Whats up guys. I have a BBC 454 motor. Needs a complete rebuild. Never rebuilt a car motor, so i am looking for some help and ideas. I would like to have about 500 horse . I also have an old moon intake with 8 weber carbs that i am going to put on it . I will have help building it, so basically i am looking for ideas of what to put in it. Any suggestions will be cool.
BEst bet is to call the cam manufacturers and talk to the tech guys as to what you are going to run as far as carbs, comp ratio, vehicle weight, reaar end ratio and trans type and what power you expect. The cam is about the most horsepower to money that you are going to spend. A cam will do more to determine the hp output of a given motor than about any other parts. The right cam will make 500 hp out of a bbc fairly easily. A decent set of head will help also. Not peanut ports. jerry
decide what you want to do with the car. Many people get lost wanting big hp numbers and make the car useless on the street.
In addition to this, i'll add my 2 cents . Having BIG Hp is way cool, top end power, bragging right's etc..but if you want that rip the tire's apart, stuff you in the seat kinda thing....TORQUE is what's in the diet. Torque is what your feeling when you mash the gas from a light. I would try and get a combination thats going to give you very respectable Hp, and lotsa torque on pump gas. I agree with Jerry on talking to the cam companies. Most of the power in a mill is made in the valvetrain Dept. The more effeciently you move air through the motor, the more power it will make... So, having a good set of heads that flow good, a cam that's designed to "turn on" in the desired rpm range, and a good induction system to feed it are all crutial to making power. Talking to the people who design them may give you some insight as to which direction you should be going with this build. They may be able to set you up with a 'package' that will give you close to what your looking for.. Believe it or not, running 8 carbs is gonna hurt both even though they look killer! Not saying not to run 'em at all, just that the "typical" engine combinations for the street i've either delt with or have known about make more Hp/Tq with a simgle carb. This coming from a guy who has dual quads on one car, and three-two's on another.LOL Good luck.
heh...dual quads work pretty good if there's a big GMC mixer under them! gobs-o-torque I agree, figure out what the car is supposed to do, get an idea of the rpm range you want, and go from there. It's not hard to get somewheres close to 500 hp with a 454 with mildly ported factory oval or rectangular port iron heads, a sorta lumpy hydralic cam, headers, and streetable compression (between 9 and 10 to one) The carbs may cut power and screw with drivability, but hey, if it don't look cool, why bother building it? Also ask around town for machine shop recommendations, if you ask 10 guys with fast cars, you'll probably get a good idea which shops to avoid and which to try.
First thing I would do is see what you have. Get the block casting numbers and head casting numbers and check out www.mortec.com to see what you have. If you have the small "peanut port" heads (-236 casting, etc) you may want to look for a good oval port set of heads (-781's or -078's).
I'm a firm believer in the too much is just right doctrine but when you start getting up much over one horse per inch on the old american iron you need to have quality components throughout sure you can stab a rad cam and bolt down some mega heads but if the rest of the package isn't up to the task it aint gunna last ...are you sure you mean 8 webers? I'm thinking you mean 4 dual throat?
It doesn't take much to get 500 hp out of a 454, and you can make it live with mostly stock components, if you know what's important to replace. Magnaflux the crank, resize the stock rods and use good bolts, forged pistons are nice if they fit the budget, and balancing the bottom end is pretty much a must. No need to get too fancy at that power level.
exactly, ARP bolts, hyperutectic pistons, high volume pump, fully ballanced assembley, matched cam for, 074 heads, 219, 198 valves, Comp Cams springs and roller tip rockers, 2" headers... nothing exotic just good quality components should get you there
Also, what are you going to put this in? You need to make sure that the rest of the drive train will hold up to the torque of a nicely built big block. There is no sense in having a torque monster motor in front of a 7.5" S-10 rear end and an old worn out trans!
sounds like a recipe for fun! speaking of which...I'm trying to figure out what to do with my 61, I'm thinking of building up an engine with a lot of parts I have, 69 396 2bolt block, steel 396 crank, rebuilt small bolt rods, TRW forged 11:1 pistons, rectangular port closed chamber "292" heads, L-88 cam, and either a Torker-2R or stock early aluminum intake, with a 3310 on top of it, and thos huge Hooker headers with one tube running outside the frame rail. Drivetrain would include a 4 speed and either 4.56 or 4.88 gears (I have the 4.88s), and 29" Drag 500s. sound like it should do the trick?
I appreciate all the advice. I want to do it right. This is my first real project, which is a 35 ford pickup. The drive train is probably going to be a turbo 400 and a ford 9 inch... dont know what gears yet(if anyone is selling, i am still looking for a tranny and rear).The frame is being done next week. Boxed and strengthened for the bb. I don't want to go too crazy with the horsepower, although crazy could be fun. Thanks again... all the info will help.
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