engine because it only had 2 bolt mains....

 

Only problems I ever ran into was in over-rev type situations when piston hits valve. Never had a peanut head motor though.

 

Peanut head motors were also used in marine applications up to 385hp. Search ebay and you can find some good used intakes. Mercruiser still sells them new but they cost around $350. They also have stand alone ignitions that are a two wire hook up some of you guys might find useful. Called thunder bolt IV. Used it in small blocks too. Looks old school, no coil in cap.

Jon

 

I dunno all the late 80's early 90's 454's Ive dealt with are 4 bolt. Just had a 93' 454 apart out of a suburban. 4 bolt...... is that part of the mark IV gen V change over crap????

Im not GM and sure as hell dont know how or why they do.... just my experiance

again peanut ports arn't bad if you not turnin R'sss

 

Probably because they're newer than the ones I have.

Like the other guys said, it doesn't matter for most applications.

 

So, what kind of hot rod are you going to be putting this engine into?

(just trying to get this slightly back on topic for this forum, which is not about motorhomes at all)

 

I scored a 89 454 motorhome drive line,going in a 68 Impala fastback.

 

I believe he is looking at the 58 as a purchase.

 

In other words, you didn't read the rules before posting?

 

Regarding peanut port heads; there's a thread over on ClassRacer.Com, and titled Peanut Port Drag Test, where a guy builds a 454 to install them on. Pretty impressive work. You'll find it on page 5, and for some reason, the threads there are all "backwards"; meaning the thread starter is at "end", and goes forward from there. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

The one I had was an 85 Fleetwood and weighed about 12k pounds. It had a sweet spot around 75mph that really made twenty odd feet of 3inch exhaust sing

 

I think the truck being painted blue is more directly related to those peanut heads than being out of a motorhome.

 

My neighbor has an LS7 out of a boat that he wants to put in his motorhome.

 

Worth knowing: There is no provision for a mechanical fuel pump on the Gen V big block Chevy. The oiling system was improved from the Mark IV. Oil pan and timing chain cover differ also.

 

Funny thing about the big block engines from all the manufacturers, they still rely on the proven reliability of a push rod and two valves..... if it works, don't fuck with it

 

even the small block engines from a few of the manufacturers still rely on good old pushrods.