Chevy 454 question

I found a 454 (supposedly) chevy engine for sale. It's out of a 79 chevy truck, I think half ton. My question is, is this a good engine for high performance use. I would want to rebuild it probably with different heads anyways, my question is mainly about the block. I've heard of certain big blocks being short or tall deck but I'm not sure how to tell what's what. It has a mechanical fuel pump. Are certain ones junk as far as high performance is concerend? What should I look for? The guy wants $200 and it's totally complete and running in the truck.

 

Have a casting number ???

 

Bsasic motor ***embly should be goodforwhat you are looking for. Remember that it is an external balance motor.

$200 for a running BBC is a very good price.

A cam and head change will wake it up fot sure.


jerry

 

Grab it!! It will be a short deck two bolt block. Heads are garbage for real performance, but most are after 76. Cast iron crank. Good builder.. This is from a woman with 15 hands on years in the Hot rod/machine shop business.

 

$200 is a deal

 

speaking of big blocks, i need a 454 core for my hauler , can you think of anybody in the mi area on the hamb that i might check with?

 

I'm no expert but,generally after 74' the heads on 454's are known as open chamber, low compression ,small valve heads,sometimes called "Peanut heads",or you could also call them ****.However you said you were gunna change them so no problem there.The p***enger type 2 bolt main blocks are fine for a street engine in my opinion.The "tall" decks you are talking about generally came in big industrial trucks,and they require special intakes because of the weird geomitry, but they have 4 bolt mains and steel cranks. If you want to keep it an open chamber engine ,find yourself some 73' or 74' big oval open chamber heads.The cast numbers on a 73's are 731 and I think 74's are 691.They have bigger valves and huge ports compared to "peanuts".I would tell you about the rectangular port heads from an LS6 ,but why make your mouth water over something that is next to impossible to find.Oh yeah $200.00 buy it the block alone is worth that much if it isnt cracked. Good luck...

 

If you don't mind driving over to the east side of the state George's junkyard in Lapeer may have a 454, I know he has a bunch of small blocks in various states and he has quite a few big trucks and vans in his yard. He is VERY reasonable on price as well! He is in the phone book..

 

thanks man , i might have to do that if i don't find one soon, the guys at the junk yards over here laugh at me everytime i ask.

 

Thanks for all the information. I'm not sure of the casting number, I haven't seen the engine just heard about it from my brother. It belongs to a coworker of his. I figured $200 was a great deal either way.

 

for $200 I'd grab it. Big block Chevys are becoming quite rare and in some parts of the country they are like DoDo birds (nonexistent). Even if it has some issues it would be almost impossible to not come up with $200 worth of parts.

Frank

 

I cant tell ya fer sure on the 454 but the old 427 block for the trucks were a high deck block. Get the numbers and run em and look in a few books and you will get your answer. If its a higgh deck block you prolly wont want it to hot rod but it will work fine and have enuff hp to smoke the tires anyway.
Dave

 

yep grab that badboy at that price last BB i built up was a mid 70s truck motor went with TRW forgeds set of late 60s 396/375HP heads edbrok & holly & headers with a repo LS5 cam went great & had less then 600 $ in build

 

If its a light truck, it wont be a tall deck.

Get the head and block casting numbers, and check www.mortec.com to see exactly what you have.

A set of -781 or -049 casting heads with a good intake and headers will really wake that thing up.

FYI, at the Tri-State swap meet here in Colorado last weekend, BBC builders were going for $500 - $700!

 

I am a little late to this party, but for $200 grab it up, especially if out of a running truck. Put oval port heads with a little clean-up porting, some cam and a decent intake, it will run great. It most likely is a 2-bolt cast crank with peanut port heads. I would not run the peanut port heads, but the cast crank is more than sufficient for 500 hp levels. Unless you plan on big boost or real high rpms, run it with cast crank.

The tall deck blocks are used in big trucks, they are almost the same as the std deck, same heads and many other parts, the main difference is the 0.400 inch taller deck height. Good for building a stroker engine. But not worth as much in stock form as a std deck. Tall deck parts are popular in drag racing, so you can get any parts needed. Because of the taller deck height, you may run into header fit issues.

you can find good deals on take-off iron rectangular port heads from people buying crate motors and wanting to run alum or aftermarket heads. Oval is better for street engine, but rectangluar will work. Both are better than peanut port heads.