Technical stupid SBC?

Funny thing I pulled a broken Gimmy V6 out of an old church bus and replaced it with the 283 out of a '59 Dump Truck. Never did a thing to the 283 except replace the pan gasket and the rocker cover gaskets and tune it up. Loaded or unloaded that old church bus pulled just fine, and made many a trip down the back roads and the interstates of the mid west.

Big blocks are cool, but you use what you got. if its a small block it will be alright unless you were already driving a big block.

 

Now I am just an old farmer, but I have driven many wheat trucks. Empty and loaded. Is this bus gonna be empty or loaded? If it's loaded .......454 and a tricked out quadrajet with a stick behind it. If empty driving around town on flat ground, 350. Lippy

 

I had a 1 ton cube van with small block 350 and 4:10 gears and a 4l60. I drove it 150k miles but only drove it once empty for 10 miles, I remember it was pretty good empty. Most of the time it was about 10,000 lbs. not so good. When I took it out west there was no power due to al***ude. Traded it for a power stroke out of necessity.

 

nope
must have misunderstood
just wanting to cruise down the road
the original question was what would be the better combo with the pieces stated.
if I wanted mpg and power I would go 6bt
we have to keep this project within a certain budget and time frame in order for us to enter this bus in a high school science fair
after the science fair, I can use the 350 in something else if I don't like it
I eventually hope to find a usable 472/500 then take my time setting it up that while I enjoy the bus as is. The caddy will easily bolt up to the 400

 

Now you make even more sense to me!

Sorry for being slow.
The 8** heads are according to the internet-gospel a good head, and let the cam maker recommend you a good torque cam.

The you can swap it later, and still have a desent bus and a good 350 for something else.
And when I say desent bus, I'm not talking snack about it, because I really dig it.
But you still need a lot of work and fiddling with gears.

 

I found a complete running 454 locally but the guy backed out on it
he did sell me the th400
the 350 was a freebie (sorta, traded a little labor for it)
running 4 bolt that didn't have many miles on a rebuild
we don't get many opportunities at school to rebuild an engine
the only issue we found with the 350 was some scratches in the main journals
I don't like the dished 4vr pistons and 76cc head combination
that's why I was considering to run the 462s

 

Caddy should be BOP bolt pattern no ?

 

yes
a simple adaptor will fix that, and a factory caddy rear sump pan
a friend of mine replaced a wore out 350 with a 472 in his 3/4 ton
simple motor mount modification and the trans adaptor was all that was needed
the 472 pulled incredible and got better mpg than the 350

 

I drive a 2000 GMC 3/4 Ton crew cab short bed daily. (old body style) Curb weight is 5200 I think. It has a 350, 4l80e and 4.10 gears. It's a dog. It really needs a big block. I think they only put 350s in the crew cab short beds. The 350 gets terrible mileage, so a 454 would probably get the same mileage but have gobs more torque.

 

Since coming back to the states in the '90s I have run across as many dual bolt pattern GM trannies as I have dedicated BOPs. Perhaps the big block ****** is dual bolt pattern.

I don't know about anywhere else in the country but around here good 454s are pretty easy to come by.

 

I think an 8" chop would be about right

 

no chop
I love chopped stuff but not this one
I plan on using it as the family SUV

 

yep
several on my local CL
have to keep this thing in a legitimate budget to be able to qualify for the science fair/exposition we are attending

 

How you fix the Piss Poor design of the 144 blower ,
Cut snout down , use short water pump
Or Crank support with long snout

I Ran a 6:71 8mm set up on street /Race for over 10,000 hard miles on Cast crank ,single stock key way Stock cast harmonic balancer , (No crank support) stock balance rods short water pump 406 chevy 8 pds of boost , 3,300 pd car 6:40's 103 mph in 1/8 6 - 6,300 RPM's. 14 mpg
Sift ..Never broke the key way or balancer , when I took engine apart, crank was cracked , but did not break. I guess LUCKY

 

I don't have a problem with a 144. It came set up for a short water pump.

 

Was blower snout cut , ( from like 12 inches to 4 inches )or it did have a heavy (around )
3 inch spacer where lower blower pulley bolts to harmonic balance ??,
( bottom pulley)
Just can not see why you broke 2 Crank snouts , if Blower Snout was shorten with less then 4 pds of boost. Detonation or out of balance crank ***embly !
Almost all the time those rib belt slipped I installed RCD 8 mm pulleys on my 144 spun it 7,500 rpm 6-7 pds of boost on another big inch small block also over 3,000 pds car .

 

Its amazing how much punishment a large journal crank will take. Setup is everything and sometimes like me the guys on the ***embly line just get Lucky.

 

machinist wants to do the 462s
looks like that's how we will proceed

 

Anthony,
Make sure you put in a shift improver kit in the Th400.
Rick

 

cool
thanks

 

DONT FUS......RIDE THE BUS

 

our local s**** yard just got what looks like a 455 buick
will check the numbers on the block Monday
the funny thing is that its in a 70s gm truck, just like my bus ch***is and who ever installed it did a nice clean job with the motor mounts.
we are still going 350 to meet the deadline but I may pick up the 455 for a future replacement if we don't like the SBC
any thought good or bad for the 455?

 

Good bottom end torque motor that'll power that bus better than the 350

 

the torque specs look good, even for the smog era ones

from what I looked up , the 76 ones had ****py heads
and the 72-75s just need a compression bump and better cam and timing
parts are cheaper for the 455 compared to the 500 caddy as well

 

got the 350 block and 462 heads back need to pick a cam
anyone use this cam
summit racing K00042
Basic Operating RPM Range: 1,200-4,800
Intake Duration at 050 inch Lift: 214
Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift: 214
Advertised Intake Duration: 280
dvertised Exhaust Duration: 280
Advertised Duration: 280 int./280 exh.
Intake Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.443 in.
Exhaust Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.443 in.
Lobe Separation (degrees): 110

also looking at the 256H and 260 comp cams

need to pick a carb, I have several QJets, a Rochester 4 jet, a couple of single line Hollys
also have a 3duece intake but wonder if its worth the effort on this heavy bus

thanks

 

students de-burring the block and heads

student sectioning the front fender