depends a lot on the heads. short blocks are 2 4 bolt steel crank or not, of course condition. Heads is where the $ is. do you have any casting #'s or what year the engine is, what it came out of ?
Less every day. They use too much gas for a daily driver, and don't really make that much power for a hot rod. Look at the specs for all of the 454's made after 1972... low compression, small cams, poor heads... The vast majority of 454's didn't make 300 hp stock.
if it has peanut port heads then not much, its a torque machine but a boat anchor as far as hot rod motors go, if it has 4 bolt mains and a good set of heads and a quality intake then 600 plus around here
Everything lost a lot of power in 1972, because the HP ratings changed from gross to net. It doesn't take much to wake up a truck 454...add some cam, headers, and have fun
As long as you keep your foot out of it , The gas mileage is bearable and if you dont,its alot of FUN. Bigger is always better. the skies the limit on how much power you want and its not that more expensive than a small block. But to the inital question .the block alone should be worth $400-$600.
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