G'day, I guess I am going to go look at some 454's tomorrow. Two are complete and running while two are complete cores, disassembled but not hurt. The owner wants all four to go away. Any ideas on what a fair price to offer would be? Thanks, ms
im not a chevy guy buy any means but id say take 500.00 with you and see what happens but hell i dont know maybe take 700 ???????????? i know i could of bought a dissassembled 454 with 2 cranks a new set of pistons and 2 sets of heads for 200 , yeah i shoulda bought it and flipped it
I think there is a diferance between truck and car 454s. That effects the price. Which heads and such. If I was looking I would get somebody who knew something about 454s to go with me.
i think if i understood my macinest he said oval port heads produce more power than rectangle ......in nc rebuildable blocks run from 500-800 apeice 800 runs but could use a rebuild i just paid 2500 for mine its a 454 ..30 over steel crank h beam rods forged pistons mid range cam staniless vavles oval port heads roller rockers dual carb tunnel ram intake w holly carbs and a hilborne scoop....all that said i hope u found a steel but he is sitting on a small gold mine
There are a ton of variables here but we're talkin' Chevy big blocks, as long as you get them for a reasonable price you can always sell em'. 1) Are they tall deck truck motors or low deck car/pickup engines ? The tall deck motors bring less money but can still be built into big inch motors. 2) Are the heads peanut port ovals, large ovals or rectangle port? The peanut port heads which have small, almost round intake ports bring very little money and are basically truck heads. The large oval ports are probably the best for a street car. The rectangle ports are the big port heads and probably overkill on a street motor but bring a good buck. 3) Steel cranks or cast? 4) 2 or 4 bolt mains? If you have any use for them maybe offer 7 or 8 hundred for the 4 of them. If he really wants them gone maybe he'll bite. You probably wouldn't get hurt if you went as far as 12 hundred as long as you don't mind sitting on them for a while until you can move them. Unless I'm buying from a close friend I won't pay a dollar extra for a supposedly good running motor unless it's still in the car and I can inspect and hear it run myself. I think if you were looking to buy a decent complete low deck 454 core, like a 2 bolt, oval port pickup truck motor you'd be hard pressed to get one around here for anything less than 5 or 6 hundred. Hi-Perf car 454's, more $$$. It's one of those things where somebody will always tell you how cheap they can find em' for, right up until the time you actually need one.
Gasser 57 pretty much covered it but if you're able to see the crank and rods...look for a fat parting line on the crank indicating that it is a forging and 7/16" rod bolts (instead of 3/8"). Those are the more valuable pieces
What you want and how much to pay depends on your plans for the engine.My personal experience is a cast crank 454 can make 425 HP and 5200 rpm for typical street use without a problem.If you plan to run the engine wide open all the time or make 600 hp,you'll need the better pieces that usually cost more.
Depends how bad he wants to get rid of them, and what they are. Depending where you live, core truck 454s in need of a rebuild go for $100-800 each. Running truck 454s usually should be treated as cores, because they generally need some work. Beware that they changed the block/head design in the early 90s, the later Gen V and Gen VI engines don't seem to be as desirable for hot rodding Hi perf stuff (early 70s 4 bolt block/steel crank/big rod/forged piston/rect port) engines are worth a bunch of money, but is hard to find. Although Chevy sold the high perf crate engines for years and years
Yea, if any of them have square port heads, you sure dont want those. Same thing if they have solid lifter cams in 'em, or if there are any funny tapped holes above the oil filter. Bad news for sure. Send me the contact info, and I will see that they are disposed of in a safe manner...
I'd figure $500 a piece for running engines, less for disassembled motors. Take a reference manual with you to check for truck blocks. They aren't worth much. Devin
454's never came as tall decks. The quick way to tell a tall deck from a low deck is to look at the diistance between the top water pump bolt hole and the deck of the block. If the distance is about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch it is a low deck. If it is closer to 11/16" its a tall deck. Most 454's in all applications after 1981 had 4 bolt mans,and cast cranks. I have run 2 bolts and cast cranks up to about 7000 rpm and 650 hp,so it is a non issue either way. Truck engines have the best of the best rods,even better then the fabled dimple 7/16 rods. The truck only uses 3/8" bolts,but the rods themselves are better. The webbing between the beam of the rod and the big end is wider and stronger. The peanut port truck heads are pretty much boat anchors,but you can still make 400hp with them. Large oval port or rectangular ports are better. Good luck.
IIRC, the tall deck truck 427 used a 4" (454) stroke, and a small bore. Anyone used to looking at a 454 crank flange might make that mistake.
Nope,the tall deck 427 is the same bore and stroke as a standard deck 427.They just used taller pistons with 4 rings on each piston. 366,396's and 427's of both deck heights all use a 3.76" crank and 6.135 rods.
Yup....Me and my son in law,we are not expert builders,built two 2 bolt main 454's for his off shore boat.The previous engines were supposed Bow tie type 454's with forged cranks, Merlin heads,Weiand superchargers and what ever hot cam they used.Built by Jensen Marine,they dynoed 615 HP each at around 4800 rpm.He said the engine HP was honest considering the speed of the boat.One of the expensive engines spun a bearing.Upon disassembly we found one engine was a two bolt main common engine,took apart the other,a 4 bolt main Bow tie block.We built one engine from the best parts,just a hone and new bearings.Built another engine from a low mileage natutral gas 454 generator engine.two bolt cast crank,but forged 8-1 piston and the better rods.Garage floor rebuild.Both got the cams, Merlin heads and blower stuff from the other engines. The engine with the cast crank and two bolt main lasted almost all summer,a lot of hard running,like boats can be held at 5000 rpm for several minutes at a time rather than a few seconds like a car,they are always running at heavy throttle even while cruising..It finally died from piston problems,probably detonation.
G'day all, Looks like the 454's might be a bust. Didn't get to see them yesterday as the "guy" was out of town and our connection wasn't able to access the engines. Our connection insists that the engines are all passenger car engines, no tall decks. Two of the four ran when pulled and the other two are semi-assembled but unhurt. They were just tired when pulled. Our connection has come through in the past with a complete C30 with a stout 454 in it, so we are hoping we can set this up for next weekend. And thanks for the advice everybody. I will post again when I actually get to see the engines. I did get to take some pictures of another hoard of Chevy parts up North. If I can figure out how to post the pictures I will share them. I saw an L88, two LS7 454's, one complete and one in unbroken pieces, two different styles of LT1's, and racks of crankshafts and cylender heads. The guy was threatening to haul most of it in for scrap iron. ms
Well, you learn something every day. I'd always assumed that the truck 427 was the 366 bore with a 4" arm... Just did the math and that only comes out to 382"...not that anyone would care.
------------------------------- If the engines are 454's, the blocks at least, are all essentially the same. The 'difference' between the car and truck engines you're probably thinking of is on the 366 and 427 heavy-duty truck engines. The normal 'passenger car' 427's had the same deck height as the normal passenger car 396 402, and 454 engines, but the 'heavy-duty truck-only' 427 and it's small-bore 'heavy-truck-only' 366 cousin had a .400 higher deck height to accommodate a 4-ring piston. There were no 'high-deck', heavy-duty 454 truck engines, so the only real difference in the 454 blocks was main caps - 2 bolt caps on the standard passenger car and light-truck use 454's and 4-bolt caps on the 'special high-performance' car and some marine 454s. The one thing to look for on the 454 when it comes to determining both price and the original application and type of 454 engine, is the cylinder heads. There are four main types. The first and least common and most desirable, are the large port, rectangular port heads. On the 454's, they were only used on the "special high performance" - ie -the LS6 (and the 'semi-mythical' LS7) 454 car engines in '70 and '71 and on some later high-performance marine engines right into the current era. The next heads are the standard oval-port heads that were used on all regular. 'non-special high-performance' passenger car and light truck and ;non-high performance' marine 454 from 1970 through to sometime in the late '70's. While not as desirable as the high-performance rectangular-port heads, the standard oval ports heads still work pretty good on the street and with a bit of porting and by fitting the bigger oversize valves from the the rectangular port heads into the oval port castings, they be made to flow to within about 85% of the "good" rectangular port heads and can make for killer heads for a 'street engine'. The next and least desirable head type is the so-called "peanut-port" oval port head that was used on all light-truck 454 from sometime in the late '70's onward - after the engine had been dropped from passenger car use altogether. The "peanut port" heads have *very small*, oval shaped intake ports that are only about 5/8's the size and volume of the earlier oval port heads and are useless for any sort of performance build. After that came the better Vortec heads used on late fuel injected 454 light truck engines and on some standard performance Vortec marine engines. It's been a long time since I've messed around with big-block Chevies - and not since before the advent of the big-block Vortec heads, so I can't really say anything about good or bad about their desirability for usefulness performance use, but they've got to be better than the god-awful, quasi-useless junk 'peanut port heads' that they replaced! Mart3406 =========================
There was a 454 tall deck - I have seen one. It was a MARK IV block with peanut port heads and a forged 454 crank in a GMC dump truck. We nabbed the entire engine thinking it was a 427 for the tall deck block, but opened it up and it had a 4" stroke crank in it. It did have 454 on the valve covers, and was a standard bore block with a std/std crank in it. I have never seen another one however.... Around here, a runner 454 is $800 and up, while a core 454 is at least $500.
if he's gonna haul them off for scrap, offer him the scrap price for them all and tell him you'll save him the trip by picking them up and loading them at his location. so start at $100 and go up from there until you feel it's not worth it
A friend of mine has always told me to watchout for tall decks when buying 454s. He has over 20 years experience working with 454s. This includes his own and ones that have come into his shop.
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